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Looks like Brian De Palma's adaptation of James Ellroy's THE BLACK DAHLIA will snag the opening night spotlight on August 30th at the Venice International Film Festival. The thriller is based on the true 1947 murder in Los Angeles of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, investigated by two former boxers turned cops.

The premiere will give De Palma a chance to make his fifth trip down the red carpet at the VIFF which I imagine will lead to having a canal named after him...

Na netu se pojavila povelika BD galerija... Slike su u super rezoluciji i ima jedna baš eksplicitna...

http://kino-express.ru/stills/black_dahlia

Nije valjda ova plava cica Kay Lake, vidim da cuga na svakoj drugoj slici... Nadam se da su Joshu razbili zube for real.

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"ima jedna baš eksplicitna...

ha! dario argento, eat your heart out!

(at the mouns veneris of madness)

Ove fotke mi deluju lawl. Pa neće valjda od Dalije da pravi "eksplicitni uzbudljivi krimi triler sa elementima drame"?

Quote from: "Armagedda"Nije valjda ova plava cica Kay Lake, vidim da cuga na svakoj drugoj slici... Nadam se da su Joshu razbili zube for real.

Da, da... Smeđu Kej su ofarbali u platinasto i podmladili je za jedno desetak godina. Skarlet Johanson je sada i zvanično dizajnirana kao Bela Dalija! Nadam se samo da će u flešbeku biti ona nepodoština s kerovima...  

Btw, ovo je udarna petorka...

Josh Hartnett ....  Ofcr. Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert

Scarlett Johansson ....  Kay Lake

Hilary Swank ....  Madeleine Sprague

Aaron Eckhart ....  Sgt. Leland "Lee" Blanchard

Mia Kirshner ....  Elizabeth Short

Zanimljivo mi je da je Mia Kiršner tako visoko pozicionirana na listi glumaca... Good for her (a i ja se ne bunim)! Što se ostaka ekipe tiče - Hilari nije lepotica ali bar zna da glumi (za razliku od Eve Grin kojoj je prvobitno bilo ponuđeno da zaigra Medelin); zbog Džoša sam i ja bio skeptičan, ali ako je Elroj zadovoljan njegovm glumom ko sam ja da protestvujem (plus: čovek je u poslednje vrem igrao u nekoliko odličnih filmova + rođen je istog dana kad i ja, tako da mora da valja); Aron mi deluje kao OK izbor za ovu vrstu uloge... Skarlet je ovde definitivno najslabija karika (plus: ima ružne prste!). Ali, ovo nije njen film, tako da se nadam da joj je uloga svedena na adekvatnu (i za nju odgovarajuću) meru.

A to za Kej nisam komentarisao, ali ako De Palma misli da jedna 20-godišnjakinja treba da glumi Kej, ostaje mi samo da sačekam i da vidim.

trailer
http://mp3content02.bcst.yahoo.com/bus01root6/Bus01Share24/yahoomovies/9/26832621.mov?StreamID=26832621&b=3l4p1k11fb2r844c96325&CG_ID=1449455

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"
Da, da... Smeđu Kej su ofarbali u platinasto i podmladili je za jedno desetak godina. Skarlet Johanson je sada i zvanično dizajnirana kao Bela Dalija!

Ma problem je što mi Skarletova deluje sva jogunasta. A Kej je više Greta Garbo tip žene - inteligentna, samosvesna, jaka, sa dozom sete u očima. Ne pada mi trenutno na pamet nijedna glumica. Što se tiče plave kose, bože moj, kakav bi to film bio bez plavuše + pretpostavljam da ju je hteo kontrastirati u odnosu na ostale 'tamne' glavne glumice.

Upravo sam pogledao trailer... Looks good... Prva polovina je so-so (uglavnom set-up), ali onda stvar dobije na intenzitetu i čovek može da se zavali i uživa. Mia dominira trejlerom i prelepa je; Aron i Hilari su baš kako treba (ona izgleda bolje nego ikad, a i super joj je akcenat); za Džoša i Skarlet nisam siguran - deluju previše mlado... Produkciono, film prosto sija. Vidi se svaki uloženi cent. Odlična rekreacija 40-tih, baš raskošno. Melodija s ženskim vokalom koja se čuje me je već kupila!

UNIVERSAL je aktivirao zvanični sajt. Američka premijera je na jesen, verovatno sredinom septembra! Ma, uživancija!

Btw, Virdžinija Medsen bi bila odlična Kej Lejk.

Trejler stvarno ne obećava ništa dobro, barem za ono što ja očekujem od Dalije: maračnu priču o opsesiji, pohlepi, strasti i izopačenosti ljudskog uma.

