Feast of Death (2001)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I really like the movie based on it being very true to the people involved! Very real! On that note, it is seriously f-ed up! I am interested in crime and crime history but this takes it to a new level! Crime seriously affected this guy and I really want to know what made his wife who she is! They are a perfect match but that scares me! This movie makes me wonder about EVERY person involved! The cops even more than the writer and his perfect match of a wife! The dinner table discussions make me blush and uncomfortable and I use the c and p words freely and without restraint. That being said, any movie that has this effect on me is intense! Be aware that it is VERY intense!

A documentary about James Ellroy and his fascination with unsolved murder cases, especially those of his mother, and the similar, infamous, Black Dahlia murder.I did not James Ellroy outside of his writing before watching this, and now I think the man comes off as a jerk and very full of himself. I suppose he would have some right to be arrogant, as he is very successful and highly intelligent. But it did not make me want to meet him or give him one cent for his future works.An exploration of the Black Dahlia murder in this film is mostly just some guys sitting around a table BSing. The same goes for Ellroy's mother (which is not that similar of a crime, really). For me, the highlight was the segment filmed in Wisconsin. I have been to Tomah, so it was not a foreign land being shown and the people certainly looked like Wisconsinites.

You could watch this on HBO for a time, and also read the accompanying book he wrote. "Feast of Death" is a documentary/true crime and investigation into what happened to Ellroy's mother, Jean Ellroy, who was murdered around the same time as the occurrence of the infamous Black Dahlia murder.Having seen some of his work, I was interested in the true story of his mother Helen, a nurse in the 1940's who was also a party girl, found dead in a rather sad situation. It almost gives anyone a loss for words to describe, anyone that is, except Ellroy. He turned the nightmare into his writing career. He was 10 years old at the time of his mothers murder.In this film he has a dinner with assorted L.A. detectives, a few actors (including Nick Nolte). They discuss the murder cases from the Black Dahlia era, what the Los Angeles area was like, attracting transients, dreamers, alcoholics, addicts and all....an interesting montage created by people who lived in the area.Ellroy currently hosts "City of Demons: Los Angeles". A true crime hour show on channel ID (Investifgation Discovery). He reviews infamous homicides, the Lana Turner scandal, Marilyn Monroe's death, the Hillside Stranglers. He certainly has a niche here. He is a sardonic character without doubt, and clearly enjoys his place as L.A. crime commentator. He also talks to his alter ego, a American bull terrier named Barko. Well worth watching.

I've been drawn to this movie in a morbid sort of way. It is disturbing on many levels. Straight out we know that James Ellroy's mother was brutally strangled and the murder will be revisited and this has fashioned him as an authored. He is by the way the author of L.A. Confidential, which was made into a movie. The movie goes deeper than simply examining his mother's murder. It also examines the famous Black Dahlia murder involving Mary Short, which also played a role in Ellroy's becoming a murder mystery writer. Not wanting to be a spoiler here, the movie is more graphic than many horror films in the murders examined and Ellroy's prose is tossed in from time to time, describing why humans kill, makes for a chilling, yet informative kind of viewing. This film is not for squeamish folks. I would not let my children watch it. Some of the stuff was that disturbing. But, like I said, for some reason, like a moth to a flame, I've been drawn to this film over and over again.