8 Mile focuses on the rise of Rabbit, a poor rap singer from the black side of the line separating Detroit from its white suburbs. L.A. Confidential portrays a series of criminal events in the days following New Year’s Eve that involve murder, prostitution, drug heists, and police corruption. In both films Kim Basinger plays a supporting role. In 8 Mile she is the mother of white rapper Jimmy Smith, Jr. (Rabbit), Stephanie. In L.A. Confidential she plays femme fatale Lynn Bracken.
In each film Basinger’s acting skills make her characters very believable. In 8 Mile she is faced with Jimmy moving back home after his pregnant girlfriend leaves him. Jimmy is shocked to discover she is living with a boyfriend, Greg, who is a former classmate and someone he hates. As Stephanie, Basinger plays the mother as impecunious, a woman who is penniless, slatternly and rather sluttish. The characterization in this film is good but Basinger’s character is made colorful and painted with crude strokes. Her acting ability does overcome this limitation to a degree. She finds the right note to hit between love and exasperation. For Stephanie dreams of better things just as much as her sullen malcontented son does. It cannot be a pleasure to reside with this joyless individual who only breaks into a smile when he sees his daughter. However, Basinger’s character yearns for better things. In one powerful scene Basinger is excellent when she spews vitriol at Jimmy, blaming him for ruining her chance to better her own life. Though the role is written on one note, Basinger’s acting ability expands its limitations and gains empathy as a woman, much like Jimmy, who is struggling against the worst of circumstances in the best way she knows how.
In L.A. Confidential, Basinger plays Lynn Bracken, a prostitute who allegedly has been cut to look like Veronica Lake. In this role Basinge
...