Ovo mi izgleda kao vrlo skup televizijski film, rekao bih "za popodne", ali me eksplicitne scene demantuju. Posebno budalasto mi deluje ona muzika kao da je s marsa.

No, ovo će verovatno biti dobar film, ali ne "Daličan".

neka su mi nebo i svi anđeli na pomoći, ali u ovome (i samo u ovome) se slažem s lurdom!

brrrr...

samo se vi slažite... ja i dalje dosta očekujem od ovog filma. beogradska premijera je zakazana za 21. decembar. time will tell.

Hmm.

Quote from: "Morticia"Hmm.

ta ti valja!

i s tobom se slažem.

Posto je prethodni (Femme Fatale) bio trijumf forme nad sustinom ostaje nada da ce ovog puta sadrzaj (zbog snaznog predloska) biti znacajniji sastojak nego prosli put.

The Look Inside BLACK DAHLIA

više bih voleo da su ga najavili kao: from the director of BODY DOUBLE and DRESSED TO KILL.

ne sluti mi na dobro ton ovoga...

Svašta, Ghoul-e... Da je ovo promociaja za Raising Cain, pa da film i reklamiraju sa ...from the director of BODY DOUBLE and DRESSED TO KILL.

svašta, kunac, zar ovo nije film o brutalnim zločinima, mračnim strastima i opsesijama, a ne o organizovanom kriminalu, pajkanima protiv gangstera i crime-lordova?  

Quote from: "Ghoul"svašta, kunac, zar ovo nije film o brutalnim zločinima, mračnim strastima i opsesijama, a ne o organizovanom kriminalu, pajkanima protiv gangstera i crime-lordova?  

Ja izuzetno volim De Palmine filmove poput DRESSED 2 KILL, BLOW OUT ili BODY DOUBLE, te zabavne pseudo-hičkokijanske pulp trilere nabijene adrenalinom.
LICE s OŽILJKOM, KARLITOV PUT i (posebno) NEDODIRLJIVI su po tonu ozbiljniji, a uz to su i mnogo bolje prošli kod kritičara (NEDODIRLJIVI su, na primer, bili nominovani za 4 Oskara). POVERLJIVO iz L.A. je takođe bio oskarovski materijal, tako da se i od CRNE DALIJE očekuje da se okiti nekom nominacijom... Koliko je to realno - u ovom trenutku ne mogu da procenim - ali ljudi mogu da se nadaju! Imajući to u vidu, ne čudi me što se film reklamira dovođenjem u vezu sa ova dva filma, uostalom - Crna Dalija i jeste (ili bar trebala da bude, sudeći po predlošku) bliža ovim filmovima nego prvonavedenim.

Btw, Ghoule, da li si pročitao Elrojev roman po kome je snimljen film?

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"Btw, Ghoule, da li si pročitao Elrojev roman po kome je snimljen film?

of kors!
prvom prilikom kad to budem mogao, uvrstiću ga u kurs moderne američke knjiž. kao njeno remek-delo.
više da maltretiram idiote-studente nego bilo šta drugo.

budući da nisam PRETERANI, već samo umereni poštivalac de palme (a naročito novijeg), njegovo ime mi ne bi per se bilo dovoljno za pokretanje topika i uopšte iščekivanje ovog filma.
zapravo, njegov pristup ovome me najviše i brine.

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"Ja izuzetno volim De Palmine filmove poput DRESSED 2 KILL, BLOW OUT ili BODY DOUBLE, te zabavne pseudo-hičkokijanske pulp trilere nabijene adrenalinom.

LICE s OŽILJKOM, KARLITOV PUT i (posebno) NEDODIRLJIVI su po tonu ozbiljniji...

Kunče, bez zezanja i najozbiljnije te molim da mi objasniš zašto su prva tri filma pulp. I kada napišeš "ozbiljniji ton", da li misliš na još nešto osim na touch socijalne drame?

Иначе, прва ствар коју елрој каже када почне да прича о филму (има на сајту филма) је: It is perfect that Brian De Palma, that directed Dressed to kill..."

Quote from: "Lurd"Kunče, bez zezanja i najozbiljnije te molim da mi objasniš zašto su prva tri filma pulp.

Biće mi zadovoljstvo!
Kao prvo, ne bih se previše osvrtao na etimologiju termina pulp... Koga zanima ova tematika, neka overi informativni Wikipedia članak na ovu temu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine

Što se navedenih filmova tiče, oni su pulp iz više razloga: brzog su tempa, obojeni su jakim senzacionalističkim tonovima, skrojeni su po postulatima eksploatacijskih trilera... Glavna ambicija autora je da udovolji publici željnoj uzbuđenja. Oni nisu pretenciozni: stvoreni su da bi zabavili i šokirali publiku, a ako se pri tom ubrizga i malo subverzije, tim bolje...

