L.A. Confidential Film Review

After watching L.A. Confidential we decided to write a classic film review, before we started to write our film reviews in a group we looked at key elements and other film reviews, this gave us a chance to get idea and maybe encorporate them into our film reviews. I found this had to start with but found looking at other film reviews for inspiration very useful. I learnt throughout that you really need to link with your reader and a bit of cheesy lines don't go a miss, a film review needs to be easy to read and clear.

L.A. Confidential (1997)

From start to dramatic finish L.A. Confidential’s plot zig zags like knife slashes, the movie brings the thrill of corruption crackingly to life. If you haven’t yet seen L.A. confidential, stop everything your doing and watch it now! The beauty of this film is the un-known, I want you to see this film as I did with no expectations and no idea who’s the hero, who’s the villain, or even what the stakes are. L.A. Confidential isn’t just a great movie; its an amazing deconstruction of the noir ‘genre’ (if you will permit to call it a genre). L.A. Confidential is a film noir. L.A. Confidential is set in 1950’s Hollywood where it was still seen as America’s capital of sophistication, glitter and glamour but is there “trouble in paradise”?

Based on the best-selling novel by James Ellroy, this award winning crime drama explores both the dark side of the Los Angeles police force and Southern California’s criminal underbelly in the early 50’s.

As far as noir stories go, L.A. Confidential is nothing new and conforms perfectly to the ‘genre’. The investigation of a brutal murder involving a dead cop and four other people at a diner eventually spirals out of control as lies, cover-ups and deceit are revealed. Characters twist and turn in the wind so much that you are not sure who to trust. Well, except out the three cop anti-heros that is: Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), Bud White (Russell Crowe) and Edmund Exely (Guy Pearce). These three chase down the clues that lead to the major city-wide cover-up and peal back the dirty secrets of a city trying to look clean. Insert a blonde femme fatale in the form of Lynne Bracken (Basinger), and you have yourself the perfect makings of a neo noir.

Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) performs brilliantly throughout the film and we really see his character develop and watch him become a strong and heroic policeman from the timid and dismissive policeman that he was at the start. Bud White (Russell Crowe) plays a strong character whose main intentions for being in the police are to sniff out women beaters, even going as far as to kill a Negro for abusing a woman but with a raging temper will he be able to stop himself when he finds out what his new love has been up too? Russell plays Bud amazingly and the film would not have been right without him.

Typical of neo noir the whole film is in colour which works really well and allows the lighting to take a lot of effect. Throughout the film we are treated to voice over of the journalist for magazine Hush-Hush Sid Hudgens (Danny Devito) bribing the police for killer stories (literally), this is very common with both film noir and neo noir movies and also informs the audience of a lot of information in a short amount of time. Another typical neo and film noir feature that is present throughout is dark lighting with single source lighting, this is present up until the end where all the secrets are revealed and happiness is restored.

Just like a gripping book that you can’t put down, once you have started watching L.A. Confidential you must watch it to the end so that everything becomes clear. Director Curtis Hanson has most definitely managed to tick all the boxes with his exemplary film. There is a reason why L.A. Confidential won an Oscar, and that is because it is absolutely amazing.

Final ideas for film

Final ideas for narrative plot:In the present day in a quite location, the man 1 (detective) asks the women 1 (wife) what really happened. Flash back, voiceover of women 1 (wife) explaining what happened. Romantic scene with women 1 (wife) and man 2 (husband). The man 2 (husband) then purposely takes of his ring and places its down, women 1 (wife) runs after him thinking he left it by mistake, follows him to a diner where he meets women 2 (waitress). Women 2 (waitress) turns out to be man 2 (husband) lover. Next day women 1 (wife) goes to diner to confront her, leaves her address and time on the table and tells women 2 (waitress) to meet her. Meet at women 1’s (wife) home and arrange murder to make it look like suicide. Man 1(detective) and man 3 (policeman) investigate, soft interviews with both women 1 and 2 (wife and waitress). They go back to the police office and compare their interviews notice mistakes. Women 1 (wife) calls asking man 1 (detective) to meet her, the meet up and kiss. Women 1 (wife) offers him money and family to run away with her, tells him it was murder not suicide but blames women 2 (waitress). Back to present day where man 1 (detective) realises women 1 (wife) has lied and it was her, man 1 (detective) then kills her. Man 1 (detective) calls man 3 (policeman) he tell him that he needs to see him and that he has something to tell him. Back to flashback, where man 1 (detective) collects evidence against women 2 (waitress), he tells man 3 (policeman) that women 2 (waitress) is guilty but they argue over it but eventually man 1 (detective) is right. Man 1 and 3 (detective and policeman) arrest women 2 (waitress). Cut to women 1 (wife) packing money into a bag, while man 1 (detective) is outside waiting with the car they load the bags and go off happily. Cut back to present day where man 3 (policeman) turns up, man 1 (detective) explains everything and agrees to help if he gets come money, man 1 (detective) still in shock agrees. Man 3 (policeman) makes her murder look like self defence. The end.
Breakdown of characters:Women 1 = Wife

