Ok...what in the HELL happened? Everything was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo confusing. Could anyone explain teh entire movie to me or show me a website that exlpains the movie's plot, please???
shareshmeevill
thank for pointing out what not many have the guts to say
I was baffled by this movie....
and it is NOT a case "Im too dumb to get, if I were as smart as you- Id get it"
it is confusingly told and that makes it bad cinema
beautiful LOOKING film, badly written
I looked at that synopsis someone posted here
it helped, but good art shouldnt need a synopsis, it should speak for itself
ps aside from a woman names elizabeth short being murdered- NONE of this even pretends to be historically accurate- does it?
[deleted]
1) Can't understand Mrs. Linscott and Georgie's motive for killing Short. Were they just psycho? Why kill a young woman who looks like their own daughter?
Go to the following link to read a detailed synopsis of the BOOK. It is even more complicated than the movie, and has major differences, but will help you understand the movie.
http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_Black_Dahlia
Understand this: Brian De Palma's 3-hour director's cut, highly praised by original novelist James Ellroy, was studio-slashed by an entire HOUR. The result was to render a complex story nearly incomprehensible.
Doctor Mabuse, Evil Genius, King of Crime
I also found the story quite convolouted and had to re-watch multiple sections. I think by the end I kind of get it although I don't really know what the motive is to be honest.
shareI had just finished watching "The Road To Nowhere" then "Black Dahlia" was shown next. After that experience, I'm off movies for a while. :-)
Suggestion for those who are having issues with this - or any other movie - try watching with closed caption on. You'd be surprised how many things get said in a movie that you never even know someone is speaking.
That being said - I am surprised so many people found this movie incomprehensible. I'm not passing judgement on anyone for it though. Yes, it is complicated, and I did rewind two scenes while watching the first time to be sure I completely understood what had happened, but I was not baffled by it. You don't realize until the end how all these little pieces are tied together and it happens so quickly that if you haven't paid close attention and absorbed all the finer details it's hard to wind it all up.
Yup - the motive for the murder of Elizabeth Short is pretty weak IMO. But, as the real murder has never been solved, I guess the author's idea is as good as anyone's.
I agree with another poster that Hilary Swank was woefully miscast. She is a great actress - but no femme fatal - not with her looks. ugh!
Someone did finally give a good synopsis of this movie in this thread - so keep going til you get there, it's not all just people putting down the movie, author, director, each other etc.
I don't think this is a bad movie by any means. I'd much rather a movie like this that requires me to pay attention and think than some action/cgi packed nonsense, or worse - so (so-called) comedy that's full of nothing but bodily function and gross out humor and gratuitous nudity. Why do you think studios feel they have to cut the length down on films like this? Because they don't think the average movie viewer will want to watch something not filled with stunning visual effects or full frontal nudity for more than 2 hours.
I read both The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential. LA Confidential is a much better movie because it's much less convoluted than the book.
The Black Dahlia tried too hard to be faithful to the book. It would have been impossible to stay faithful to the story AND make a movie that lasted less than 2 hours.
I also remember watching this flick at the dollar movie. The theatre was nearly empty. It was me and a bunch of retirees. It took a couple of sittings for me to understand all of what was going on, since there were so many different things happening at once.