vkutan This film tells the story of two brothers and also two of the greatest actors of own generation, story that have potential, but... Premise of film is thriller/drama, but part that was supposed to be thriller was not elaborated clearly. The plot is about nonsense. Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall give the best that could give from this screenplay, and Charles Durning as Jack Amsterdam was quite remarkable. Pace of this movie is slow, even too slow and plot is also predictable. Very bad ending as well. This is a film that was to easy to forget. In short, pretty average film with some potential to be a true classic. Rating:6/10

TedMichaelMor "True Confessions" continues to be one of my favourite films. Many reasons define it as a great motion picture. Ulu Grosbard seems not to be well known but he is a great director, even if I do not always understand his work. The script based on one of the writer John Gregory Dunne's novels and written with his wife Joan Didion and Gary Hall is a tight, complex, nuanced, and satisfying story. Cinematography by Owen Roizman has a fine noir look at times and a great historical look at other times. The set design by Marvin March and art direction by Stewart Campbell facilitate these effects as does costume design by Joe Tompkins.Music by George Delerue with period pieces haunt imagination and define a tonality that lingers in memory.The cast is rich. Some critics think De Niro does not convince as a priest, but, in fact, he get is just right. Robert Duvall, De Niro, Charles During, Cyril Cusack, Kenneth McMillan, Ed Flanders, Rose Gregorio, Burgess Meredith, and several others work as a fine ensemble, as if they were all part of a Swedish acting group. This is an elegant, adult film--a masterwork and like fine wine rich three decades after its release.The film is not anti-Catholic but instead celebrates how a priest finds salvation. The film ends on a fine note like excellent coffee at the end of an elegant meal. I very much appreciate this film and apologize for not writing better about it.

tieman64 Based loosely on the famous Black Dahlia murder case, "True Confessions" revolves around two brothers, played by Robert Duvall (fresh off his great performance in "The Great Santini") and Robert De Niro (fresh off an equally great performance in "Raging Bull"), seeking atonement for their past sins.Set in Los Angeles during the late 1940s, De Niro plays an ambitious priest who spends the film establishing mutually beneficial relationships with corrupt clergymen, gangsters and construction moguls. Preaching the purity of the eternal soul whilst helping scoundrels hide their sins, De Niro is well aware of his hypocrisy, but deludes himself by maintaining that it's ultimately all for the greater good of the church.Tom, a local police detective, faces a similar dilemma. Himself touched by sin (he was once found guilty of police corruption), Tom becomes determined to solve the murder of a young girl who was found dumped in the Hollywood Hills. Solve the murder and absolve his sins, that's the way he sees it. And of course, his brother holds a vital piece of evidence. A piece of evidence which he must give up in order to redeem himself.There are a lot of interesting themes here – the links between business and religion, wounded souls searching for forgiveness, the tale of a city built on corruption, victim as sacrificial lamb, the way those in high places buy their angelic images through politics or church – but for the most part we've seen this stuff done better elsewhere."Godfather 3", for example, better dealt with the ties between Church and Mafia, "Bad Lieutenant" better dealt with a sin-stained Catholic seeking redemption by solving a crime and "Chinatown" is a both a better mystery and a better tale of a city founded on corruption. Of course today the gold standard for this sort of panoramic film-noir is the HBO series "The Wire", in which corruption is not only a way of life but a long accepted means of survival. In terms of shear scope, "The Wire" renders all these films outdated.But at the heart of "True Confessions" is the Black Dahlia murder and the romance and mystery it somehow still manages to exude. The most famous murder in Hollywood history, the crime has popped up in countless novels and films, the best being James Elroy's "Black Dahlia", partially about the murder of his own mother, and Brian De Palma's underrated adaptation of Elroy's novel.7.5/10 – Though a lesser film noir, the film works whenever De Niro and Duvall are together, and the cinematography by Owen Roizman has some appropriately atmospheric moments (he avoids golden-brown nostalgia and goes instead for sunlit sleaze). Worth one viewing.

edwagreen Terrible film which gives another awful impression of the Catholic church filled with corruption and violence.Robert De Niro as the monsignor certainly gives that high position a bad name. A priest who visits the track and associates himself with undesirables is certainly not a positive role model for the church.In the film, De Niro's brother is played by Robert Duvall, a cop with an ax to grind.We hear stories about companies getting contracts to build churches and schools. There is murder along the way. Charles Durning really adds to this mess in the scene where he is made Catholic lay-man of the year and then goes on a tirade against Duvall,when the latter accuses him of wrong-doing.The Duvall character, as the policeman, is not exactly a study of a choir boy either.The movie is nasty. No one is really depicted as nice. Nearly everyone is frequenting a prostitute played by Rose Gregorio. She turns in a nice supporting performance but was her demise a suicide or murder?