2024 Entry #013 01-08-24 “The Black Dahlia”is a 2006 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Brian De Palma (“Dressed to Kill”, “Body Double”) and written by Josh Friedman, based on the 1987 novel of the same name by James Ellroy, the first book in his celebrated “L.A. Quartet”, the others being “The Big Nowhere” (1988), “L.A. Confidential” (1990) & “White Jazz” (1992). The novel on which this film is based was inspired in part by the widely sensationalized murder of Elizabeth Short, a figure of great interest to Ellroy. The novel features both historical and fictional elements. The film stars Josh Hartnett (“Sin City”, “Penny Dreadful”), Scarlett Johansson (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”, “Avengers: Endgame”), Hilary Swank (“Quiet Days in Hollywood”, “Boys Don’t Cry”), Mia Kirshner (“Exotica”, “Not Another Teen Movie”, “Party Monster”, “The L Word”, “Lost Girl”, “Star Trek: Discovery”, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”), Mike Starr (“Cruising”, “Last Exit to Brooklyn”, “Miller’s Crossing”, “A River Made to Drown In”, “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”, “Glee”, “Shameless”), John Kavanagh (“Braveheart”, “Alexander”), Rachel Miner (“Bully”, “Sex and the City”), Rose McGowan (“The Doom Generation”, “Nowhere”, “Nip/Tuck”, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Patrick Fischler (“Mulholland Drive”, “Pushing Daisies”, “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”, “Shameless”) openly lesbian Fiona Shaw (“Dorian Gray”, “True Blood”, “Killing Eve”, “Fleabag”, “Colette”, “Ammonite”, “Andor” & the Harry Potter films) & Aaron Eckhart. Openly lesbian musician k.d. lang has an uncredited cameo as the floor show performer at the lesbian nightclub Laverne’s Hideaway.
The convoluted plot follows two Los Angeles Police Department detectives investigating Short’s murder, leading them through a series of shocking discoveries.
Wow. Okay.
To start with, I’m going to out myself and just admit that I’m not a huge Brian De Palma fan. And while that is often considered heresy within certain circles that I frequent, there are lots of well known and beloved film directors that I just don’t enjoy; Stanley Kubrick is a good example, or Woody Allen (and not just because he’s creepy – I just really don’t enjoy what I’ve seen of his stuff). With Brian De Palma, I like “Carrie” and “The Fury”, but I don’t love “Scarface” (sorry) and I hate “Mission: Impossible” , and even when I do enjoy De Palma’s films, I find his renowned flourishes to be too showy and a bit obnoxious. So keep that in mind.
Having said that, I’m trying to step out of my comfort zone while exploring LGBTQ+ inclusive cinema and I thought I’d give this one a shot. When I was over half way through the film, I stopped to read a synopsis (up to the point in the film I’d stopped) because I thought I’d missed something. Only I hadn’t. David Denby’s review in The New Yorker summed up my reaction when the film had ended: “It’s overrich and fundamentally unsatisfying… There are scenes that display De Palma’s customary visual brilliance… but the movie is so complicated, the narrative so awkward, that when the pieces of the puzzle fall into place we get no tingle of satisfaction.”
That. The movie wasn’t short but it felt like it was missing a lot. Apparently it was originally 3 hours long and cut down to two and it shows. What should be big aha moments are either telegraphed so far in advance or sprung out of nowhere – and these failings are made worse by some really horrible acting choices by just about everyone. Ick. No. It’s bad. For a minute or two I thought it would be good, but then it wasn’t.
As for LGBTQ+ content, there are lots of lesbians, but none of them are central to the plot. There’s a lovely cameo by k.d. lang in a lesbian bar with lots of lesbians surrounding her, which is sadly, the highpoint of representation here. There’s a bisexual woman, but she’s a murderer – who is apparently sexually involved with a despicable man that we think is her father. And there’s another bisexual / lesbian woman who is the central victim of the story, but since she was brutally murdered, she’s barely in the film. There just aren’t a lot of positive depictions here. And while that’s not always necessary for me to enjoy something (for example, I love “Basic Instinct” in which all the women are bisexual murderers), the ladies here don’t get much to work with, and what they do get isn’t supported by anything especially exciting. This is not a very good movie. This wasn’t even a very entertaining movie. And those are my thoughts. YMMV.