Quote from: "Lurd"I kada napišeš "ozbiljniji ton", da li misliš na još nešto osim na touch socijalne drame?

Da, socijalna osvešćenost je jedna od bitnih odlika... U ovim filmovima De Palma daje presek društva, postaje hroničar, želi da ga shvate ozbiljno... Ta težnja se primećuje i po odabiru nagrađivanih glumaca (Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro...), po dužini trajanja (devedeset minuta obično nije dovoljno da se ispriča priča šireg zahvata), pa i po činjenici da su neki od tih filmova bazirani na istinitim događajima. U ovu grupu, na primer, spadaju i ostvarenja "Vatromet taštine" i "Žrtve rata".

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"

Quote from: "Lurd"Kunče, bez zezanja i najozbiljnije te molim da mi objasniš zašto su prva tri filma pulp.

Biće mi zadovoljstvo!
Kao prvo, ne bih se previše osvrtao na etimologiju termina pulp... Koga zanima ova tematika, neka overi informativni Wikipedia članak na ovu temu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine

Što se navedenih filmova tiče, oni su pulp iz više razloga: brzog su tempa, obojeni su jakim senzacionalističkim tonovima, skrojeni su po postulatima eksploatacijskih trilera... Glavna ambicija autora je da udovolji publici željnoj uzbuđenja. Oni nisu pretenciozni: stvoreni su da bi zabavili i šokirali publiku, a ako se pri tom ubrizga i malo subverzije, tim bolje...

Quote from: "Lurd"I kada napišeš "ozbiljniji ton", da li misliš na još nešto osim na touch socijalne drame?

Da, socijalna osvešćenost je jedna od bitnih odlika... U ovim filmovima De Palma daje presek društva, postaje hroničar, želi da ga shvate ozbiljno... Ta težnja se primećuje i po odabiru nagrađivanih glumaca (Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro...), po dužini trajanja (devedeset minuta obično nije dovoljno da se ispriča priča šireg zahvata), pa i po činjenici da su neki od tih filmova bazirani na istinitim događajima. U ovu grupu, na primer, spadaju i ostvarenja "Vatromet taštine" i "Žrtve rata".

dobro be kunac, šta sad da ti radim posle ovakvog 'objašnjenja'?

da li da ti nabrajam filmove 'brzog tempa' koji NISU pulp, ili pak KLASIČNA remek dela filmske umetnosti obojena 'senzacionalističkim tonovima' (da li da uopšte idem dalje od PSIHA?), ili pak da te pitam - koji su to 'postulati eksploatacijskih trilera' i po čemu se oni razlikuju od trilera koji nisu exploatacijski (a kad/ako mi na to odgovoriš, da te pitam da li i dalje tvrdiš da de palmini prevashodno ARTISTIČKI trileri/horori, sa svim svojim avangardnim, experimentalnim, nekonvencionalnim, anti-žanrovskim, dekonstrukcionističkim momentima zaista potpadaju pod 'postulate eksploatacijskih trilera').
drugim rečima, čak i ako bi se napravila neka distinkcija između exploatacijskih i artističkih trilera, da li si siguran da bi navedeni de palmini (D. TO KILL, BODY D. etc.) potpali pod prvonavedene?

to, da li je de palma 'želio da ga shvate ozbiljno' (sasve scenama splattera sa motornim testerama i bejzbol palicama), ja ne znam jer s njim nisam naživo pričao.
ali reći ću ti da dužina trajanja nije ama baš nikakav parametar i smatram neozbiljnim uopšte potezanje tog detalja (znaš li koliko traje DRESSED TO KILL? 105 '. da li to znači da je na pola puta između 'exploatacijskih' 90 i 'umjetničkih' 120'?).
da li da nabrajam klasike koji traju 90' i manje, i trash exploataciju od 120' i više?
da li da nabrajam exploatacijske filmove 'bazirane na istinitim događajima', pa da vidim da li će ovim merilom oni, po tebi, odjednom da postanu 'ozbiljni'?

Izuzetaka ima, naravno, ali to ne menja ono što sam napisao.

Jedno pojašnjenje: ako je nešto pulp, to ne znači da je automatski  loše. Ovaj termin za mene nema negativnu konotaciju.

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"Izuzetaka ima, naravno, ali to ne menja ono što sam napisao. Jedno pojašnjenje: ako je nešto pulp, to ne znači da je automatski  loše. Ovaj termin za mene nema negativnu konotaciju.

nismo ni govorili o vrednosnim kvalifikacijama, nego estetskim.

lepo te pito čoek, a pitam i ja: šta je PULP u filmovima koje sam naveo na 1. str. ovog topika?
šta je to što čini pulp?
ovo što si gore naveo mora da si izvukao iz svog šešira, jer mi ne deluje ozbiljno zasnovano, a ni link ka wikipediji nije pojasnio tu tvoju distinkciju artsy/exploit. trilera itd.