Women 2 = Waitress

Man 1 = Detective

Man 2 = Husband

Man 3 = Policeman
Final ideas of scene:-Present day; Colour; Man 1 (detective) questions women 1 (wife) of what really happened
-Flash back; Black and white; Man 2 (husband) and women 1 (wife) love scene
-Flash back; Black and white; Man 2 (husband) and women 2 (wife) cheating scene
-Flash back; Black and white; Women 1 (wife) and women 2 (waitress) meet for the first time, she leave note with address
-Flash back; Black and white; Women 1 (wife) and women 2 (waitress) plot to kill man 2 (husband) and make it look like suicide
-Flash back; Black and white; murder scene
-Present day; Colour; Man 1 (detective) now knows the truth, kills women 1 (wife) and calls man 3 (policeman)
-Flash back; Black and white; Man 1 and 3 (detective and policeman) interview both women (wife and waitress)
-Flash back; Black and white; Man 1 and 3 (detective and policeman) back at police station realise stories don’t match up. Women 1 (wife) calls to meet man 1 (detective)
-Flash back; Black and white; Man 1 and women 1 (husband and wife) meet up and arrange to run off together and she frames women 2 (waitress) saying she killed her husband, lying to man 1 (detective)
-Present day; colour; Man 1 and man 3 (detective and policeman) meet and all is explained to man 3 (policeman) he takes all the money to make it looks like women 1 (wife) was killed in self defence.

L.A. Confidential

L.A. Confidential is a 1997 neo-noir film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the year 1953, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity.
Mise-en-secne
- Black and white hood; innocent/nun
- Lighting through bars; could represent jail bars
- Phone; old fashioned
- Cigar and whiskey; mainly men
- Suits/shirts/smart/neat
Camera Work
- Camera angle used so as not to show her face
- Shot of news paper article/gun/police badge helps show corruption
- Over shoulder; Point of view; Pan down to bodies, the camera slowly tilts to reveal whats happened.
Editing
- Slow cross cutting in the nite owl murder scene; blood/emprty till/Ed; this helps build up tension; the use of slow camera movements is also used to add tension.
- Jump cuts used to show the passing of time.
Sound
- Voice overs
- Christmas music in background helps portray the time of year.
- short / quick/low tone music helps build up tension before findin bodies.
Chracters
- Sgt Jack
- Karren; love interest
- Hutchins; reporter
- Bud White; very protective over women
- Ed Exley; glasses/bullied
- Dudley; head of police
Narrative/plot
- Trouble in paradise
- Corrupt/crime
- Drugs
- Best police in world
- Hollywood
- Police department; insulting prisoners
- Nite Owl
- Opens with voice overs of journalist; carries on throughout
All L.A. Confidential notes
- Jack puts drugs in his pocket; close up shot; corrupt police
- Pan of alcohol being poured; corrupt police
- Fighting in cells (mexicans); police not playing by the rules; Ed Exely shown as a good cop
- Bud and Jack will not testify but Ed will; intelegent/quick
- 'Badge of honour'; gives the police power; misuse it; don't deserve it
- Press has the power; don't want to look bad
- deep long shots used throughout; common of film noir
- Jack walking towards camera revealed in background
- Low key lighting/drak/night time; common of film noir
- Police taking suspects to isolated abandon areas to beat them up; corrupt police
- Venetion blinds open; revelaing deep shot of location
- Long corridors; low lighting
- Costumes; shirts/suits/smart/ neat/hair styles
- Murder; Nite Owl; Links to dark/night; common of film noir
- Split screen of her dead body and her talking; flashback for Bud White
- Racism displayed over who murdered the victims in the Nite Owl
- Sharp adjustment of light when door is opened and Bud White is revealed
- Potential relationship between Bud and Mrs Bracken
- Good cop; makes mistake by killing negros
- Bud kill negrro old man for beating women;hides evidence make it look like he took a shot at him
- Dudley kills Jack because he was on to something
- Day light scene at the end; when everything is revealed; femme fatal in yellow dress.
Binary Opositions
- Christmas vs Fighting
- Hero vs Abuser
- Loyalty vs Deception

First ideas for film title

First Idea for film title:
- Violent Money
- Violent Cash
- Hard Money
- Hard Cash
- Double Cross
- Triple Cross
- Money Mania

First ideas for film

First Ideas for narrative/plot:
Three women, rich women’s club. Plot to kill husband/lover and chare the life insurance money.Women 1 (wife) persuades women 2 and 3 to kill him as she as she takes watch as she knows the neighbours. At the same time she is having an affair with the reporter, who she contacts when outside while the murder is taking place. He calls the police and arrests them just after the murder however wife does not get arrested as it is not clear she is involved. Women 1 (wife) gets life insurance money left in husbands will, keeps it all to herself and gets money from the reporter for her inside story.
First idea for film layout:
- Starts with the two women in the cell- Then flashback to the story and murder- Ends with her running away with the money leaving the reporter

Audience theories

Write about audience theories explaining which one/s you are likely to consider in your film noir coursework and how and why?

