SFN Presents: Devil in a Blue Dress & L.A. Confidential at Chapeltown Picture House

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor

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SFN Presents: Devil in a Blue Dress & L.A. Confidential

Cultplex, Manchester
26 November 2021

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

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The 1990s were a boom time for neo-noir, as new filmmakers and novelists pushed the envelope, taking the conventions of the mode and integrating contemporary social perspectives. Movies such as the Wachowski sisters’ Bound (1996) or John Dahl’s The Last Seduction (1994) retained the dark themes (albeit rendered more explicitly) and shadowy style of the original cycle of Film Noir from the 1940s and ’50s, while updating their setting to present day America.

Other films looked back though, applying a modern lens to the same historical period seen in classic noir — and it is two of these titles that Single Film Nerd have chosen for their #Noirvember double bill at Chapeltown Picture House this month. Based on novels by Walter Mosely and James Ellroy respectively, Carl Franklin’s Devil in a Blue Dress and Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential approach the period from a remove — for better and worse — using genre conventions for a slick, clear-eyed window into the problems of the era.

L.A. Confidential

Franklin’s is the better film; a moody, sexy noir with Denzel Washington at its centre as Mosely’s Easy Rawlins — a struggling, black WWII veteran tasked with finding a missing white girl. There’s a spectacular early career role for Don Cheadle as Rawlins’ friend Mouse, as we trawl the black bars and jazz joints seldom glimpsed in the noirs of the 40s and 50s.

Hanson’s adaptation is more loudly indebted to its cinematic forebearers. Danny DeVito’s scene-setting narration leads us into a hyper-violent world of police corruption, sexual exploitation and plastic surgery, with memorable turns all round from an all-star cast boasting Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger (who won an Oscar for Supporting Actress) and James Cromwell.

Often compared to one another, the two films should make for a fascinating (not to mention entertaining) double feature. Chapeltown Picture House is housed within Manchester street food sensation GRUB, where you can find a selection of independent traders alongside one of the city’s best craft beer bars.

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Where to go near SFN Presents: Devil in a Blue Dress & L.A. Confidential at Chapeltown Picture House

Cheetham Hill
Restaurant
Osaka Local

Wonderful Japanese street food vendor, often found at Grub and other street food events in and around Manchester and the North.

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Cheetham Hill
Manchester Three Rivers Gin Distillery

Join the Gin renaissance with Manchester Three Rivers, a gin distillery situated in the heart of the Green Quarter making some fantastic gin as well as inviting people to get up close to the distillation process.

Manchester
Restaurant
Fairfield Social Club

Fairfield Social Club is a multi-purpose site next to Angel Meadows Park in the Green Quarter, ran by the team behind the much-loved Grub,.

Popup Bikes
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Café or Coffee Shop
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Independently-run coffee shop and bike repair shop on the edge of the Green Quarter in Manchester.

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Event venue
Partisan

Partisan is a Manchester-based collective and volunteer-run space for independent, community led, DIY and cultural based projects. They have two floors for events, meetings, office space, live music, club nights, and art.

Salford
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1520 Studios

1520 Studios is bigger than a film and photography studio, also functioning as an event space and community hub.

Cheetham Hill
The Yard

New creative hub The Yard is home to a great little music venue, which tends to attract future-leaning electronic artists.

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Manchester
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Sadler’s Cat

The Pilcrow is now Sadler’s Cat, a contemporary community pub at the heart of the NOMA neighbourhood. Overlooking Sadler’s Yard.

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