Day 91 - L.A. Confidential

Day 91            L.A. Confidential [1997]

                          

Screenplay                    Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson

Director                         Curtis Hanson

Cinematography            Dante Spinotti

Music                            Jerry Goldsmith

Leads                            Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, James Cromwell

Production                     Regency Enterprises, The Wolper Organization

IMDb                                 8.3/10

Rotten Tomatoes                99%

Before you look at my rating, just know that I think this was a very good film. If you’re an avid reader, you’ll know by now why the ratings aren’t higher. Opinion. Opinion. Opinion. Based in the 1950s it follows three LAPD officers embroiled in a homicide who all end up stumbling upon something much larger. What a good cast. We’ll avoid the Kevin Spacey drama for now and just praise his acting, although he is suitably sleazy in this. Guy Pearce’s Ed Exley is a straight-laced try-hard who would probably piss me off in real life, but you root for him here because of the nature of his job and because police corruption and mistreatment of suspects is still highly relevant today.  Russell Crowe is his usual thuggy self, but actually gives a rounded performance as Bud White, an enforcer who has a thing for protecting women. You wouldn’t think Danny DeVito would suit this noir, serious film either but his role as a 50s TMZ-style magazine editor suits him perfectly. The writing is the best bit about the film, a lot of the time these films are predictable, and although it’s clear from the start of this that there is some sort of corruption going on, there is a whole web of lies concealing who pulls the strings. Space Odyssey (Day 59) has entirely changed my perception of good cinematography, in terms of how awesome it is considering its age, so I’m fairly strict on that these days. It’s average from Spinotti. You have to concentrate for sure, each character uncovers different clues and at times I was confused as to who knew what, but I think that’s why I enjoyed it. It’s got nothing on The Departed as police corruption films go, but that’s probably a little unfair. Three is the magic number.

Acting                            3.5 / 4

Writing                           3.5 / 4

Cinematography             2.5 / 4

Music                                2 / 4

HWF rating                  3 / 4