Customer Reviews

James Ellroy's Feast of Death

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Features the author's comments about his Mother's murder as well as the famous Black Dahlia case. This is done while riding shotgun with an old detective friend and passing by old haunts (literally); and while dining with a sleu of seasoned detectives (hence the 'Feast' in the title). If you are allergic to f-bombs where a flak-jacket.

The action effectively shifts between the driving and dining scenes, supplemented by crime scene photos as well as domestic interview scenes with Ellroy and wife and among other things at a bookstore where we see Ellroy at his politically incorrect best.

Ellroy as always makes an interesting character study but the film itself is a bit incoherent in that it fails to stir the two cases into a satisfying stew. And I love free-wheeling table-talk but the detectives around the table seem reticent to opine. They are perhaps uncomfortable with the format or didn't wish to come across as stealing the show from the great man--who sits at the seat of honor and dominates discussion.

There's been so much made of Ellroy's Dark Places that it would have been refreshing to have more give and take dialogue that opened up into broader commentary. But it's still very compelling and must-see for anyone interested in the unsolved Black Dahlia case--The Black Dahlia expert delivers a very tight thesis.

Watch this as a warm-up or after-show party to L.A. Confidential.

This DVD features interviews with Ellroy about the unsolved case of his mother's murder, the centrepiece of which is a gathering of Ellroy with a large group of LA detectives who had worked on his mother's case or other homicides in LA over the years. Discussed at the table, as Nick Nolte (for some reason) wanders into the room, is the Black Dahlia case that had fascinated Ellroy as much as his mother's had for decades. One person at the table had used his own money to investigate the case and come up with what Ellroy calls the most plausible theory about the murderer's identity that he had ever come across. Who, in other words, would have had both the extreme dementia and the medical knowledge required to do what was done to Elizabeth Short on that day in January 1947. The film is a glimpse into the noir world of Ellroy, and it is fascinating seeing firsthand what an intense fellow he is, as well as his wife. I just wonder why he hates Bill Clinton so much?