Što se "izvlačenja iz šešira" tiče - u pravu si. Navedeno sam "izvukao iz svog šešira". Pošto me je L. pitao za moje mišljenje; naravno da nisam hteo da "izvlačim" iz tuđeg.

Ako ti misliš da je ono što sam ja napisao neozbiljno, neka ti bude. Meni je jasno, pregledno i zasnovano na proverljivim činjenicama; ako Lurd bude imao nekih nedoumica - siguran sam da će se već oglasiti.

Ti si naravno slobodan da izneseš svoju teoriju, koju ću ja sa zadovoljstvom pročitati i prokomentarisati.

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"Ti si naravno slobodan da izneseš svoju teoriju, koju ću ja sa zadovoljstvom pročitati i prokomentarisati.

da, vidim da ću morati sam da poradim na teoriji pulpa, pošto od tvog šešira - mrka kapa (pun int. ha ha)  

Hajde onda... Pokaži znanje! Čik!

Napadoste čoveka, što je izneo opšte poznatu stvar.

DRESSED 2 KILL, BLOW OUT i BODY DOUBLE se zaista razlikuju od filmova LICE s OŽILJKOM, KARLITOV PUT i  NEDODIRLJIVI upravo po tome što se poslednja 3 računaju u "ozbiljnije".

Da li je pravi termin PULP - verovatno ne, ili se radi o tzv trivijalnim filmovima/žanrovima - treba pitati one teoretičare filma i umetnosti  koji su ovakve podele smislili jako davno, a ne Kunca. (Možda je dodir socijalne drame ipak presudan)

I to nema veze sa kvalitetom filma, jer je Obučena da ubije najbolji DePalmin film i remek delo.

Prvo, ja nikoga nisam napao, nego sam hteo malo pojašnjenje jednog dokazanog filmofila o stvarima koje i ja volim.

Drugo, alexts, ti si majstor iznošenja opštepoznatih stvari, a izgleda da je u vašim krajevima uobičajeno da se ne čitaju postovi, već da se piše već napisano.

Elem, da se vratimo na temu. Mislim stvarno da je "pulp" pogrešan termin, jer on, valjda, označava takav svetonazor da se teško može posmatrati normalnim merilima.

Što se tiče "ozbiljnijeg filma", ne slažem se sa tim. Razumem da se može reći "ozbiljnija tema", pošto je reč o društveno svesnim filmovima koji se bave društvenim temama. Razumem i što većina ljudi (NE MISLIM NA BILO KOGA SA FORUMA, DA NE BUDE ZABUNE) ne može da shvati da je film o shizfrenim ubicama takodje umetnost i da se ozbiljnost u njemu ogleda u radu autora na njemu.

I ne znam stvarno kako Untouchables spada u istu kategoriju. Taj film je stilizovan do besvesti, muzikom, scenom, kostimom, glumom, you name it.

dočekah najzad prvi izveštaj!

bizarne su neke primedbe iz kojih izgleda da rivjuer nije čito roman, a kao i da nije baš naklonjen de palmi; iapk, većina primedbi mi zvuči realno i razumno i blisko onome što očekujem...



By TODD MCCARTHY
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931413?categoryid=31&cs=1


