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.

First, for all the times other reviewers may have seen the film, they have a few errors in their comments. The Black Dahlia victim was Elizabeth Short - not Mary - and as to the scenes in which Mr. Elroy is discussing his work before an audience, I saw no discomfort from the audience as he made his "welcome pedophiles ... " intro. In fact, it is clear from the beginning of the film that Mr. Elroy is a realist, and the reality of life and death, can be a very vulgar sort of thing.I found this film to be an amazing look at the author and at two murders which affected him profoundly (1) the murder of his mother with whom he had a difficult relationship as a child, and (2) the murder of Elizabeth Short.For Ellroy, Elizabeth Short becomes something of a stand in for his mother. Growing up, Ellroy comes to think of both women as being "whores" who probably got what they deserved by saying "no" to the wrong john. However, over time, he has come to see that both cases were and are more complex than that, and that neither woman could be tagged with a label like that and left otherwise undiscovered.Mr. Ellroy's language is admittedly crude, and I would not recommend this film for children. The graphic photographs of Elizabeth Short's badly mutilated body are enough for me to say this film is best left for those with a fair amount of emotional maturity.In the end, it is a film about a man determined to understand who and what his mother really was, and the mother/son bond that existed so many years ago.This film has levels in its levels. You could watch it 100 times and get something new out of it each time. I note that some other reviewers made much of Mr. Ellroy's dislike of Kennedy and Clinton, but the important part of that is the why ... because Mr. Ellroy sees both as misogynistic users of women. This is a man who really believes in having a deep lasting commitment to one woman, his wife who he clearly adores. She refers to him as a "feminist" because his female characters are not caricatures, they are full-blown and complex individuals.That's what I got from this film ... it takes Elizabeth Short and the author's mother from caricatures and makes you want to explore until you find the real person underneath.I've only read one of Mr. Ellroy's books ("The Black Dahlia"), but I will be buying and reading the rest of them now based on the power of this documentary.

This 95-minute film shows Ellroy having dinner with a number of men who work for the LAPD homicide squad and with whom he is discussing the Blue Dahlia murder. The film cuts away from the dinner to go elsewhere. For instance, there's a tour of the section of L.A. where the teenaged Ellroy broke into various homes. He'd related this in "My Dark Places," which is pretty much what this film is a version of. Of course, we get the story of his mother's death, which was central to "My Dark Places." There is no doubt that his mother's death was the defining event of his life.In one segment, we see Ellroy giving a reading at an L.A. bookshop. This was a dismaying sequence because it revealed Ellroy to be a vulgar fellow, someone, apparently, who has lived far too long with his characters and the way they talk and perhaps the way they think. He began his reading session by saying, "Welcome all you perverts, pedophiles, panty sniffers" and continued with other words beginning with p. I could see the dismay on many of the faces in the room. Others warmed to this sort of "humor." He did a long riff on how he detests Clinton and hopes that he outlives Clinton so that he can make Clinton a character in a book and give him his due. Ellroy also detests the Kennedys and makes this clear.The best part of the film is listening to one of the detectives--a rather attractive, gray-haired man perhaps in his mid-40s--elucidate his theory that an L.A. surgeon was the Blue Dahlia killer. The details the detective used to support his theory impressed me as sound. And Ellroy himself agrees with this detective's theory.This movie is for Ellroy fans only, and some may be disappointed with the personality Ellroy reveals here. At one point, Nick Nolte enters the private dining room and sits down next to Ellroy. He looks like death warmed over and apologizes for his appearance by saying that he's just had some facial surgery. Nolte was very quiet and took it all in.