What irony- just a week ago was talking to my fellow cineasts about how bad movies have been this year, and then I see a truly great picture, only the third new four star film I've seen so far. I have always found Brian De Palma to be an interesting filmmaker although he's never been one of my favorites- I found his often purported "best film", The Untouchables, to be an over directed and underwritten cartoon. But De Palma has outdone himself with The Black Dahlia. This is the best noir by anyone since Alan Parker made Angel Heart nineteen years ago.
Like many noirs, the plot is so complex that I did not completly understand it all, but total comprehension of the plot is not required to enjoy the movie or "get" its themes. Set in 1946 and inspired by a real-life case, our protagonist is Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), an LA cop. He and is partner, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) were former boxers who become extreamly popular when they compete in an LAPD PR event that brings pay raises for everyone. They are given cushy promotions they don't deserve and become close friends, often socializing together with Lee's girlfriend Kay (Scarlet Johansson). On a routine assigment to pickup a scumbag, a shootout occurs. After it's over, a seemingly unreleated dead body is found- a mutilated fifteen year old girl named Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner). Lee becomes obssessed with finding the killer, and it's not soon before a deep, deep web of lies and corruption is uncovered.
De Palma knows that for contemporary audiences, the appeal of noir is its fantasy world. In away, the genre's archytypes- the femme fatale, the hardboiled detective, are oddly re-assuring and endearing. He has fun with his material, but he never tarries into camp territory, so the movie works seriously when it needs too. The photography and set design is magnificent, as is the period score by Mark Isham. All of the acting is strong, but Hartnett really carries the movie. Almost as good is Hilary Swank as a very unique character as well as Kirshnir as the sadly pathetic victim.
This is not a movie to wait for the DVD. It deserves to be seen a theatre, where all of its secrets are new and georgous sets are at their full splendor. This movie is so good, and so deserving of multiple veiwings, that I might go see it again.
The Black Dahlia (2006)