It's nice to see a positive review of this film. I was indifferent to it when I first saw it but have come to like it more and more. It seems that those who have given it a bad review don't seem to understand what the term "based on a novel" means, or as you noted, compared it to "L.A. Confidential" (1997). I would be interested to see the original cut, just to see what was removed. There are a couple of publicity stills that don't match anything in the finished film, plus, I would love to see more of those interiors, like Kay's apartment, etc. I think Mark Isham's score is excellent and have used some of the soundtrack for my youtube videos.