L.A. Noir: L.A. Confidential (35mm)

L.A. Noir: Shadows in Paradise

Presented by Greg Olson Productions

Writer-director Curtis Hanson had a friendly working relationship with Robert Towne, the man who conceived and wrote Chinatown and The Two Jakes, and he absorbed Towne’s epic vision of Los Angeles as a place flavorfully layered with corruption. And he had the lodestar novel "L.A. Confidential" by James Ellroy, the “demon dog of Los Angeles” to guide him. Why would honorable men, sworn to uphold the law, tip towards villainy? And who’s to judge them but themselves? The film delves deep into the passions and hidden secrets that drive an ambitious straight-arrow neophyte cop (Guy Pearce), a seasoned tough-guy hot head (Russell Crowe), and a showboat (Kevin Spacey) who maintains an unholy alliance between the LAPD, gangsters, movie stars, and the sleazy tabloid media. Set in the 1950s with flashbacks to the 1930s, we’re shown a morally tainted historical panorama, with top cop Dudley Smith (James Cameron), who appears in many Ellroy novels, pulling behind-the-scenes strings with his own soiled hands. Fragments of meaning, crimes, mysteries, coalesce into story. These men’s jobs are their lives, but love can’t be denied. For Pearce and Crowe, it’s centered on an independent-minded prostitute (Kim Basinger), who holds a key to the city. Presented on 35mm.

Individual Tickets: $15
Passes: $109 | $91 SIFF SAM, Swedish Club, UW Cinema Studies, NWFF, SFI, TheFilmSchool, Festa Italiana, Alliance Francaise de Seattle, Scarecrow Video, & KING FM members