At the 1998 Academy Awards, “L.A. Confidential” lost out to the mega-hit “Titanic”, but the neo-noir thriller is still an absolute masterpiece. Now you can convince yourself of this (again) with the convenient Disney Plus streaming subscription.
With a total of nine nominations (including Best Picture), “L.A. Confidential” entered the race for the 1998 Oscars – and every one of them was more than deserved. In the face of such high-calibre competition from films such as the eleven-time record-breaker “Titanic” or the audience favourite “Besser geht’s nicht”, it was “only” enough for two awards in the end (for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress Kim Basinger), but that doesn’t change the fact that you should definitely have seen “L.A. Confidential”.
With the highest rating of 5 out of 5 stars, this masterful crime thriller is one of the best films of all time (unlike “Titanic”). All the more regrettable that it has not been included in any streaming subscription for quite some time now. But fortunately that’s changing: as of today, 10 February 2023, “L.A. Confidential” can be accessed on Disney+ – and we can only warmly recommend this to you, even a quarter of a century after the film’s release, especially if you’ve missed it so far.
THIS IS WHAT “L.A. CONFIDENTIAL” IS ALL ABOUT
Los Angeles, 1953: When a gruesome sixfold murder occurs in a fast-food restaurant, three police officers who could not be more different become more intensely involved in the case: On the one hand, there is the ambitious Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), who strictly adheres to rules and morals in order to emulate his father.
This displeases many of his colleagues, including the temperamental thug Bud White (Russell Crowe), whose former partner is among the murder victims in the diner. And finally, there is the narcissistic Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), who supplements his salary as a consultant for a TV show and secret informant for a tabloid.
After the sensational murder case seems to be closed quickly, it dawns on all three cops that the whole thing is by no means as simple as they first believed. In the end, they have to team up against their will to penetrate the LAPD’s intricate web of corruption and get to the bottom of the matter…
A NEO-NOIR MASTERPIECE
With “L.A. Confidential”, “8 Mile” director Curtis Hanson lifts the glittering curtain of the dream factory Los Angeles and shows, far from the well-trodden cliché paths, that the devil has long since taken up residence in the city of angels. This exceptional abysmal thriller based on the novel of the same name by genre veteran James Ellroy (also published in Germany under the title “City of Devils”) impresses with its cleverly interwoven and twisty story, an atmosphere to cut through and the star cast around Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito, who are on top form.
Hanson brings the wicked Hollywood of bygone days so incredibly alive that, despite all the shocking incidents, you won’t want to leave it any time soon and the film’s two-hour running time flies by. An absolute must for all film fans!
