Featuring screen-stealing performances from Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle, Devil in a Blue Dress is a distinctive Los Angeles-set neo-noir adapted from the Walter Mosley novel of the same name. Fired from his job and with mortgage bills to pay, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins (Denzel Washington) needs money fast. His next meal ticket materialises in the form of detective work, when a wealthy businessman with suspicious motives offers him $100 to find missing woman Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals). Stalking the jazz clubs and motel rooms of 1940s L.A., Easy and his friend Mouse (Don Cheadle) find themselves in way over their heads, as Daphne’s world reveals itself to be more and more sinister at every turn.

Ripe for reappraisal as one of the most underrated and stylish noirs of the 1990s, Carl Franklin’s Devil in a Blue Dress oozes with a deep love for the genre, and is elevated by its charismatic performances, rich period detail, clever dialogue and pointed social commentary. Move over, L.A. Confidential, this is the real must-see!