L.A. CONFIDENTIAL(Regency/Warner Brothers)
While it's always sad to see the warm weather fading away as the fall approaches, few will be teary-eyed at the thought of such brainless summer movies as "Excess Baggage" or "Money Talks" moving out of theatres to make room for slightly smarter fare. Take, for instance, "L.A. Confidential," which actually asks an audience to think about what they're watching: What is this world coming to when you go to a movie and have to pay attention? But though some viewers may be put-off by the serpentine plotting of "L.A.", those who've been starving for a challenging, complex story with something to say will come away thoroughly refreshed. Director Curtis Hanson, who adapted the James Ellroy best-seller with screenwriter Brian Helgeland, has produced a sterling example of what Hollywood can do when filmmakers refuse to "dumb-down" material and when actors are cast for their talent rather than their box-office appeal. There's not a single weak player in Hanson's ensemble cast, and little-known Australian actors Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe are almost certain to find Stateside fame after their breakout roles here. Although set in 1953 Los Angeles (at the time the city and its police force were being glamorized weekly via TV shows like "Dragnet"), the story is almost frightening contemporary, since police brutality, sleazy tabloid journalism and would-be celebrities who'll do anything to be noticed have scarcely gone out of style in the past 40-odd years. Indeed, parallels between the "Bloody Christmas" beatings of prisoners in an L.A. holding-tank and the recent scandal involving the alleged molestation of a Haitian being held in a New York City station are quite easy to draw. Ditto the young actor who's seized at the "Movie Premiere Pot Bust" and the recent arrest of Christian Slater, who's admitted he was high on cocaine and heroin at the time he was booked for a recent alleged assault. But even if you lose track of the multiple intertwining story strands, you won't be able to take your eyes off Kevin Spacey as a cop who yearns for notoriety, or Crowe and Pearce, playing morally challenged officers who represent two sides of the same coin. Even Kim Basinger, unfairly regarded in some circles as a joke, is strikingly good as a call-girl looking for a way out of the opulent hell she's made for herself. Her part is small but pivotal: She's the only one in the story self-aware enough to understand what's going on around her, namely the war between illusion and reality, public perception versus the ugly truth. "L.A. Confidential" may be a period-piece, but the issues it raises stare each of us in the face daily. James Sanford
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