THE BLACK DAHLIA

Director: Brian De Palma ( The Untouchables, Scarface, Bonfire of the Vanities)
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Scarlett Johansson, Mia Kirshner

The Black Dahlia was one of my more anticipated films of 2006. I love film noir. There haven't been many good ones in quite a while, so I was even more interested in finding a new one. Ellroy's novel seemed like a great basis for a good bit of noir. I'm a particular fan of Eckhart and Swank. DePalma did some wonderful things in The Untouchables and I thought that this story could set him up to do some more.

After watching the film I have some disappointment, but I also still find much that interests me in what I saw. There were many unique choices in this film (mostly by DePalma I assume). So far I think many of those choices were not successful, but they still remain interesting to me. Rarely, if ever, have I seen a film that thrusts so much at the viewer so quickly. Visually, there are half-second images that are keys to the mystery in the story. Plot-wise the film speeds faster and faster until it's a blur of characters, events, action and images. I really liked this idea, the story spinning out of control and terrible events hinging on brief glances. The film is difficult, if not impossible, to completely grasp on a first viewing. I rather like this. I like films that become more rich on a second try (Mulholland Drive is one of my favorite films ever ...). After the first viewing, though, I'm afraid that the payoff at the end of this ever speeding plot was just silly, and I didn't get it. I'd hate to ruin the ending for you, but I almost felt as if the solution to the mystery was nearly arbitrary. There certainly didn't seem to be many clues or much motive to back it up.

I could write a few pages on the twisting plot that is The Black Dahlia, but in a nutshell it follows two cops (Hartnett and Eckhart), in a love triangle with Johansson's character, searching out the brutal killer behind the murder of a young Hollywood hopeful (Kirshner). A beautiful, over-sexed, bi-sexual, socialite, rich-girl from a crazy, crooked family (Swank) enters the scene during the investigation. The plot also includes (I think) illigetimacy, cheating hearts, barbaric murders, nasty falls, totally off-the-wall crazy characters, blackmail, torture, robberies(?), and breaking housing construction codes. There's a lot packed into this space. Frankly, there was too much. A "twist" in a plot works if the viewer is comfortable with one set of beliefs and then it all gets pulled out from under them. In this case I never had the chance to really understand any of what was going on, so I was never stunned when it changed.

Also on the negative side of the scale for this film was the acting. Hartnett was completely out of his league with this material. At times it felt like he was acting in a high school production of noir. Unhappily for me I found neither Eckhart or Johannson particularly exciting either. No one except Swank felt like she belonged in this film, and even she didn't hit a home run. Also troubling to me was the physicial production of the film. Creating period piece fantasy worlds is one of the joys of 1940s film noir, me thinks. A lot of the sets and environments in this film were just boring and ugly to look at. There were too many empty parking lots and not enough street scenes.

In the end I must give this film a great deal of credit for trying. There are unique things to be seen here. I absolutely intend to give this film another viewing, so that's some praise right there. I actually spent time after the film trying to work out exactly what happened, so I was definitely thinking about it after leaving the theater - so that's even higher praise from me. Unfortunately, after thinking about this first viewing I saw a lot that seemed a failure to me.

Standouts: Interesting ideas throughout, unique choices, not ever really boring.
Blowouts: Acting (Hartnett in particular), too fast paced, silly ending.

Grade: B