I have only seen 16 movies released in 2006 and I think that "The Black Dahlia" (2006) directed by Brian De Palma is one of the most enjoyable. The way it walks, talks, sounds, and feels truly captivated me. It is a fantastic cinematic achievement. It is shocking, dark, very clever, and enormously beautiful. It is over the top but how would you make a movie about the investigation of the most notorious and gruesome never solved murder in Hollywood differently? I like this exploitative, overplayed, smoldering, overwhelming, cheesy, campy Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller (my favorite genres) with the evident elements of black comedy (the most favorite genre when it's done well). I don't deny that it has its problems but I still believe it is worth watching and rewatching, especially on DVD when you can stop it and return to the earlier scene to see what you might have missed the first time. "The Black Dahlia" is one of the rare films that make you forget all their flaws. I am still puzzled with the ending but I LOVE the movie; I could not take my eyes off the screen. The way De Palma uses light, shadows, his combination of colors, black and gold - my favorite, his use of stairways, and the way we first are allowed to notice the body - it is Art, noir film made by an Artist. Besides, I simply can't be indifferent to a movie that uses Cole Porter 's song "Love for Sale" which I adore as performed by k.d. lang.
The movie grabbed me with its visual grandeur, heated atmosphere of danger, dark, desperate mood and that's why I like it so much. I don't like it for its story - after all, it is one of the myriads of versions of what had actually happened 60 years ago, I don't admire it for the acting, even though, Mia Krishner as unfortunate Betty Short was heartbreaking and I did like Hillary Swank for the first time in my life (yes, I know that she is two times Oscar winner but I liked her here, when she said to herself, "Bucky...I'll try to remember... that" - it was a good acting, irony which I've never seen in her before.) I also believe that Fiona Shaw was wonderful in her role - it simply could not be played any differently and to make her character so over the top was an artistic achievement and not the lack of acting abilities as many viewers seem to believe.
I respect the movies that entertain me, excite me, and stay with me even if I see their weakness very well. "Black Dahlia" is one of these movies. I am perhaps one of very few viewers in the whole world who actually was satisfied with the ending and the big revelation before it. Yes, it is bizarre, and it is grotesque, but it fits the whole movie perfectly and when I mentioned earlier how clever the movie was, I meant, how well its creators explored just one of the evidences and using the works of literature, art, and earlier cinema, built the whole possible story behind the murder based on it. Once again, "The Black Dahlia" is IMO one of the best and most entertaining movies of last year which I enjoyed enormously.
Directed by the Artist with a unique vision and talent, "The Black Dahlia" will be appreciated as time goes by.
The movie grabbed me with its visual grandeur, heated atmosphere of danger, dark, desperate mood and that's why I like it so much. I don't like it for its story - after all, it is one of the myriads of versions of what had actually happened 60 years ago, I don't admire it for the acting, even though, Mia Krishner as unfortunate Betty Short was heartbreaking and I did like Hillary Swank for the first time in my life (yes, I know that she is two times Oscar winner but I liked her here, when she said to herself, "Bucky...I'll try to remember... that" - it was a good acting, irony which I've never seen in her before.) I also believe that Fiona Shaw was wonderful in her role - it simply could not be played any differently and to make her character so over the top was an artistic achievement and not the lack of acting abilities as many viewers seem to believe.
I respect the movies that entertain me, excite me, and stay with me even if I see their weakness very well. "Black Dahlia" is one of these movies. I am perhaps one of very few viewers in the whole world who actually was satisfied with the ending and the big revelation before it. Yes, it is bizarre, and it is grotesque, but it fits the whole movie perfectly and when I mentioned earlier how clever the movie was, I meant, how well its creators explored just one of the evidences and using the works of literature, art, and earlier cinema, built the whole possible story behind the murder based on it. Once again, "The Black Dahlia" is IMO one of the best and most entertaining movies of last year which I enjoyed enormously.
Directed by the Artist with a unique vision and talent, "The Black Dahlia" will be appreciated as time goes by.