The Black Dahlia (2006)
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Josh Friedman
Starring Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Mia Kirschner, Fiona Shaw
Release Date September 15, 2006
Published September 14th, 2006
Director Brian De Palma is one of the bravest filmmakers in the business. Each of his films are perilous high wire acts deftly treading the line between masterpiece and utter disaster. His last film, 2002's Femme Fatale, was a disaster of lurid exploitation in which the director became more enamored of his scenery than even his often nude starlet. On the flipside, his Untouchables, Dressed To Kill and Raising Cain are masterpieces, by De Palma standards, of trashy, entertaining, style.
De Palma's latest picture The Black Dahlia, based on the Elmore Leonard novel, again walks that razor's edge between masterpiece and disaster and finds De Palma once again on the side of the masterpiece. The Black Dahlia is a lurid, shocking, exciting noir mystery that uses real life brutality to tell a stunner of a fictional detective story, one worthy of the 30's and 40's noir that inspired it.
For anyone going into The Black Dahlia with ideas about learning more about the famed death of Elizabeth Short; be prepared, this is not her story. This story, based on Elmore Leonard's fictional take on Hollywood's most notorious unsolved murder, is more about the fictional L.A cops created by Leonard and the various shocking and devastating twists that Leonard smartly crafted and now De Palma and screenwriter Josh Friedman adapt.
Josh Hartnett leads an exceptional cast in The Black Dahlia as detective Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert, a former boxing star turned L.A flatfoot. Bucky's partner is a fellow former boxer Leland 'Lee' Blanchard. Rising through the ranks together, using their boxing star status to impress superiors, the two end up partners in the robbery homicide division.
When the nude, bisected body of young Elizabeth Short is found, it is Bucky and Lee's celebrity that gets them on the Dahlia case, over Bucky's objections; he's concerned about a murder case they were already working and were nearly killed while investigating. The Black Dahlia case however is the department's top priority and they want their most high profile cops out front cracking the case.
On January 15th 1947 the body of Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirschner) was discovered on a side street by a woman with a stroller. Short was nude and her body bisected, cut at the waist. Her blood was drained and internal organs removed. There are other more gruesome details that even Elmore Leornard left out of his account of this real life murder that the papers called The Black Dahlia for the victims penchant for black clothes and flowers in her hair.
Who was Elizabeth Short? In the movie she is a wannabe starlet from a small town in Massachusetts who came to L.A, like so many young girls, with stars in her eyes. She was said, by friends, to have a number of gentlemen callers and was welcome in local lesbian bars as well. It is at one of these bars where Bucky follows a lead to a woman named Madeleine Linscott (Hillary Swank). A dead ringer for Dahlia, Madeleine was seen talking to Elizabeth and another woman not long before she disappeared.
Rather than arrest and interrogate Ms. Linscott, Bucky begins a dangerous affair with her and promises to keep her name out of the papers. The Linscott name is quite well known; Madeleine's father built much of the town. Finding daddy's little girl in a lesbian hangout and linking her to the Dahlia murder would be a media frenzy.
In parallel plot, Bucky and Lee share the attention of a beautiful former prostitute, Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson). Kay is Lee's girl, he rescued her from a violent pimp, but it's clear she and Bucky have an attraction. When Lee becomes engrossed in the Dahlia case, Kay and Bucky come dangerously close to crossing a line.
Josh Hartnett continues to grow into one of the most interesting actors working today. His style is shy and understated but it's the inner strength that he reveals just when the character needs it that makes him so interesting. His reticence as Bucky belies the toughness of a character that is shown to be quite a good boxer. He is gentle even as he is an invasive interrogator and by the end of the film his horror at all he's seen brings his character around to being a classic noir character. Hartnett has alot to play in The Black Dahlia and he pulls it all off extremely well.
As good as Hartnett is, the true showstopper performance in The Black Dahlia is that of Fiona Shaw. To give any details of who her character is or reveal anything about her is to give away a little more than I want to of this clever plot. Nevertheless, I can tell you that Ms. Shaw delivers an Oscar worthy turn with a speech near the end of the film that would make Norma Desmond blush.
Brian De Palma's style could be called classy trash. Look closely at his resume and you can find a number of movies that fit that description or atleast have moments that fit that description. In Femme Fatale, De Palma crafts a number of gorgeous visuals, classy architecture and the like. It's a great looking film even when it dips into trashy lesbian trysts and gratuitous displays of flesh. And Femme Fatale is one De Palma's lesser works.
Applying his style to material he actually seems invested in, De Palma is invigorated and his excitement translates to the screen with great enthusiasm. The macabre fascination that the public had with the Black Dahlia murder is a subject that suits Brian De Palma's dark, lurid, some would say trashy personality. Indeed he is quite fond of the darker side and expresses that dark side with glee in The Black Dahlia.
And yet for all of its ghastly fascination with the lurid details of not only the life of Elizabeth Short but for those of the cop characters, the rich family and the prostitute, The Black Dahlia manages to be both engrossing and highly entertaining. De Palma invites you down the path of the lurid back streets and somehow; you willingly and wantonly follow him to the movie equivalent of the red light district known as The Black Dahlia.
When he's on his game Brian De Palma is one of the most skillful and talented directors in the business and The Black Dahlia is his best work in nearly a decade. Stylish, mysterious, trashy yet kinda classy, The Black Dahlia is a cinematic smorgasbord that offers something for all audiences, true crime, mystery, sex, graphic violence and great performances. The Black Dahlia will, no doubt, divide many and unite many others. For my money, it's one of the best films of the year.
