L.A. Confidential

A crime film set in Los Angeles in the early 1950s. There is a mass killing at a coffee shop. Six people are shot and three young men are quickly arrested. There are three policemen and all three are different. Bud is hard. He finds men who beat women and answers to nobody. Ed is ambitious. He works by the book, informs on his colleagues, and wants promotion. Jack runs his work with a magazine reporter. He arranges arrests so that they make the story and takes money for it. From there the film is three separate investigations. Drugs, prostitution, a newspaper, and someone who wants to take over all the dirty business in the city. There is also a service. Women made to resemble film stars are employed for wealthy clients, and Lynn is one of them. What the narrative is interested in is not crime but image: the film sets how Los Angeles sells itself beside what is behind it. The three policemen starting to resemble each other is its real work. At the end two of them are in the same room on the same side and both have changed. The source is James Ellroy's novel. The book is far more crowded and the adaptation simplified the plot considerably. Two of the leads were Australians then unknown in America; that was a deliberate choice and let the audience watch the characters without recognising them. The film won Academy Awards for adapted screenplay and supporting actress. Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell and Danny DeVito are in the cast. Curtis Hanson directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes classical noir narrative. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a plot that is easy to follow; the narrative is crowded and the first half hour carries a great deal of information.