A literally ripping good yarn is undercut by some lackluster performances and late-inning overripe melodrama in "The Black Dahlia." Based on James Ellroy's estimable fictional account of what was, for 47 years, Los Angeles' most notorious unsolved murder, this lushly rendered noir finds director Brian De Palma in fine visual fettle as he pulls off at least three characteristically eye-popping set pieces while trying, with mixed success, to keep some pretty cockeyed plotlines under control. Given the difficulty even the significantly superior Ellroy adaptation "L.A. Confidential" had in attracting a sizable audience, anything more than a moderate B.O. turnout looks doubtful.
Like the novel, script by Josh Friedman ("War of the Worlds") uses the horrific 1947 killing of 22-year-old would-be actress Elizabeth "Betty" Short as a way to delve into the specifically Southern California brand of crime, sleaze, corruption, hypocrisy, cover-up, disillusionment and dream-crushing that has been a staple of resonant pulp fiction for decades.
In this respect, "The Black Dahlia" covers familiar ground, both thematically and in its seductively tawdry atmosphere highlighted by the usual downtown-area locations, deco apartments, constant cigarette smoke, beautiful cars, men in natty suits and hats and women in gorgeous glamour gowns, with the gap between the rich and powerful and those they would keep down never far from the center of things. Add the evocatively bluesy-jazz score and you might almost hear yourself muttering, "Chinatown."
But "Chinatown" it ain't, not in any department. On its own level, however, new pic generates a reasonable degree of intrigue, initially in the ambiguous relationship among tough L.A. homicide detectives Leland "Lee" Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), younger partner Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) -- former boxers nicknamed "Fire" and "Ice"-- and their voluptuous blond platonic ladyfriend Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson). What gives with this threesome isn't revealed until later, but Eckhart in particular takes the opportunity of the opening half-hour set-up to carve a strong impression as a volatile, aggressive cop ready for just about anything on a police force that craves his kind of guy.
In the first big set piece, the camera arches high and low and around and about in covering Lee and Bucky's stakeout of and shootout with some lowlifes in a lousy neighborhood. As their real target slips away, the mutilated body of a young woman is discovered in a field across the street; she's been cut in half, disemboweled and drained of blood, her head bludgeoned and her mouth extended by three-inch cuts on each side into a sick grin, details the police are intent on withholding from the public.
Hotshots Fire and Ice take on the case, but their few interviews with those who knew Betty Short yield little other than her grandiose dreams of movie stardom and her good-times attitude toward men, especially those in uniform.
Bucky becomes fixated on a long screen test he discovers in which Betty (Mia Kirshner) was prodded and interrogated by a director (voiced by De Palma himself).
Strangely, the combination of Betty's killing and the imminent release of a criminal he long ago put away makes the more experienced Lee flip out; with this, the most watchable and compelling character in the picture thus far frequently disappears from view for murky reasons, forcing the lower-voltage Bucky and Kay to the fore.
This changes for the better when Bucky's investigation into a lesbian angle in Betty's life leads him to high-society dark lady Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), who turns up during a wonderful for-gals-only supper club production number of "Love for Sale" crooned by none other than k.d. lang. The suggestive sparring between the working-class cop and the classy woman with a pronounced physical resemblance to the murder victim may not be of the highest order, but it's enough to get them where they need to go, between the sheets and into a hot romance involving untold layers of deception.
Madeleine proves the lowly Bucky's passport to the rarefied realm of the city's drippingly wealthy, starting with her family: There's naughty younger sister Martha (Rachel Miner), batty mother (Fiona Shaw) and strange Scottish father (John Kavanagh). A dinner scene with this quintet is so bizarre you can only laugh, with Shaw's perf so over the top, albeit intentionally, that it amounts to a curious spectacle unto itself.
The convergence in a marbled lobby with massive surrounding stairs of Bucky, the unhinged Lee and his now ex-con adversary provides the elements for De Palma's most virtuoso scene, one in which shocking and upsetting violence forever alters the trajectories of several lives and the picture.
Hereafter, revelations about who was up to what become essential, leading to a big and near-ludicrous explanatory scene in which far too much information needs to be swallowed in one gulp to be remotely digestible. Once the table has been cleared, it's hard to buy what's proposed here as a satisfactory resolution to an persistently baffling case.
Eckhart's very good and so is Swank as a temptress with many games to play. But Hartnett is too blank and expressionless to carry the picture; he narrates and is almost constantly on view, but offers little nuance or depth. His Bucky is the eternal hard-bitten cop who learns life's bitter lessons on the job. It's not the actor's fault that so many great macho stars have made their names playing such parts, but it's impossible to watch "The Black Dahlia" and not idly think of how indelibly Bogart, Mitchum, Sterling Hayden, Jack Nicholson, Russell Crowe and numerous others have handled such roles.
Although she looks properly in period, Johansson also is weak, evoking little of the requisite vulnerability in a damaged woman who keeps the reasons for her hurt, and her real emotional impulses, deeply submerged.
Seen mostly in the vintage black-and-white screen test and brief flashbacks, Kirshner nicely catches the unformed dreaminess of a young fabulist who became famous only in death, while supporting cast of lesser-known thesps playing cops and baddies registers well.
It's great to see cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond working at full command on a big picture again after several years on more marginal projects. His scope framing and constant camera moves possess a bracing confidence.
Much of the film was shot in Bulgaria, but you'd never know it, as Dante Ferretti's unerring production design and Jenny Beavan's costumes combine with sufficient Los Angeles exterior work to provide authentic atmosphere.
Mark Isham's moody, old-fashioned score is one of his best, pumping up the dread and suspense and often providing emotional substance where the actors can't manage it.

The Black Dahlia

 
  Lee Marshall in Venice 30 August 2006 23:00
 


Lee Marshall in Venice

Dir: Brian De Palma. US. 2006. 121mins.

A stylish, steamy genre exercise with a solid cast and a cluttered storyline, The Black Dahlia matches director Brian De Palma with hard-boiled LA crime writer James Ellroy with entertaining, if not wholly satisfying, results.

