The Black Dahlia

We've done something!

On Wednesday night we went to see The Black Dahlia at the Picture House in Exeter. Now first, let us tell you about the Picture House - it is the most comfortable cinematic experience going! The seats are like armchairs, there's leg room, there is even a bar upstairs (they'll give you your drinks in plastic glasses if you want to take them down to the film) Oh, and you don't stick to the floor! It only has two show screens but that often works well as it means that it spreads the new films out over a period of time rather than all being on for a couple weeks at the same time & you never having enough chance to see them.

So - the film. Yea...really quite confusing! Really good but definately confusing! There was lots of jumping from one thing to another but while TA mostly kept up, John was totally lost! He appreciated it all more when it had been fully explained to him on the way back to the car. It has to be said a lot of the randomness is all tidied up in the last 15 minutes at which point it all makes much more sense. We're both quite keen to read the book now to see if that flows better.

The acting was of a really high standard as you would expect from such a great cast:-
Josh Hartnet - Bucky Bleichert
Aaron Eckhart - Lee Blanchard
Scarlet Johansson - Kay Lake
Hilary Swank - Madeleine Linscott
Fiona Shaw - Ramona Linscott. Shaw gets a special mention for being absolutely hilarious as the drunken mother. O and for those of you who don't recognise the name, she also plays Aunt Petunia in the HP films (we are ashamed to admit that neither of us actually recognised her!)

The sexual tension between Johansson & Hartnet was evident from the word go. They both really pulled off the 1940's look, Johansson with her trademark blonde hair & bright red lipstick (not to mention a figure to die for - TA) and Hartnet was seen sporting a sexy leather jacket & a hat. In fact, John had great admiration for his hat wearing ability although TA was disturbed when, during one scene in which Bucky had just had sex with Madeleine he lit a cigeratte then put his hat back on whilst they were still lying in bed - is that not comparible to leaving your socks on?!

Some of the scenes were rather graphic, with one particular scene requiring John to look away due to the blood splatter! The shots of the body were really detailed, with the camers having been 'right in there' but you needed that to really get across just how savage the murder had been.

All in all we would recommend the film to others but with a caution - go prepared to pay attention and if you've read the book you'll be at an advatage!

John & TA xxx