Review of Black Dahlia (2006) by Matthew P — 14 Jul 2011

"Always she'd be there. Never between us; always in the middle.".

Synopsis: Los Angeles cops Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard uncover corruption and conspiracy within the force while searching for the killer of Tinseltown hopeful Elizabeth Short.

Aesthetically The Black Dahlia hits the nail on the head. The art direction is so fine that you'd be hard pressed to believe De Palma didn't go back into the 40's with a film crew. Not only does such terrific art direction add to the storytelling, but is simply pleasant to look at. Also adding to the visual splendor of this film is Vilmos Zsigmond's amazing cinematography, easily identified by the brim of Aaron Eckhart's hat in the doorway after the shoot-out at the 23 minute mark (look for aaron's hat to have a fuzzy brim, an unfortunate result of some ingenious cinematography).

As brilliant as the visuals are, there are a number of flaws and one unforgivable one. First the forgivable; some poor acting and Mark Isham's score washes the picture in a film-noir sludge thats far too thick. The unforgivable, the film is almost completely incomprehensible. Half the film was over before I realized the basic plot, and some side plots I wager ill never figure out, it's just a confusing mess of a story. And even if you could somehow makes sense of it, the simple fact that the wikipedia page for Elizebeth Short contains more horror and dark atmosphere with less imagery, bodes poorly for The Black Dahlia.

Though the picture is visually fabulous with outstanding art and cinematography, there's little else of interest.