L.A. Confidential... and what I learned from Peter Travers

The following is about Peter Travers' review of L.A. Confidential  in "Rolling Stone"
The full review can be found here...

Travers' review is not formal in its language, but instead (being that it was published in "Rolling Stone") lashes out and uses profanity to emphasis his point.

It's interesting that, today, the actors from the film are recognizable and famous (esp. Russell Crow), but at the time they were relatively unknown. As Travers writes,

"For the two Los Angeles police officers at the core of the plot, Hanson has cast Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, who happen to be native Australians and relative unknowns. The femme fatale is Kim Basinger, who hasn't made a movie in three years or been in hailing distance of a hit since the first Batman"

Overall, Travers praises the film, noting that Chinatown and the other initial markers for L.A. Noir were followed by several wanna-bees, but most of the time, the films were bad and heavily criticized. However, Travers believes that L.A. Confidential should be remembered as an important film for L.A. Noir. He notes the fantastic contrast between the characters, and the build up that results, paving the way for a twisty-turvy film in which, as Travers writes, "Moral rot infects the characters."




Travers is able to touch on several markers of the L.A. Noir genre in a remarkably short article (roughly a page). For instance, he writes about the moral ambiguity of characters in L.A. Noir, and how an audience should not have gone into the movie expecting to see/root for a hero. It's not about that. It's a bout the grittiness of human nature. For instance, one of the cops, played by Guy Pearce (Ed), wants to get ahead, and will do so at any cost. Thus, his actions for the most part are motivated not by strong morals/ethical concern, but by the drive to be better than everyone else. Although this is not an admirable trait, it is realistic.

Travers also mentions Kim Basinger's role as the femme fatale. I looked up what this means, and wikipedia gave me the following:

"A femme fatale is a stock character of a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art"

The femme fatale is also a trait of L.A. Noir. Basinger adopts this role int he film, as Travers remarks, for, just like Daphne in Devil in a Blue Dress, she uses her "feminine wiles" to get what she wants, and appears helpless and innocent, while more often than not being part of a dangerous plot.

There is also, as Travers writes, "Hollywood fixation". This seems to be a common trend in L.A. Noir: Hollywood. Los Angeles is in the title of the film, and is commonly used as the setting for Noir (i.e. Chinatown and Devil in a Blue Dress).

Travers also writes about the successful lighting executed in L.A. Confidential. He writes,

"Though the film is rich in atmosphere — cinematographer Dante Spinotti lights Ruth Myers' costumes and Jeannine Oppewall's production design to optimum effect — the emphasis is on character and on quality acting"

Dark lighting, or shadowy places, are a trope of Noir, and obviously L.A. Confidential was no exception to the rule. Lighting plays a very important role.

As a final note, here is a scene from the film that shows: femme fatale, shadowy lighting and... Russell Crowe in the film that made him famous...