Working closely with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, set designer Dante Ferretti and composer Mark Isham, De Palma has nailed the queasy, menacing atmosphere of post-war Los Angeles and its obsession with violent death. Some classic De Palma themes – voyeurism, lookalikes, sexual ambivalence, shifting perspectives on the truth – are paraded, ensuring that fans of the love-him-or- hate-him director will be kept busy with the rewind button when the film comes out on DVD.

But The Black Dahlia lacks the masterful mesh between look, sound, story and character of another 1940s-set Ellroy adaptation, Curtis Hanson's LA Confidential. The smart, noir-literate general audience at which the feature will have to be pitched in order to recoup its $60m budget may well walk away with a sense of sadness at the opportunity missed, despite the solid star cast. Certainly it will have to work hard if it is to exceed the $126m worldwide gross of LA Confidential.

The Black Dahlia, which opens Venice, plays in the UK and US from Sept 15 (in North America it rolls out a week after the not dissimilar Hollywoodland), reaching most international territories during the autumn.

Based on the gruesome, unsolved 1947 murder of aspiring actress Betty Short – aka The Black Dahlia – De Palma's noirish buddy thriller is set in a seething, unstable Los Angeles in which the stink of corruption rises up from the flophouses of the red-light district to lap around the mansions of the rich.

The film starts off in police buddy mode, filling in the back story of the partnership between muscular LA cops Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), who first met in the boxing ring, where their nicknames were Mr Fire and Mr Ice.

Their friendship is sealed during a stylised streetfight between soldiers and sailors that comes on like Gene Kelly with ultraviolence. Later, it is put to the test when Blanchard introduces his new sidekick to his glamorous girlfriend, Kay Lake (Johansson), a smart cookie who is not above a little flirting with her man's best buddy.

When the murder that would appear to be essential to the plot finally happens, it does so in the background – literally, at the edge of a long crane shot – while Blanchard and Bleichart are busy on another case.

During the ensuing investigation, Bleichert finds himself torn between his unconsumed attraction to Kay and his relationship with Madeleine Linscott (Swank), a rich- kid femme fatale and Dahlia lookalike who seems to know more about the murder than she is giving away.

The Black Dahlia enjoys an intelligently structured screenplay from Josh Friedman (War Of The Worlds), but it often feels like it is running on separate tracks to De Palma's direction. Initially the disruption of the crime-investigation-resolution structure proves intriguing, but it then risks becoming wearisome, making an already difficult, switchback-laden plot even harder to follow.

Elements of noir and horror, steamy love triangle and grotesque black comedy co-exist all too uneasily. If anyone can pull off this kind of genre acrobatics then it's De Palma – but by the end, The Black Dahlia may leave audiences slightly resenting his sleight of hand.

Of the players, Josh Hartnett delivers an authentic take on what could have been a cliched character, the tough-but-vulnerable cop with a conscience. Scarlett Johansson proves subdued but still magnetic; Hilary Swank almost plays against type with a performance and Hepburn-esque accent that manage to stay the right side of hammy parody.

Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond is an able interpreter of the director's style quirks – like first-person camera angles and restless, swooping circular and vertical shots (though, as so often with De Palma, there are scenes that would have been just as effective if the camera had just kept still). Another De Palma trademark – voyeuristic fragments of film within the film – is neatly gauged, especially in the touchingly pathetic screen tests that give us our only glimpse of Betty Short (played affectingly by Mia Kirshner) in her pre-mutilation days (the voice of the cynical off-screen director is De Palma's).

Ferretti and costume designer Jenny Beavan have a lot of fun with the style vocabulary of 1940s Americana, mixing the familiar (trilbies, leather braces, sepia-tinged police HQ scenes, beach cafes right out of an Edward Hopper painting) with less obvious icons of the times, like the linear, modernist suburban home where Lee and Kay shack up.

Mark Isham's score segues from taut orchestral tension chords to jazzy, noirish trumpet and sax mood music as the case requires, and there's an enjoyable musical interlude featuring chanteuse kd lang in a lesbian nightclub.

Production companies
Signature Pictures Production
Millennium Films
Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG III
Nu Image Entertainment GmbH

International sales
Signature Pictures International
US distribution
Universal

Executive producers
Rolf Dehyle
Danny Dimbort
James B Harris
Henrik Huydts
Josef Lautenschlager
Trevor Short
Andreas Thiesmeyer
John Thompson

Producers
Art Linson
Avi Lerner
Moshe Diamont
Rudy Cohen

Screenplay
Josh Friedman, based on a novel by James Ellroy

Cinematography
Vilmos Zsigmond

Production design
Dante Ferretti

Editor
Bill Pankow

Music
Mark Isham

Main cast
Josh Hartnett
Scarlett Johansson
Aaron Eckhart
Hilary Swank
Mia Kirshner
Mike Starr
Fiona Shaw
Rachel Miner
Victor McGuire
Troy Evans
James Otis
Gregg Henry
 

 
meni ovo deluje odlicno,...

