We’re huge film noir buffs. Spent way too much money on books, collections, etc.
Our little in-joke when we see a film and judge whether it’s film noir.
Gotta be in B&W. Gotta have a doomed leading man. And ya gotta have a dame.
So The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon aren’t noir?
Also, has anyone pimped The Grifters yet? Because I love that film.
It’s funny that this thread is coming up right now, as I just started re-reading one of my favorite books, Jack O’Connell’s The Skin Palace and it revolves very heavily around film noir. Constantly referencing all sorts of visual art (I’d say the core theme of the book is really an exploration of The Elemental Image, wrapped around a crime novel), but one of the characters is a budding filmmaker/son of an immigrant crime boss, who’s obsessed with film noir, so he talks about that a lot. I’d taken to renting a few of the movies that were referenced in the book (This Gun for Hire and The Blue Dahlia last week, a stack more this week), so this thread’s coming in handy.
For anyone with an interest in such things, though, I highly recommend the book. The one that came after (though not really a sequel), Word Made Flesh was even better, though it was more an exploration of language itself (especially the written word), than about movies. O’Connell’s books are equal parts crime novel, media theory and a sort of brutal, nightmarish surreality (though never actually passing the border into the fantastic). They’re great, and under appreciated, so you can pick them up for a song (seriously- there’s copies of both books, in hardcover, up on half.com right now for pennies).
Two thumbs up for M!
I´ve seen the restored version on tv last year. It´s unbelievable how far ahead of his time Fritz Lang was. It´s still a good, entertaining movie with beautiful light and camera work. An all-time classic.
My Netflix queue just jumped by 22 discs thanks to this thread.
I took a broadcasting course in college. My understanding is that film noir is from the late 40’s, black and white, tall paranoic shadows-very unique stuff!.
Perhaps you should try TCM (Turner classic movies) or AMC.
Joy!
I like reading series like these in order, but I’m having a hard time figuring out the order of the books by him that appear to be set in the same location: Box Nine, Wireless, The Skin Palace, and Word Made Flesh. Do you know the correct order? Also, are these out of print? My local Barnes and Noble, etc. don’t seem to have them.
Well there’s noir and neo-noir, I’m interested in both.
That is the correct order. And yes, they are pretty out of print, though rather easily and cheaply obtainable through used bookstores, or especially online (see my comment about half.com). Each book gets progressively more interesting, but also a bit weirder, and they’re pretty much completely unrelated, except for the setting and the obsession with/exploration of media and communication. They’re all crime novels at heart, though each book in the series is a little less recognizably so, at least at first glance. Box Nine I remember the least- pretty standard crime novel, but with some interesting stuff about language and semantics. Wireless moved on to radio communication, the voice itself, the spoken word. As I mentioned before The Skin Palace deals with images (with a particular love for film noir), and Word made Flesh is about language and communication , especially the written word.
The books are so unconnected that you can read them in any order. Me, I read WMF first, got hooked, and went back through them in reverse- some things about the setting seemed really strange, but even after reading the rest, those things about the setting still seem strange in relation to the rest of the books. IMO they get progressively better, though, so by the time I got to Box Nine it wasn’t so great- it’s the only one I’ve only read once, and wouldn’t really recommend. I’ve read Wireless a couple of times, and TSP and WMF three or four times each (or at least large swathes of them). Personally, I’d probably suggest going with TSP first, and if you like it, pick up the others as your interests dictate.
Oh yes, saw it again on TV a few weeks ago, brilliant film.
Just saw Kansas City Confidential this weekend, and thought it was excellent. Good performances and a nice tight plotline.
Thread necromancy, because Film Noir is awesome.
I recently saw The Third Man for the first time, and that was fun, but I have to admit that I like John Dahl’s 90’s neo-noir better:
Kill Me Again
Red Rock West (mentioned upthread)
The Last Seduction (holy mindf*ck batman!)
Interestingly enough, I saw that the last movie he directed was Rounders and he’s mostly been doing TV/episode work for the past 20 years.
TCM also has Noir Alley on Saturday nights, which I don’t think they had when the thread started. I’m a bit bummed that I missed the original Nightmare Alley on Saturday, but here’s the schedule:
https://noiralley.tcm.com/schedule
Any new Noir since (checks thread) 2007? Would that even be neo-noir anymore, or should we call it 21st Century Noir?
Can’t talk to recent, but Miller’s Crossing is essential.
Since 2007?
Under the Silver Lake is very, very good.
Killer Joe is a fine movie if you don’t mind spending nearly two hours with a bunch of cartoonishly awful and unpleasant people.
No Sudden Move may be the most classically noir movie in recent years without explicitly referencing genre cliches.
Azor is an Argentinean movie about a Swiss banker trying to deal with clients in late 70’s Buenos Aires. Paul Schrader described it as “Heart of Darkness and Third Man without Kurtz or Lime”. He meant that as a point in the movie’s favor, and it is.
There was a cycle of slacker noirs like Under The Silver Lake, The Kid Detective and Inherent Vice that are deliberately off-beat and quite enjoyable. I thought Black Coal, Thin Ice and The Wild Goose Lake were two relatively recent bleak Chinese neo-noirs by a top-notch filmmaker. Nightcrawler has a noirish tone, too.
Hell yes to this recommendation. I watched it last month and was struck by how the filmmaker maintained a pervasive sense of dread outside the edge of the frame. The sound design is unbelievably effective.
Since summer 2007? (Googles) No Country for Old Men, Gone Baby Gone, Nightcrawler, Drive. Hmm, Blade Runner 2049? I’ll allow it. Oh, and Sicario and Prisoners. Shutter Island, Wind River. The Place Beyond the Pines was pretty good.
Thirded! Just watched it on Mubi last weekend, came away impressed. You’ll have to be in the mood to be unnerved for a couple of hours, though.
Another vote for Inherent Vice - which is a fantastic take on noir.
On the TV front, the recent HBO series Perry Mason is a great extended noir piece… just forget about the original material and pretend HBO by complete coincidence came up with the same name for the character.
EDIT - I’ll add a pre-2007 “modern” noir film that didn’t make the list - The Limey (1999), which is a personal favorite.
They did get mentioned early in the thread, but The Man Who Wasn’t There and Brick are probably my two favourite noirs of the 2000s. I’m loath to call Drive a noir, but if it is one, that’s great too. Oh, yeah, Winter’s Bone. Really need to rewatch that.
Does “The Nice Guys” count as noir? Or is too much of a comedy bromance?