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One of California's most gruesome unsolved crimes is the murder of failed starlet Elizabeth Short. Based on James Ellroy's novel of the same name, "The Black Dahlia" follows two detectives as they investigate the horrific killing. Former boxers Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard are a chalk and cheese pairing. Bucky is young and idealistic, while Blanchard's experiences have made him jaded. They make a great team, sharing everything, including Blanchard's beautiful girlfriend Kay. But as they get ever deeper into the so-called Black Dahlia's case, it threatens to devour them.
From the outset you can tell what "Scarface" director Brian De Palma is trying to do; create a slick, very grown-up modern film noir in the vein of "LA Confidential". Well, it certainly looks the part. Though the majority of the movie is shot in colour, it has a film noir sensibility to it. Everything takes on a sepia tone and creamy visual quality that fits the mould. He matches the genre in slightly off-kilter camera angles, the wipes between scenes and the use of shadow in stark relief. And the recreation of the post-war period is pristine. At times, frames look like Edward Hopper paintings come to life. But although it looks the part, it feels more like a pastiche than an actual film noir.
Pacing is a major issue; there are too many abrupt shifts in tone and characterisation. For instance, Lee Blanchard goes from being relatively sane to utterly obsessed with the dead woman practically overnight. There's no sense of time passing and this leaves the audience befuddled about what's happened to the character. Subplots are never allowed to play out fully, so feel like tangents rather than intrinsic parts of the film. It smacks of over-editing
- as though whole storylines have been excised for brevity, leaving those that remain melodramatic because there's no journey for the players. This is compounded by De Palma's taste for lurid detail that makes some aspects of the movie almost ghoulish. There are suggestions of incest between Madeleine and her father and deaths are excessively gory. He lingers too long over the "nudie film" that Short and her roommate made and he virtually leers over any nubile body he sees. There are two different and very distinct styles of acting at work that sit at odds with each other. One is naturalistic while the other is very theatrical and almost camp, adding to the lurid nature of the movie. It also makes it very easy to spot who the bad guys are. It detracts from the realism of the film, making it difficult to believe in characters and situations, especially the overly theatrical denouement of the crime. In fact the only truly realistic scene in the entire movie is the opening boxing match.
The screenplay by Josh Friedman is based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy. Though it's trying to be dark and atmospheric, showing us the seedy underbelly of post-war America, it gets mired down and loses focus on the central story. It may be called "The Black Dahlia", but it revolves around the love triangle between Blanchard, Bleichert and Kay Lake. The relationship is a hard sell at best - the way it is presented makes it highly improbable. However, there aren't enough details of the investigation to show how all-consuming it could be and how this would consequently impact on the group dynamic. The film feels episodic because we are constantly bounced from one storyline to the next, seemingly at random. Events are strangely compressed, upsetting the pacing and preventing this from being the slow-burn thriller it should be. The plotting is too convoluted, making a confusing mishmash of subplots, many of which lead nowhere. Everyone has secrets and it all adds up to one big conspiracy. Unfortunately the characterisation is so patchy you won't care about any of the characters. Too many of them are hard-boiled archetypes; the square-jawed hero, the bent cop, the rich bitch, the ex-hooker and so on. And they all have an annoying tendency to change not only their attitudes but personalities at the drop of a hat. The dialogue is trying to emulate that of the original film noirs, but though some of it is snappy, much sits ill at ease in the mouths of contemporary actors.
Josh Hartnett looks like a clean-cut, square-jawed hero, so that is how he is usually cast. Bucky Bleichert is no different; a solid, dependable straight-arrow. But he's so undeniably good that he comes across as rather bland and uninteresting. Hartnett struggles with the character's emotional journey, going for abrupt changes that don't read well on screen. He also has a tendency to mumble in monotone, making him difficult to engage with.
Aaron Eckhart has had a largely undistinguished film career and from his performance as Lee Blanchard, it looks like his bravura performance in "Thank You for Smoking" was a one-off. He's brash and blasé and you're never in any doubt that he's not quite kosher. But he clunks through the gear changes as the character shifts from one state to another. One minute he's slightly shifty, the next he's obsessing about the dead girl and there's no interim period. It makes it near impossible to care about him and as for his relationship with Kay, it feels like nothing more than a sham because Eckhart has zero chemistry with Scarlett Johansson. Come to think of it, he doesn't have that great a rapport with Josh Hartnett either.
Scarlett Johansson looks every inch the 1940s' screen siren as Kay Lake. She even comes across as one; a buxom, sassy broad who is sharp as a tack and knows how to use her sensuality to her advantage. But director De Palma is intent on making her little more than a sexual object and she's never allowed to develop. She isn't given enough screen time and the way he leers over her with the camera is most disconcerting.
Hilary Swank gives a peculiarly mannered turn as rich girl Madeleine Linscott. It's as though she's trying to channel the spirit of Katharine Hepburn. But it leads to stilted delivery and an oddly distant performance. It's too theatrical and grandiose. You just can't buy her as the character because it's all surface. But it's nothing compared to Fiona Shaw's pantomime acting as her mother, Ramona. It's hard to believe Ms Shaw is one of Britain's most revered actresses on the basis of this grotesque creation. There's none of the subtlety that has heretofore characterised her acting. She goes for full-on, eye-rolling, screechy, absurd drunkenness and insanity. You can tell from the moment she stumbles onto the screen that she's a thirty-two carat nutter.
The score by Mark Isham is another part of the film where you can understand the intention behind it, but it fails to live up to expectation. It begins with imposing jazz brass that sets the scene for the period and genre. It utilises mournful clarinet swinging strings to set up Bucky and Lee and sexy piano and string motifs for Kay. However, it almost falls into parody by the time it gets to using blowsy saxophone and melodramatic brass stabs. One of the real issues is that it is omnipresent, so you often feel like it's trying to emotionally blackmail you into feeling various emotions. Also the use of KD Lang's version of Cole Porter's "Love for Sale" in the context of a lesbian nightclub feels cheap and lurid.
Jenny Beavan's costume designs are superb throughout. She captures the age through the sharp suits the men wear and the luxurious fabrics and furs Kay is draped in. There are all manner of sensual silk dresses and fine knitwear and the odd pair of Joan Crawford-style wide trousers. It's all about film star glamour and even the less fortunate characters in the film have a sense of style that fits the aspirations of the age. There are black, white and beige motifs running through the film that suggest whether people are good, bad or morally ambiguous. The outfits are accompanied by all manner of complex up-dos and waves for the ladies and the matte red lipstick that was de rigueur at the time.
"The Black Dahlia" is a promising film that is let down by lurid direction and a taste for the ghoulish. The writing is convoluted and the performances hampered by miscasting and over-enthusiastic editing. Though it looks superb, it lacks a strong emotional core and a tendency to confuse rather than intrigue.
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The Black Dahlia weaves a fictionalized tale of obsession, love, corruption, greed and ... more
depravity around the true story of the brutal murder of a fledgling Hollywood starlet that shocked and fascinated the nation in 1947 and remains unsolved today. Two ...
The Black Dahlia weaves a fictionalized tale of obsession love corruption greed and ... more
depravity around the true story of the brutal murder of a fledgling Hollywood starlet that shocked and fascinated the nation in 1947 and remains unsolved today. Two ...
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![The Black Dahlia [DVD] [2006]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78189382.jpg "The Black Dahlia [DVD] [2006]")
Oct 12th, 2006
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