This Movie Chews Souls

Rating: Null/10 (18 June 1999)

James Ellroy is without question writer of the decade. As the man himself has said, his books are all masterpieces. They are literary time bombs, volumes densely packed with characters real and imagined, horizons as broad as the American coastline and as focused as the view from your bedroom window, looking in. And words, words, words. Ellroy gets off on words. The rhythm, the sound, the look, the texture, the meanings. So we should be thankful that the movie version of one of his best novels isn't simply a huge disaster. It should be enough that it's a watchable film and let it go at that. But watching L.A. Confidential again, a strange and unexpected thing happens: it actually improves. The first time through, all the Ellroy fan can do is compare it to the book and come away satisfied with this, disappointed with that. After that, you can disassociate the movie from the book and appreciate it for what the cast and crew have accomplished, not for what they borrowed from the author. Hanson demonstrates a cinematic eye (and ear, for that matter) that remained well hidden in the popular, pedestrian thrillers he made his name with. The script by Hanson and Brian Helgeland has been justly praised for its Herculean task of concentrating Ellroy's sprawling prose into a focused narrative without watering it down. But it deserves kudos simply as a model screenplay, regardless of the source material. The plot is serpentine, with more important characters to keep track of than any ten films. It is always presented clearly and, even more importantly, engagingly. Never do they resort to plot-explaining monologues and the few flashbacks are subtle and necessary. The ensemble cast disappears within their roles, perfectly embodying the very specific attitude that was Los Angeles in the 1950's. Even in movie reviews when the film came out, most of the praise for L.A. Confidential's success went to James Ellroy. But this is more than just a great adaptation, it's a great movie. And, as always, that's off the record, on the Q.T., and very hush hush.