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Originally Posted by Baby Lee
Went ahead and queued it last night.
Was an excellent film, if a tad Hollywood-stylized [which I realize is an odd criticism of this particular film, and it's not it's fault, but time has witnessed a move away from prestige films looking like Hollywood productions, . . grittier, less 'star power,' ironically].
The performances were great, but the one true star of the movie is James Elroy. Such a narrative. Such writing.
A close second was Cromwell's understated accent. Could so easily have fallen into caricature.
I disagree that Basinger was the weakest acting of the bunch. But I do think her OScar was lifted a bit by Hollywood's love of her character [they love when Hollywood lionizes Hollywood /cough Shakespeare in Love]. This also was Elroy's creativity.
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She basically had no character arc. She started as a whore with a heart of gold type and ended that way. OTOH all the other main characters change significantly as the story unfolds.
Don't get me wrong - I thought Basinger did a excellent job. Just not as good as the others.
Ironically, one of the pivotal moments of the film - when Dudley asks Exley about Rolo Tomasi - wasn't in the book. Elroy said he was just as surprised by that as everybody else.