L.A. CONFIDENTIAL [ENG]

by Curtis Hanson

It’s an outstanding movie, re-proposing one of the genres in which cinema has always expressed itself at its best: the fifties’ noir. A great director of photography reconstructs gingerly and with virtuosity the habits of the fifties.

The extraordinary actors have been thoughtfully chosen.

Once more the Academy Award proves to be a disagreeable prize, because attentive only to market demands. I mean that Kim Basinger is the only member of the cast whose interpretation is moot. But any further debate would be idle.

I’d like to say something about music, design, script and direction but even a nincompoop, watching the movie, could realise that he or she is beholding the work of professionals moved by sheer passion for the cinematographic medium. Anyway, isn’t that what noir was all about?

Massimo Betti