Our joy in remembering a truly great film, LA Confidential, is now tempered with the sad news of Curtis Hanson’s passing.

Hanson won an Oscar for his screenplay for this, a neo-noir adapted from the novel by James Ellroy. Hanson bypassed the studio to submit LA Confidential to Cannes. The film, his most acclaimed,elevated him to a different league entirely: a serious genre stylist, capable of tackling grand themes and eliciting tough, complex turns from some of the key actors of the age (in this case, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce).

The film world has lost a tremendous director. It is fitting that “LA Confidential” is now recognized as a key part of the American cultural library.

I am personally saddened that the director was affected by Alzheimers, as I know from watching my grandmother suffer from it, what a thief that disease is. We have not forgotten him.