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
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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.
Unforgiven
Bill Munny (Clint Eastwood) is face down in pig shit when we first see him. He's a bad farmer, but has a natural facility for killing people – a vocation to which he returns in a quest that combines both profit and justice. Or so he chooses to believe.
Malcolm X
In an indelible role, Denzel Washington give us a layered, compassionate, conflicted man who finds the strength in Islam to transcend his demons and confront the inequity and racism in America head-on. Along with Do the Right Thing, this is Spike Lee's greatest film.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
A bona fide classic and arguably the greatest Canadian film of the 90s, Girard's dazzling deconstruction of the biopic gives us the mercurial pianist Glenn Gould as Picasso might have rendered him, a cubist portrait combining multimedia vignettes.
Dazed and Confused
The last day of high school in May, 1976: seniors debate party politics while next term's freshmen run the gauntlet of brutal initiation rites, barely comforted by the knowledge that they'll wield the stick one day.
Short Cuts
Altman's adaptation of Raymond Carver short stories, Short Cuts weaves between 8 or 9 overlapping storylines and 22 characters. it's a teeming, caustic and compassionate human comedy; a singularly astringent, often cynical view of America and Americana.
Three Colours: Blue
The first of Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy, inspired by the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and the French flag, the Tricolour. Blue stars Juliette Binoche as a young woman grieving her husband and child.
Schindler's List
One of the most acclaimed films of the 90s, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark is the story of a German industrialist whose conscience is stirred to save his Jewish workers from the camps.
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Three Colours: Red
Irène Jacob plays Valentine, a runway model living in Geneva, who crosses paths with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who's a bit of an eavesdropper. Initially repelled, she becomes intrigued by this man, as do we... Kieslowski's sublime adieu.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings begins with an onslaught of fucks. It's the first signal that this rom-com will break from tradition, despite the ritualized structural conceit described in the title. The witty screenplay is by Richard Curtis — it's still his best.
The Lion King
With its beautifully drawn East African setting, its humour, pathos, and engaging characters, as well as its stirring songs, The Lion King stands as the pinnacle of traditional Disney family entertainment.
Image: © Disney, 1994
To Die For
Buck Henry (The Graduate) wrote this acidic black comedy about a ruthless weather girl on the make (Nicole Kidman in her breakout role). A young Joaquin Phoenix is the dim teen she seduces on her way to achieving stardom.