Here he goes again:
I not only liked THE BLACK DAHLIA movie, and don't care much
how much Elroy was involved in it, but as a "movie," it is
visually, one of the best I've seen in years.
Seeing the movie sent me back to the book. I have reread 150
pages, and some scenes are lifted almost verbatim from the
book. Some details are askew, but, I think, necessarily
so.
For example in the book, the evidence that Scarlett
Johansson's Kay Lake was tortured required quick, visual
evidence that Lee Blanchard didn't do it.
The movie is noir, Lee is screwed as are Kay and Bucky in the
long run. Bucky, in a sense was screwed from the beginning
when he was in the boxing match with Lee.
What jumps out at me is that the movie is surreal, as is the
case of the Black Dahlia itself. All of the cops act it
straight, except perhaps for the guy doing the autopsy--and
that might have been a subtle slap at TV like CSI.
The other characters: Kay, who comes off as a 50s, not 40s,
housewife with a tortured past; Elizabeth Short, her father,
and her movie friends; Madeline, the other Linscotts, and
most of the minor characters are so over the top that it is
clearly intentional to create the atmosphere. (One of the
things that directing is all about is creating
juxtapositions.)
This juxtaposition of realistic and almost Grand-Guignol
acting styles, creates a true surreal atmosphere, that
emphasizes the surreality of the crime.
Although he is not the quintessential tough guy, and perhaps
even a 2006 Alpha/Beta male, I thought that Josh Harnett's
chartacter and voice-overs, not only helped with the
atmosphere, but helped greatly with the explanation of the
story.
I know how some people feel: the story is everything, the
images secondary. Paraphrasing the last or nearly last line
of CHINATOWN, "It's a movie, guys."
All that being said, the one thing that did bother me was
Madeleine's (Hillary Swank's) insistence that she looked like
Elizabeth Short. Mia Kirchner as the Dahlia turned in a
superb performance.
OK, now throw bricks.
Jack Bludis
PS: And by the way, it was infinitely better than
HOLLYWOODLAND.
http://www.jackbludis.com
*Shadow of the Dahlia* available at
MysteryLovesCompany.com
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