04 Nov NOIRVEMBER: Devil in a Blue Dress

DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS
dir. Carl Franklin, starring Denzel Washington, Jennifer Beals, Don Cheadle, and Tom Seizmore

Devil in a Blue Dress, one of the noirs that defined both the 90s and the genre in general, stars Denzel Washington as Ezekiel ‘Easy’ Rawlins, a man desperate for a job who ends up with far more trouble than he bargained for. Hired by DeWitt Albright to track down and locate Daphne Monet, Rawlins stumbles into corpse after corpse, chased by the police as their main suspect, and hunted by any manner of local gangster. Joined by Mouse, his trusty but unpredictable sidekick, Rawlins must navigate 1950s Los Angeles to find Daphne, discover how deep the case goes, and make it out alive before the police can catch up to him.

Centered on Ezekiel ‘Easy’ Rawlins, one of the most celebrated African American literary heroes, the performance given by Denzel Washington is nothing short of masterful. At times light and playful and at times deadly serious, Washington established early in his career just how charming he’s capable of being. Here, he brings a laser focus to Easy, a man driven to solve the case before everything is pinned on him while also attempting to make as much money off it as possible. Far from the Humphrey Bogart days of the man in charge having a firm hand on the wheel and constantly being one step ahead of everyone, Easy is usually a half step behind what’s happening, allowing Denzel to portray him as a man constantly running out of time and increasingly desperate. The film doesn’t work without this and Denzel, being one of the most gifted actors of his generation, pulls off the role with such aplomb that it’s frustrating we never got more movies with him as Easy Rawlins.

Also starring Don Cheadle as Mouse, the brash and quick to anger street hoodlum, it’s the relationship between him and Easy that makes for some of the film’s best scenes. While Washington’s Easy prefers to handle things as quietly as possible with little to no bloodshed, Mouse has no such reservations. Quicker to pull a trigger than he is to ask questions, Mouse’s invitation into the story from Rawlins shows just how desperate he’s getting to making it out of the situation intact. While normally the introduction of such a volatile element as Mouse would make for more headaches than help, Mouse is a great asset to Easy. Cheadle plays Mouse with an almost eternally sunny disposition with the violence lurking just underneath. Cheadle and Washington have a great chemistry together throughout Mouse’s run in the second act of the film; when Cheadle is on the screen, it’s hard to take focus off of him, which allows for Washington to highlight the smaller, quieter presence of Easy.

No great noir exists without a classic femme fatale. In the case of Devil in a Blue Dress, it’s Jennifer Beales as the titular blue gowned character, the cause of all the problems, and her whereabouts the main focus of the story. With limited screentime (although often talked about, Beals doesn’t appear in the film until almost halfway through it), the veteran actress radiates a character to mistrust and play defensively. She shines as the fatale, hiding behind walls of cigarette smoke and seduction as she attempts to play multiple sides to achieve her own goals. Beales is excellent in the role at first projecting massive confidence and fully in control of the situation and ending as a vulnerable, broken woman.

After the word-of-mouth success of his first feature length One False Move, Carl Franklin cemented his status as a new voice in crime in the 1990s with Devil in a Blue Dress. Written and directed by Franklin, the film shows a man in full control of his capabilities; along with a brilliant set design and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, the production team birthed a fully lived in and realized version of 1950s Los Angeles complete with all the necessary noir tropes: white walled wheels, rooms thick with cigarette smoke, and stylish suits with accompanying fedoras. Franklin’s direction, workmanlike and matter of fact without being overly flashy, works for the story he wrote and manages to capture each character wonderfully at their lowest points. The score from Elmer Bernstein also compliments the movie; a jazz heavy tilt that uses muted trumpets and soft piano keys to help convey the character’s emotions and the mood of the scene.

Overall, Devil in a Blue Dress exemplifies all the finest elements of film noir: cigarette smoking femme fatales, a protagonist who’s in over his head, and characters that are far more complex than initially presented. In this case, adapting from one of the great crime writers of the 20th century makes for an easy blueprint to follow but Carl Franklin’s screenplay and direction elevate the story from great to becoming one of the classics of the genre. Denzel’s intensity, matched by Don Cheadle’s ferocity and Jennifer Beales’ guile are all top notch, leaving the viewer wary of who to trust and who to be cautious of. At 102 minutes, the movie hits the ground running and refuses to let up until Easy’s final wistful voiceover.

Review by Darryl Mansel