Alicia I love this movie so much

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

marieltrokan When it comes to the future, protection from the present is to not be at risk because of the present.To not be at risk, because of the present, is to be at risk because of the past. To be at risk because of the past is impossible, because the past is unable to influence the present. The future is impossible, because the past is unable to change the present - the impossible is created by the inability of the past to create the present.In juxtaposition, it's the possible which is created by the ability of the past to create the present - reality is created by the ability of the past to create the present.Reality is created by the ability of the past to create reality.When the ability of the past creates reality, reality is created: when the ability of the past creates ability, ability is created.The ability of the past, is the non-ability of the present - the non-ability of ability. When the non-ability of ability creates ability, ability is created.An ability that's created isn't an ability or a creation: an ability that's created is an inability that isn't created.When the non-ability of ability creates ability, an inability is timeless.A non-ability ability is a timeless inability. When a timeless inability creates an ability, an inability is timeless.When a limited power creates a limitless power, a limitation is limitless.A limited power has a duty to improve itself so that the experience of limitation is better.A weakness needs to improve itself so that it's more fun to experience the weakness

grahamcarter-1 'The Black Dahlia' (2006) saw the sixty-six year old director needing a total of fifteen producers to get the film made. Eleven executive producers, one being the veteran James B. Harris, who had produced nine films ranging from Stanley Kubrick's 'The Killing' (1956) to 'Cop' (1988), which was also based on a James Ellroy novel. The four producers included Art Linson, who had produced 'The Untouchables' and 'Casualties of War' for DePalma, and 'Fight Club' (1999) for David Fincher; Fincher was originally slated to direct 'Black Dahlia'.Set in L.A but filmed in Pernik Bulgaria (only a handful of exterior scenes were shot in Los Angeles), James Ellroy's novel 'The Black Dahlia' is a fictionalized take on the still-unsolved murder of aspiring starlet Elizabeth Short. This is a daylight nightmare City of Angels, and Dante Ferretti (he has worked with Pasolini, Fellini and Scorsese), built elaborate sets of L.A on Bulgarian soundstages, that knowing he's no fool, are intentionally artificial. Good Cop Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert and the brunette Dahlia doppelgänger Madeleine Linscott stand before a portrait of 'Gwynplaine,' the deformed protagonist of Victor Hugo's novel 'The Man Who Laughs.' Bleichert says, "I don't get modern art," to which Madeleine responds, "I doubt modern art gets you either." The concerns of Hugo's Romanticism (incorporating his critique of aristocracy), Argento's fresco troubles, German Expressionism and film noir all link when the three leads go the cinema to see 'The Man Who Laughs' (1928), based on Victor Hugo's 'L'Homme Qui Rit' (1869). It isn't explained why they are watching a film from 1928 during a film set in 1947, however the deformity in the story mirrors the wounds on the victim Elizabeth. The German expressionism takes full flight during a flamboyant lesbian bar sequences, featuring a performer in full Dietrich drag, singing 'Love For Sale' among slinky French-kissing chorines. 'Giallo' in its gender confusion (and marginally so in the revelation of the murderer), Madeleine's frequenting of lesbian bars, prior to seducing Bleichert, makes her more a 'Giallo' character than 'femme fatale.' However, her biggest problem seems to be one of genes. When Bleichert comes for a family dinner it's not too far removed from a David Lynch scene, complete with her little sister gifting him a sketch she draws of Bleichert doing Madeleine doggy style!One of 'Black Dahlia's' weaknesses is that Madeleine and Elizabeth are supposed to be Doppelganger's; certainly Madeleine is a darker character than Elizabeth, but the link is merely Madeleine stating she heard Elizabeth looked like her (she doesn't), and thought it would be interesting to have a same sex experience with a lookalike. Narcissism in extremis.'Black Dahlia' would be nothing without two classic DePalma set-pieces; the first is the shoot-out in South Central, where DePalma who loves coincidence as much as Kieslowski ('The Double Life Of Veronique,' 1991), has a wonderful overhead crane shot lifting and rising to reveal the 'Dahlia' crime scene behind. It harks back to the Louma crane shot in Argento's 'Tenbrae'. One of the least The least Argento films of of DePalma's thrillers since 'Dressed To Kill', because it's also the least DePalma of the recent DePalma thrillers. A 'Giallo' sequence is squeezed in where Lee Blanchard, all hopped up on Benzedrine is dispatched on a grand staircase at the hands of a man with a deformed face, a woman in black, a shiny switchblade, and in slow motion. 'Black Dahlia' is about the Cops and how they react to the murder rather than the murder itself, much the way David Fincher handled 'Zodiac' (2007), proving he may have been a better choice to direct. DePalma tries to put his stamp on it and in many ways he fully embraces the Dario Argento within; a contrived plot, flashy camera work, performances anywhere from sleepwalking to operatic; the operatic, or rather, histrionic performance is by Fiona Shaw. She is certifiable. She pops up about half an hour in, reappearing at the end as… well, I could be talking about Argento's 'Deep Red'. Shaw's performance is in the tradition of Piper Laurie in DePalma's 'Carrie', or Piper Laurie in Argento's 'Trauma'.If DePalma didn't push the envelope of sex and violence and possess stylish camera work, he could come across as no more than a director of straight to video erotic thrillers of the eighties and nineties; the dialogue and performances don't reach much further. If he wasn't so talented he might have been asked to direct 'Night Eyes Three' (1993).

Bob An I feel relieved now that after taking a quick look at other reviews I see that I am not alone in the fact that I did not understand ANYTHING what was going on in the film! So... First of all, I did not understand whether the killed girl ( but there were many more killed - if I understood) was very famous in Hollywood or just some obscure wannabe star. I think I heard the both facts in the film !? And why and how is she important to the story of the film? Her connection to the main characters is very vague - to say the least! And plus, where were those black & white footage of her found? I can go on with the questions...but there are no answers. Maybe the film was conceived to be half told... but as this is not quite a mystery film ( to me) I do not thing that lingering questions add to the appeal of the film.Josh and Scarlett are both really beautiful / handsome in the film. They even kinda look as if they were really from the 50's ! Hilary is good too. Actually I think that those names kept me watching the film as the film itself is rather non-eventual and on the verge of being boring ...Five from me as I liked the brownish color of the film and for the costumes. Soundtrack could have been better ( if there is one at all).

blanche-2 The only thing I got out of this is that Scarlett Johannson should at some point play Lana Turner."The Black Dahlia" is a 2006 Brian De Palma film starring Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johannson, and Hillary Swank.However, don't let the title fool you. The 67-year-old unsolved Black Dahlia murder is only a subplot in this film, which primarily seems to be about the relationship between two former fighters turned homicide detectives, Bucky (Hartnett) and Lee Eckhart), and Lee's girlfriend Kay (ScarJo).In working on the Black Dahlia case in 1947 Los Angeles, Dwight gets mixed up with a wealthy but whacked out family, the Linscotts, where one of the daughters (Swank) resembles the Dahlia. Hillary Swank is a wonderful actress and a lovely woman, but she's not sexy, and I really didn't pick up any chemistry between her and Hartnett.The photography, atmosphere, and '40s depictions are of the highest quality. The story is gritty,slow, convoluted, and you really don't care about any of the characters. Style over substance.