James Ellroy has always been a tough proposition for Hollywood, even though his hard-boiled crime novels are steeped in film noir mythology. Few anticipated that Curtis Hanson — up to then considered little more than a sound craftsman — would solve the problems in LA Confidential, a sprawling, complex and sordid book about Tinseltown sleaze and police graft in the 1950s.
Armed with a shrewdly condensed screenplay by Brian Helgeland, Hanson excelled himself: the movie emerged as a modern classic, a polished neo-noir probing the social (racial, sexual) hypocrisies festering in the city of dreams. That the movie came out just a few years after the Rodney King riots suggested that its portrait of endemic police brutality and corruption was still very much relevant. Featuring career-transforming performances from Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey and Guy Pierce, the movie picked up nine Oscar nominations.
An irresistible treat with enough narrative twists and memorable characters for a half-dozen films.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
Curtis Hanson’s resplendently wicked L.A. Confidential is a tough, gorgeous, vastly entertaining throwback to the Hollywood that did things right.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Media Partner
Curtis Hanson
Russell Crowe, Guy Pierce, Kevin Spacey, Danny De Vito, Kim Basinger, James Cromwell
USA
1997
English
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Credits
Producer
Arnon Milchan, Curtis Hanson, Michael Nathanson
Screenwriter
Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson
Cinematography
Dante Spinotti
Editor
Peter Honess
Original Music
Jerry Goldsmith
Production Design
Jeannine Oppewall
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
Three Kings
George Clooney headlines David O Russell's bold, brazen attempt to get to grips with the immediate aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, as 4 US soldiers try to liberate a missing shipment of gold amidst the chaos and carnage.
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.
Magnolia
This deeply personal 1999 California opus is ripe for rediscovery. Mapping the emotional traumas of half-a-dozen major characters as they crisscross the San Fernando Valley in search of either recognition or reconciliation, it's PTA's riskiest gamble.
Election
Tracy Flick (Reece Witherspoon) is running for Student President, but Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) has other ideas... This remarkably sour millennial comedy from Alexander Payne (The Holdovers; Sideways; The Descendents) hits twice as hard today.
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is an assassin, but he's also an existential loner who adheres to his personal code. Despite the thriller trappings, this is really a lampoon of that genre, and a melancholy reverie for the cultural melting pot we call home.
The Straight Story
David Lynch goes a different direction in this linear Midwestern about a septuagenarian (Richard Farnsworth) who drives nearly 400km on a lawnmower to visit his ailing brother (Harry Dean Stanton).
90s Surprise Film
The 90s movie we have all been missing... Join us for a celebratory wake for this year's 90s, Baby series! What you will be seeing is top secret (no, not Top Secret!, that was 1984) but it will be at least 26 years old and it will be new to this series.
The Wind Will Carry Us
Kiarostami's dry comic masterpiece follows a Tehrani film team's thwarted attempts to document a traditional Kurdish funeral... Trouble being, there's no one to bury, and, worse, virtually no cell service...
Fight Club
1999 was a very good year for movies, but nothing captured millennial angst quite so vividly as David Fincher's bruising black comedy about what it means to be a man today. This modern classic does everything short of rattling your seat to get a reaction.