LA Confidential
The movie “A Confidential” is a wonderful example of noir. It has the classic aura of mystery with a shot of suspense. It has the writer Sid doing the classic voice over telling the story from the second person point of view. It has the detective (actually 2) and the femme fatale. In this story the protagonist is our femme fatale Lynn Bracken who works as a call girl, yet has goodness in her. There is the detective Bud White who is a clean cop albeit the fact that he uses violence to get the information he needs to wrap up his cases. Then there’s also the newly promoted Ed Exley. Ed strives to do the right thing when the other cops want him not to. The movie is focused in old Hollywood where we see a lot of Hollywood and Vine and there is the quality of the dark streets and crime but done in such a way as to make it neo noir. There is lightness in the lighting of the sets that isn’t conducive to classic noir. There seems to be more levity to the movie than what noir is. The music of noir is there as well as the tone of language you would expect to find. The movie focuses on the corruption of the LAPD and the things the officers to do to make it so. Organized crime plays a huge part in the movie which brings us back to where classic noir originated. It doesn’t start out in the clear way “Double Indemnity “did where you knew who the protagonist was and who wasn’t. It took a ways in the movie in order to discover which part was which, and that alone brought a sense of excitement to the movie. I didn’t think I was going to like the movie, but when all was said and done it was a terrific movie.
Sources
Arthur, Paul. “L.A. Confidential”. Review of L.A. Confidential. Apr 98, Vol. 23 Issue 3, p.41. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
Luhr, William. “BORDER CROSSINGS IN Out of the Past and LA Confidential”. Bilingual Review. Sep - Dec 1998, Vol.23 Issue 3, p.230-236. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
Phillips, Gene D. “Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, detective fiction, and film noir” Lexington, Ky. The University of Kentucky. 2000. Print.
Rider, Van. “Film Noir”. Crime Culture Films. 30 Mar. 2011. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
Shefrin, Elena. “Le Noir et le Blanc: Hybrid Myths in Devil in a Blue Dress and L.A. Confidential”. Literature Film Quarterly, 2005, Vol. 33, Issue 3, p.172-181, 10p. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
