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THE BLACK DAHLIA Send This Review to a Friend
Brian De Palma’s “The Black Dahlia,” stemming from a true crime story and based on James Ellroy’s novel, has to be approached as an art film in the context of De Palma’s work and what he would appear to be aiming for in this cinematographically stunning film that parallels, salutes and partly mocks the genre of Hollywood films during a bygone era. If you are looking only for screenplay credibility, you are missing the moviemaking aura itself, exemplified by such murky plots as those found in “The Big Sleep” and the much later “Chinatown.” It is intriguing to watch De Palma’s riff on film noir even if one has misgivings about the story and some of the acting level.
The foundation is the murder of a woman on the fringe named Betty Short, who met a grisly death and whose mutilated body was discovered lying in a desolate area of Los Angeles back in 1947. Because she dressed in black, she was dubbed “black dahlia” in the lurid headlines that the crime generated. Screenwriter Josh Friedman, in adapting the Ellroy novel, builds a seedy tale pointing to a version of why and by whom the poor young woman was fatally brutalized. It is an ultra-convoluted tale that can at times be exasperating.
One problem is the key casting of Josh Hartnett in the lead as Bucky Bleichert, an ex-boxer turned Los Angeles cop. Hartnett doesn’t have the charisma to arouse one’s interest in Bucky, on whose shoulders rest so much of the action, the drama and the sexuality. This makes one concentrate excessively on the story without being captivated by its main character. Other casting is much more successful. Aaron Eckhart is better as Bucky’s problematical friend Lee Blanchard, another cop and ex-boxer.
Scarlett Johansson is sexy and effective as Kay Lake, Lee’s amoral girlfriend and Hilary Swank sizzles as Madeleine Linscott, the spoiled rich girl who has the hots for Bucky, just has he has repressed hunger for Kay. Without sufficiently matching male steaminess, the sex doesn’t rise to an audience turn-on. Fiona Shaw has a scenery-chewing role as Madeleine’s angry, disgruntled, drugged-out mother.
The real star of the film is virtuoso De Palma, as he takes us on the complex, wicked journey of evil through a well-realized period setting enhanced by some smashing cinematic shots that partly make up for the wallowing in the unconvincing screenplay. The result is not for the impatient who can’t appreciate the frills that De Palma provides, which for a film buff, can make the surface trip more fascinating than the content. De Palma’s movie conjures up homage-like references and memories that keep it interesting. A Universal Pictures release.
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