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| Russell
Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn,
James Cromwell |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Sid
Hudgens: Come to Los Angeles! The sun shines bright, the beaches
are wide and inviting and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye
can see. There are jobs aplenty. And land is cheap. Every working man
can have his own house. And inside every house, a happy all-American
family. You can have all this. And who knows? You could even be discovered...
become a movie star, or at least see one. Life is good in Los Angeles.
It's paradise on Earth.
Three
police officers working different cases together uncover corruption
in the Los Angeles police department.
 L.A.
Confidential has been compared - favorably - to Roman Polanski's
Chinatown, another convoluted post-classical thriller set in
a perfectly recreated historical Los Angeles. And though L.A. Confidential
clearly takes Polanski's masterpiece as one of its models, it is a film
that is exceptional in quite different and rather unique ways. Chinatown
is most notable for marrying the classical Chandleresque detective story
to a cynical contemporary sensibility quite typical for the mid-1970s.
It remains most famous for its period atmosphere, the wit of its dialogues
and for providing Jack Nicholson with his greatest role.
Hanson's detective story takes a radically different approach. Rather
than revelling in its 1950s setting, he stages the picture as a contemporary
action picture with details in costume and set design acting as subtle
indications that the story takes place in a different era. The dialogues
are crisp and well-written, but much tighter and more narrative-driven
than Robert Towne's loose, highly quotable screenplay. But L.A. Confidential's
strongest point is its ingenious structure: the three vastly different
and initially rather unsympathetic main characters are slowly drawn
together, as are their seemingly unconnected cases and subplots. This
culminates in a spellbinding combination of plotting and character development
that manages to tie up all the loose ends into a coherent and credible
package. |
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Region
1 and Region 2 releases are identical except for a few extra features
that are only available on the Region 1 version. This is a review of
the Region 1 release.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at 2.35:1. Upon this title's release
on DVD, this transfer was reference quality material. Two years later,
it's still a fine transfer, but it can no longer be counted among the
best ones available on DVD. The bit rate is a little low for our new
standards, and this sometimes results in graininess and occasional visual
noise. Colors are also sometimes a little unstable from scene to scene.
Black levels are good however and it still provides a most enjoyable
viewing experience.
The Dolby
Digital 5.1 sound mix is outstanding: much of the film is dialogue-driven,
and all the dialogues are crisp, strong and intelligible (though there
is occasionally obvious ADR). The surround field provides very subtle
ambient sound, but comes into play quite forcefully at key moments,
providing a dramatic and strong sound stage for Jerry Goldsmith's excellent
score and some fine directional sound effects in the action sequences.
This
Special Edition DVD lists quite a few features, though many of them
are disappointingly text-only. A 20-minute promotional featurette provides
the usual behind-the-scenes look at the movie and is worth watching.
Much more interesting is an item called 'The Photo Pitch'. It features
director Curtis Hanson explaining how he sold his vision of the movie
to producer Arnon Milchan by using a whole stack of period photographs
he had collected. It provides great insight into how the film's style
was developed and how well the period is represented in the film. Another
neat feature is a map of Los Angeles that lists several locations from
the movie. Selecting one of them brins up a brief clip from the film
that shows that location accompanied by commentary from the director.
He is so articulate and knowledgeable on the city and its history that
it makes one wish they had included a full audio commentary... The only
other audio track on this disc is a music-only track of Jerry Goldsmith's
score, but without any commentary from the composer to fill up the sometimes
rather long gaps between cues, it's not exactly riveting stuff to sit
through.
Many of the other features provide nuggets of info on the period or
on the film. One of the most amusing ones is one called 'Can't beat
those 1950s prices', with prices on ordinary consumer goods that show
what a different era the 1950s were for ordinary household items.  The
animated menus now have a somewhat dated look to them, but are still entertaining
and quite functional. Menu options are presented in the form of headlines
in a tabloid magazine, and much attention has been lavished on the details.
The Scene Selections menu provides animated previews with sample dialogues
of the available chapters, and the entire design is consistent and clear.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on L.A.
Confidential .
Click here
to return to the front page.
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