Film Noir is French for black film, it is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas. It was popular between the early 1940s to the late 1950s, but is seen as outdated now could this because of the cultivation theory.

The Uses and Gratification theory was established by the researchers Blulmer and Katz in 1974, this was after the first generation to grow up with television widely available (1960s) The Uses and Gratification theory suggests that individuals might choose and use a text for a range of purposes including; Diversion (escaping reality), Social Interaction (the water cooler effect; talking about the text in a social environment i.e. work), personal identity (finding yourself, learning and relating to others), Surveillance (voyeurism) and to fill a gap (stories about socially difficult situations i.e. Eastenders with abortion). After studying the Uses and Gratification theory we think that this is something we need to consider when making our film noir. We would want our audience to personally identify with our characters, to feel a sense of diversion and to get encapsulated in our story.

The Reception theory was established between 1980 and 1990 by Stuart Hall. It highlights how individual circumstances (gender, class age and ethnicity) affect their reading of a text. Stuart Halls encoding/decoding model of the relationship between text and audience explains how the producers encoded text which is then decoded by the audience. Producers can use ‘preferred readings’ to ensure that the audience will decode the text in the way the produce intended to be. For example specific movie stars are used to portray a character that relates to their personal life and history in other movies. Whilst creating our film noir we will have to think carefully about all potential messages that different members of the audience will decode. To help get the correct message across to all readers we will attempt to use ‘preferred readings’.

The cultivation theory was developed by Daniel Chandler in the 1960s.  It explains the effect a text has on the audience, he believes the more the you told or watch something the more you accept it. This is why old thrillers are much softer and new thrillers which often include a vast amount of swearing, violence and sexual content. He believed that violence in media encourages real life violence and that attitudes can be changed by the media. For this reason we think that film noir is not as popular in modern day due to the low amount of ‘video nasty’s (i.e. missing violence, drugs etc). This is something that we will incorporate in our film noir production so that it can be enjoyed in the twenty first century.

Overall whilst creating our film noir production we have decided to consider with great detail the three above theories. With this in mind we hope that our production will be suitable for all audiences and that it will be thoroughly enjoyed.

Brick

Brick is a 2005 American neo-nior film writted and directed by Rian Johnson. The title refers to a block of heroin, compressed roughly to the size and shape of a brick. Neo-nior is a style often seen in modern otion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir.

Our group watched Brick together in class and made notes during, due to watching it in class we had to watch it split up in several sessions. This made the film slightly confussing. Whilst watching the film I made notes on the 6 key elements; mise-en-scene, camera work, editing, sound, characters and narrative.

Characters

- Brendan; main character and detective, although he looks small and timid is actually very strong.

- Emily; The girl Brendan loves however, she ends up dying.

- The Brain; Brendan's only true friend, helps him with his investigations (mainly only heard on the phone not seen)

- Laura; the rich girl, femme fetal, double crosses Brendan.

- Tug; initiator, crime bosses hench man, confussing character.

- The Pin; Crime boss, drug dealer.

Mise-en-scene

- Cigarette with an arrow on it (Laura giving Brendan clues)

- Leftlet/invitation with an arrow on it (Laura giving Bredan clues)

- Laura wearing red; seductive and dangerous

- Single shot lighting used throughout; sun, car lights, street lights etc.

- Brendan wears a modern version of a beige mac, this is because it is neo-nior and not film noir.

Camera work

- Zoom on note with a bridge scetch drawing of a hafl circle and a line through it and midnight written below with clock in the background changing to 12:00 out of focus.

Editing

- The image which was a point of view shot of Brandan looking at 'The Pin' was blurred when he had his glasses of but in focus once he put his closes on again this was a point of view shot. I really liked this editing and I think it added a lot of effect.

Sound

- Throughout the film there is non diegetic music, this was accoustic/procussion music with bells. This was used to add tension.

- Voice overs where used to depict an argument but allow the film progress this is a good time saving technique.

- Diegetic sound of a match being stricked was used, this was seen by a small ball of orange light. This was edited to make it louder and more noticable to the viewer.

Narrative

- The films narritive centers on a detective story that takes place in a california suburban. Most of the characters are still in high school.

- Its a race against time for Brendan to find his friend, unfortunally he is not quick enough and she is murdered. This leads brendan to the drug underworld and fights start to take place. He double crosses the bad guys so that they get caught by the police, whilst setting up all of this the femme fatal of the movie Laura goes behind all of their backs but brendan is on to her and sets her up right at the end by planting all the drugs in her school locker.