Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 04/17/2007
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD1/DD2
Run Time: 108 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Adapted by
John Gregory Dunne and
Joan Didion from
Dunne's novel,
True Confessions uses the still-unsolved "Black Dahlia" murder as the foundation for a devastating attack on big-city corruption -- in which it appears that many of the perpetrators wear clerical collars. In, 1948 Los Angeles detective
Tom Spellacy (
Robert Duvall) is assigned to investigate the death of a priest, who apparently suffered a heart attack while being serviced by a prostitute. Meanwhile,
Tom's brother, young Catholic monsignor
Des Spellacy (
Robert De Niro), is reluctantly currying favor with crooked contractor
Jack Amsterdam (
Charles Durning), the better to finance an expansion of
Des' church. The unifying factor between
Tom and
Des, beyond their sibling relationship, turns out to be the grisly murder of a hooker. The key words in the labyrinthine proceedings are power, ambition, and hypocrisy.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide