andrewschrock Reviews

The Black Dahlia (2006)

confusing, but not for intended reasons

[2/10 · 18 September 2006]

I know what you're thinking: "Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, and Scarlet Johansson.. can't be too bad," right? Unfortunately, despite its pedigree, it's really bad. So bad that it's difficult to comprehend. Bafflingly bad.

It's not a good film noir. The script is piecemeal and the pieces of the plot just don't fit together. For one, thing the entire movie is not about the black dahlia murder. For another, peoples actions aren't so much shrouded and mysterious as random and confusing. Throughout you can't shake the feeling you're watching a movie that was written as some kind of stream of consciousness experiment, wrapping a script around a couple half-baked ideas.

Film noir deals in clichés, but here statements meant to be poignant come off as laughable. The movie is cheesy to the extreme, and through a combination bad editing and a poorly written script, crosses a line where the plot just does not make sense any more. The intended revelation at the end of the movie would be better suited to an episode of law & order.

In short, save your money, unless you're looking for a way to vet your movie dates to see if they have any taste.

Devils on the Doorstep (2000)

Essential and historic Asian cinema

[9/10 · 7 May 2005]

Do I feel late to the party on this one - how could I overlook this for the last 4 years? I was floored.

Watching "Devils on the Doorstep" reminded me of the first time I watched "seven samurai". Barring obvious comparisons such as being shot in black & white, using a combination of drama and comedy, and finishing it off with a startling ending, the movie's sense of time was fluid thanks to an excellent screenplay. Although the movie is lengthy, like many gems of Asian cinema, it was anything but a chore to watch it.

The plot is deceivingly simple, come alive thanks to Jiang's poetic directorial style. His characterization is succinct, but evocative, built up from his own personal memories. His vision of war has many ties to US cinema, with delirious, often hauntingly surreal, images of people trying to reconcile their own individual nature with that of being part of a collective.

I can see why Chinese censors would take offense to the film. China is painted as the victim that it is so often stereotyped as. However, with the country's continued objections against the Japanese glossing over wartime indiscretions, it could be seen as having nationalist overtones. I don't see the film as necessarily sympathetic to the Japanese: at the end of the movie, they are still the "devils". Additionally, when the plot is extrapolated outside of the film itself, the irony is of course that Japan was defeated by a powerful external force due to their brash political maneuvering.