Programmer's Note

Nothing fascinates like a dirty cop. In real life they’re terrifying, but in the movies their upending of law and order can open deep explorations of psychology, morality and violence. So meet Dave Brown.

Played by Woody Harrelson in yet another outstanding performance, Brown is a cop long ago unleashed from the rules of the Los Angeles Police Department. Roving the streets in his black-and-white cruiser, he governs and punishes at will. His home life is a riddle. Somehow he has fathered children with two sisters (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon). Somehow he still lives casually with them both, slipping in and out of a family life that’s as tangled as his long career on the force. His own daughter calls him Date Rape. That’s because, years ago, Brown may have killed a rapist and gotten away with it. The shadow of the incident still haunts him, so when his Rampart division gets caught up in a corruption scandal, Brown makes an easy target. As the controversy seeps through the department and into city hall, this hardened, reckless officer finds himself at the centre of a sordid L.A. story.

Following up on his Academy Award ^® – nominated The Messenger, writer/director Oren Moverman assembles an impressive team of talent for Rampart. The script is co-written by crime fiction legend James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential). The cast includes Ben Foster (also in The Messenger and appearing at the Festival in 360), Robin Wright, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi and Ice Cube — all doing terrific work. But what really makes Rampart stand out is Moverman’s control over image and sound. Beginning in terrain familiar to fans of Michael Mann’s Los Angeles films, Moverman quickly establishes his own visual and sonic environment: complex compositions, fluid camera movement, a palette of seared colours and, in the back­ground, a soundtrack of talk radio that keeps his characters on edge.

Although based on a real LAPD scandal from the nineties, Rampart easily transcends reportage. Anchored by Moverman’s evoca­tive atmosphere and a ferocious performance from Harrelson, this is American cinema at its best. Cameron Bailey