1 Introduction (or Positioning)
It's the most puzzling movie I've seen this year, foggy and dizzy. After watching it several times, there are still many doubts; after several weighing, it is still necessary to include it in the future classics - perhaps it will not be tolerated in the current world, and it will be glorified in film history in a few years. This is because its complexity is ahead of the moviegoers, and it is bound to go through countless good deeds to analyze, refute, and evaluate in order to reveal its true face and release great wisdom.
Brian de Palma used such a film to become an immortal, but the first "Ma" people such as me also completed the transformation of idols from worship to admiration.
Gossip less, first throw bricks.
2 Confusing "fucking" stories about the film
Telling the plot of "Black Dahlia" will be thankless, this story adapted from the best-selling novel almost omits the laying ground in the original book, and deliberately hides a huge number of details in the film, scattering and transferring several cases to the stack, forcing the viewer to be crazy as I want to. If anyone who wrote the film review of this film omits the plot, it must be lazy Gamon. Fortunately, the most important ethic of film critics is to point to the point of the movie plot, so here may be a little bit about my superficial cognition. But in any case, I still hope that you will watch the movie first, so as not to lose the fun of "detecting" alone.
The film features two male protagonists: Butch and Lee, and three heroines: Kate, Marilyn, and Elizabeth Short (i.e., Black Dahlia), in which in addition to Short, the two pairs of men and women have ambiguous love and hatred entanglements with each other.
Butch, as a police forced back, gained the opportunity to advance to Become Lee's partner by deliberately losing to Lee in a boxing match, as well as Lee's trust – of course, this is only what Butch took for granted at the beginning. Kate is Lee's girlfriend, and the relationship between the two is equally confusing, and Kate clearly has a great affection for Butch.
The duo took over a serial murder, the first in the film. The culprit is a guy named Nash, who has repeatedly and cunningly escaped the police. During an ambush operation in Nash, Lee shot a suspect under surveillance for the protection of a somewhat absent-minded Butch by his side, and Butch was grateful. But this tall, thin white man was not Nash, but someone else.
The gun battle at the ambush site had just ended when a woman's horn was heard not far from the street, and Short's body was found nearby. This is the second case in the film, the Black Dahlia case, which is also the main case. In the process of investigating the Dahlia case, Butch finds Madeleine, a rich woman who is very similar to Dahlia, through clues. The two developed a crush on each other in a mutual temptation, in fact, it was just Madeleine's deliberate seduction to stabilize Butch.
At this time, Lee is anxious about another case, and Bobby Duwy, the main criminal of a bank robbery case who is about to be released from prison, has thrown Lee and Kate into panic, which is the third case of the film.
At this point, all three cases in the film have been introduced, and the three have not intersected in the facts of the case, but overlap in a special place and time, as well as the case handler Li Shang. The atmosphere of confusion grew stronger.
The perspective of the film is based on Butch from beginning to end, at this time, Lee's hidden actions behind the camera are being exposed little by little, and it turns out that Lee is the real protagonist of this drama. Bobby Duwyn on the underworld colluded with Lee on the white road, Bobby was responsible for smuggling, drug trafficking, and bank robbery, and Lee was responsible for eliminating crimes, eliminating mouths, and leveling the police community. The offending Bobby is blackmailed by Lee and has to give Lee a sum of money (eventually found by Butch in the sewers of Kate's house) and takes the opportunity to possess Bobby's woman, a former prostitute, Kate. Bobby's early release from prison left both Lee and Kate in a panic. The tall white man who was shot at the scene of the ambush and arrest of Nash (the first case) was the only witness who knew about Lee and Bobby's plot (the third case), and Lee's so-called saving Butch's life at that time was only to find a sufficient reason for him to shoot and kill, but Butch inexplicably made false testimony for Lee.
The more Butch felt that Madeleine's behavior was suspicious, the more he could not resist her seduction. In fact, Butch and Kate also developed a sincere relationship, but because of their guilt for Lee, they could not explain everything, so they had to seek relief from Marilyn. Marilyn, this scorpion-like woman is the darling of Hollywood's rich and a standard slut. The complexity of her life may have been the reason for her depravity. Her mother's marriage to her titular father, Emmett, was nothing more than a ladder for Emmett to become a Hollywood magnate, and Lamona, who was emotionally empty from being deceived, finally had an adulterous affair with Emmett's partner and director George, and gave birth to Marilyn.
It wasn't until Marilyn grew up that Emmett saw the hint of it in her appearance, and he wanted revenge. He first disfigures George in a car accident, and then has an unexpressible ambiguous affair with Marilyn, all of which makes Ramona a complete insane crazy woman.
Emmett finds an actress who looks like Marilyn, Short, who is also a black dahlia. He wanted to stimulate and punish the mad woman and George in this way. As a director, George gradually developed lust for Schett in one audition after another, and in the lesbian-themed, there was an indescribable sadness in Short's eyes. Butch speculates again and again in the image.
At this time, Lee has killed Nash alone, in fact, he and Nash also have an unspeakable cattiness, and Butch who has withdrawn from the Dahlia case is furious, because Lee's actions are not only suspected of greed, but also block Butch's continued investigation into Nash's case. (At this point, the first case is closed, and to be honest I haven't figured this out yet.) ）
Finally, the mad woman could not stand Emmett and Marilyn's teasing of George and herself, and even more unable to stand George's betrayal, just when he wanted to rape Short, he raised the baseball bat in his hand, and poor Short screamed for his life.
Bobby Douvin is finally released from prison, and Lee follows him to a mansion, while Marilyn and George follow Lee as well. It turned out that Lee knew Marilyn's address and identity through Butch's matchbox, so he found Emmett and Marilyn one step ahead of time, threatened to ask for money and possessed Marilyn, really a real scum, fortunately Marilyn is not a good bird. Butch also arrives at the mansion, ending in the end where Lee kills Bobby, Marilyn kills Lee, and Lee and George die together.
Butch finds Marilyn, exposes the truth, and shoots her through. Butch returns to Kate and finally finds peace in this former prostitute.
3 fascinating tips about the film
Finally, we can leave the Rausch sub-plot alone and let's indulge in the video world of de Palma.
First of all, this practice of really testing the patience of the viewer and hiding all the details behind the image will make people addicted after reading the film. Butch, as the protagonist on the table, plays a role in pulling the plot, but the development of the truth is hidden in the actions of Lee, who is not seen by the viewer, and this deliberate obstacle increases the difficulty and fun of watching the movie.
In addition, the clever and clever setting of the scene within the scene in the film is amazing. It is not so much a play-in-the-play as a film-in-the-movie, because several pieces are more like images than dramas, but this treatment provides the viewer with empathy, authenticity and credibility for a better understanding of the Dahlia case.
Let's talk about de Palma's footage. The film's movement can be described as stoic, very calm, and sometimes even make you think how this can be called a thriller, but the tension running in calm gives the viewer a strong attraction. Several typical symbolic shots are also in place, such as the crow pecking at the corpse, although the intention is clear but not abrupt.
The film has several uncomfortable horror shots, such as the naked corpse that has been cut in two, and the corner of the mouth cut with a knife, which are all shots that challenge the visual limits, but in de Palma's concise and meticulous picture, the viewer's discomfort will be dissolved by the atmosphere created by light and shadow, color, and movement, forming a calm poetry, calm but frozen inside. As for the long shot used when the two cases intersect, it is even more skillful and atmospheric, jumping out of the boredom of showmanship, and well showing the subtle relationship between chance and necessity in the world.
The soothing and melodious soundtrack aptly interprets the film's intent, and Mark Isham's music gives the film great power in the air, not sensational, not pretentiously deep, and extremely capable.
All of this is a classic necessity.
4 A brief view of the film's performance
Josh Hartnett has never performed so superbly, and in Pearl Harbor, Sin City, and 40 Days of Abstinence, he is just a hairy boy with a slight idol temperament, but in this film, he perfectly shows Butch's state of life from chaos to sobriety, and completes the credible redemption of the character's heart at the end.
Alan Eckhart is the soul of the film hidden in the shadows, and Arun's performance gives Lee, a man of honesty and courage on the surface, greedy and sinister at heart, 100% credible, which alone deserves to be appreciated.
Compared to Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank, the black Dahlia Schott played by Mia Koshner is more exciting. Although it only appears in a few films in the film, each change of emotion shocks the viewer, and perhaps the expression of the black and white texture highlights the charm of the characters.
Of course, Johnson and Swank also completed the portrayal of the characters well, but compared to their fame and talent, they will feel that this is just a matter of course.
5 Summary (or Outlook)
There is no need to dwell on the love of de Palma, all his films are my favorites. In this part, I saw his metamorphosis. In the past, whether it was playing violence or suspense, Parma was a master, and even formed a unique "Pa" style. But this film adapted from the best-selling book achieves a balance of expression and performance, and integrates the story and narrative methods and means well, so that it has a charm and tension rarely seen in Parsley films, and has the possibility of becoming a classic in the future.
Admittedly, too many people will think that this is a complicated, contrived, false, or even retrogressive film, but I am more convinced that this is the initial stage of the interpretation of the classics, and everything will return to where it should have appeared after clarifying the superficial entanglement, at least for the moment, I am convinced of it.
6 helpless and useless complaints
How to say, no need to say. Although I waited for a few months after the film was drawn, and waited until Chuangjia came out with 1 District Jane 9 to buy it, the outrageous Chinese translation in the disc was still unexpected. Other films are just that, such a film that needs to rely on dialogue and narration to understand the content, a large number of misstranslations and mistranslations are nothing less than a closed door for people like me whose English is bad enough. Poor I took the English dictionary word by word to understand the sourness of several key points, one will swear to learn English well, one will grit my teeth and scold the disc dealer for lacking the spirit of theft and taoism, but finally I have to compromise, delusional and delusional to see mercy and wait for a district 3 Hong Kong version, or when the new version of district 1 will be washed, it is not easy for Chinese film fans to see. Needless to say, good movies will not be annihilated, no matter what kind of setbacks, denigration, there will always be a time to bloom.