Re: RARA-AVIS: Ellroy Documentary

MARK SULLIVAN (ANONYMEINC@webtv.net)
Tue, 9 Jun 1998 22:00:46 -0400 (EDT) I saw the film at a screening at the AFI in DC. Ellroy and the
film-makers were in attendance. Ellroy introduced the film by saying
something like, "This is a brilliant film because it is about a
brilliant writer." In other words, he was his normal modest self. The
film was shown twice that evening. During the second screening, Ellroy
stood outside in the lobby chatting with five or ten of us who hung
around after the first. I was very pleasantly surprised to find him a
quite likable guy when he wasn't "on."

As for the film, if you are interested in Ellroy, by all means see it.
It is definitely an "authorized" film, which contains nothing critical,
except Ellroy's self-critique of his earlier works to exaggerate how
much he has improved. Basically, the film-maker just follow Ellroy
around as they go to places in LA from his formative years (I broke into
this house and stole some panties, here's where I used to drink and
sniff speed inhalers, here's where my mother's body was found, etc). Of
course, his mother's murder figures prominently. This film is now
several years old so it does not include anything from "My Dark Pages."
None of the stories will be new to anyone who has read more than one
Ellroy interview, but he makes a very amiable host for this tour through
LA.

Mark

#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.