Black Dahlia


By Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter)

Bottom line: A gourmet meal somewhat overcooked.


"Black Dahlia" has the looks, smarts and attitude of a classic Brian De Palma/film noir thriller. During the first hour, the hope that the director has tapped into something really great mounts with each passing minute. Then, gradually, the feverish pulp imagination of James Ellroy, on whose novel Josh Friedman based his screenplay, feeds into De Palma's dark side. The violence grows absurd, emotions get overplayed, and the film revels once too often in its gleeful depiction of corrupt, decadent old Los Angeles. Disappointingly, the film edges dangerously into camp.

No, "Black Dahlia" never quite falls into that black hole. The actors in the major roles cling firmly, even lovingly, to their boisterous characters. The sordidness and madness never seem completely wrong given the rancid world the movie surveys. Nevertheless, the second half feels heavy and unfulfilled, potential greatness reduced to a good movie plagued with problems.

Because the want-to-see factor for this anticipated film is equal to your want-to-like desire, the film's domestic distributor, Universal, could enjoy potent boxoffice. But it might skew older, to fans of De Palma and crime fiction as well as those who recall one of Los Angeles' most infamous murders.

On Jan. 15, 1947, the city -- in its postwar frenzy of growth, development, racial tensions and unbridled ambition -- awoke to an unimaginable crime: The torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman named Elizabeth Short was found in a vacant lot off Crenshaw. The body was cut in half at the waist, disemboweled, drained of all blood and cruelly marked with grotesque taunts by her killer. The discovery sparked the city's greatest manhunt, but the killer was never found.


Which hasn't prevented continual articles, books, novels and documentaries from speculating on possible motives and suspects. Ellroy took a fictional crack at the case in arguably his best Los Angeles crime novel. It was typical Ellroy, who blamed the ghastly murder not on a deranged psychopath with a score to settle but rather police corruption, political chicanery, ruthless gangsters and various businessmen. In other words, the city killed Elizabeth.

Like any of his crackling crime tales, Ellroy surrounds historical events with fiendishly dark fictional characters. The cops on the case are Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), ex-boxers who become partners on the beat and off. Bucky finds himself in an unconsummated menage with Lee and his live-in lover, Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson). Each has troubling secrets.

Lee, hopped up on Benzedrine, grows obsessed with the Black Dahlia, as the newspapers named Elizabeth, driven to know everything about her. Bucky, too, is drawn to her fatal charm, especially when his lone-wolf investigation into lesbian bars brings him under the sway of an AC/DC hottie named Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), whose daddy is the richest developer in the city.

Characters, subplots and twists come fast and thick -- albeit abridged from an even greater onslaught in the novel. It is with the introduction of the Linscott family, though, that the story develops a noticeable wobble. Predictably, the Linscotts' involvement with the Dahlia proves extensive. Yet it is really so far-fetched. The family is one of those fictional creations where dementia, delusion and depravity run silent and deep, only to erupt in grotesque outbursts that border on the comic.

And speaking of comic, you should see De Palma and production designer Dante Ferretti's idea of a Los Angeles lesbian bar circa 1947. Instead of an underground hideaway, the place is a veritable Follies Bergere with half-naked chorines writhing and smooching on a towering stairway to the strains of a big band belting out Cole Porter.

But the film does many things right. The rapid dialogue is sharp throughout, as it should be because much of it is lifted from Ellroy's novel. Hartnett delivers an intriguing mix of tenderness, self-righteousness and self-incrimination -- Ellroy cops are never clean. Eckhart plays scenes at full throttle yet never feels out of control. As the good vamp, Johansson uses an angelic pout and faux innocence to have her way with men. As the bad vamp, Swank goes for such unrestrained sexuality that she makes the actual Dahlia -- Mia Kirshner seen in screen tests and one rather tame stag film -- seem almost demure.

Then there are the De Palma touches that pull you out of the movie: the black bird swooping down symbolically on the Dahlia's corpse, an earthquake thrown in for no good reason, Fiona Shaw's over-the-top performance as Madeleine's drug-addled mom, the rush of revelations in the final reel that feels more like footnotes than climactic moments.

Mark Isham's music is lush whether in a romantic or an overheated mood. Vilmos Zsigmond's graceful camera is a tad self-conscious as are sets and costumes, all a little too eager to flout their period trappings.

moram reći da mi ovi rivjui opisuju upravo film koji sam i očekivao, ni mnogo bolji ni gori no što sam pretpostavljao.
ukratko, falično remek delo.
ali to je ok opis za svaki de palmin film izuzev KERI i DRESSED TO KILL (koji su 'samo' remek dela), pa zato... i dalje jedva čekam...

jes, more
posto mi je tijelo u meriku, a srce u srbiju, odma cu da se odrazim sos utisci cim izidje mlif
za dve-tri nedjelje, u suncev smiraj, crna dalija, brajan de palmija, multipleksija, sklerozija
pa da vidimo je l falicno il vulvicno

Quote from: "Ghoul"izuzev KERI i DRESSED TO KILL (koji su 'samo' remek dela)

a BLOW OUT?

A Nedodirljivi i Lice s ožiljkom? Shvatam ja ta neki od vas više vole horor elemente, ali treba biti realan. Meni je lično baš legla i Femme fatale, odlična neo-noir studija koja bi bila remek-delo da je imala koherentniju centralnu priču.

Quote from: "Dr Kunac"A Nedodirljivi i Lice s ožiljkom?

Carlito's Way mi je ipak najbolji iz te grupe "ozbiljnijih" De Palminih radova.

Žrtve rata - je odličan film.

Sve u svemu De Palma ima respektabilnu filmografiju.

U vrhu su: Obučena da ubije, Keri, Untouchables, Body Double, gore pomenuti, po meni i Mission Impossible, verovatno Blow Out (nisam ga odavno gledao).

A tu su i ostali - dobri i veoma dobri filmovi.

Da, da... De Palma ima sjajan niz filmova...

Pogledajte samo ove naslove...

Femme Fatale (2002)
Mission to Mars (2000)
Snake Eyes (1998)
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Carlito's Way (1993)
Raising Cain (1992)
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
Casualties of War (1989)
The Untouchables (1987)
Wise Guys (1986)
Body Double (1984)
Scarface (1983)
Blow Out (1981)
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Home Movies (1980)*
The Fury (1978)
Carrie (1976)
Obsession (1976)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Sisters (1973)

Samo 3-4 filma bih izbacio iz obavezne filmske lektire (posebno ne volim Mission to Mars i Wise Guys) , ostalo su sve ili vrlo dobri ili odlični naslovi.

Sa De Palminim ranim radovima sam slabo upoznat, tako da neću da sudim...

*nisam gledao

Ja sam gledao (valjda) Get to Know Your Rabbit - davno, na TV.

Slabo se sećam, ali interesantno i potpuno drugačije od kasnijih filmova. Vi

Jel Blow Out radjen po Kortasarovoj prici ?

...mala zabuna-po Koratasarovoj prichi je radjen Antonijonijev BLOWUP(Uvecanje)...a De Palmin BLOW OUT nema nikakve veze ni sa tim filmom niti sa Kortasarom, a kod nas je prikazivan pod konspirativnim prevodom PUCANJ NIJE BRISAN...

Bogume, ne bih se zakleo da nemaju veze
u Antonionijevom blov apu, koji je radjen po kortasarovoj prici "djavolje bale", i na koji se kortasar metemprozno ovrnuo u svojoj prici "apokalipsa u solentinameu", radi se o fotografu koji je, jelte, usliko slucajno jedan les, i sad istrazuje sta se desilo, ali na kraju nije siguran ima li lesa ili nema
u tome smislu, de palma je, kao i uvek, majstor prostomoderne kradje, pa se kod njega, koliko se secam, radi o dizajneru zvuka koji usnimi vrisak, pa onda pocne da istrazuje itd.
nije fotograf, nego tonac, sto bi rekli
sad se jope moram osloniti na varljivo sjecanje, ali postoji scena kod antonionija kad taj fotograf uvecava fotografiju ubistva, pa onda u onim mrljama pokusava da vidi noge mrtvaka, a kod de palme ima veoma slicna stvar, kad dzontra nesto radi sa trakama
medjutim, kod de palma premisa vodi u drukciju konkluziju nego kod antonionija, i volio bih procitat kakav kompotrativni esej koji bi ispito autorske razlike medju tim redateljskim megafonima
jerbo se kod antonionija sve zavrsi nekom ljutom metafizikom na teniskom terenu, a kod de palma ljutom jurnjavom snimanom iz kelikoptera
sto ne iskljucuje metafiziku i kod de palme, jakako

Otvara danas u USA. Kritika ga nije (po)mazila: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_dahlia/

BLOW OUT je maltene zvanican rimejk BLOW UPa... U svakoj literaturi se pominju zajedno, a i sam naslov je jasna varijacija BLOW UPa. Nesto nezvanicnije se na BLOW OUT nadovezuje i CONVERSATION.

To je opste poznato, ne razumem kako mozes da tvrdis da nemaju veze?