This is the perfect time for some film noir (or neo-noir for you modern folks) with the air a little chillier, the mood a little bleaker, and the days and nights a whole lot darker, this is noir’s moment to shine (or shadow – it doesn’t really like light). Ticking off the list of femme fatales, doom and gloom, crime, violence, and venetian blinds, here’s a few of many incredible noirs.
Blade Runner (The Director’s Cut) (1982)
Taking neo-noir into the sci-fi realms of things, Ridley Scott delivers a visual futuristic treat. Having said that the future is 2019 and the setting is Los Angeles, suggesting that city has a lot of construction work to be getting on with. Intriguingly, this film doesn’t simply wallow in its cool visuals, instead opting for an exploration of the topical genetic modification and what it is to be human. Heavy stuff, especially in deadline season. All the same, this iconic noir is definitely worth a watch, just perhaps wait until your brain is ready to process information again. (****)
The Big Sleep (1946)
And now back to an old school lesson in film noir, led by the infamous Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Bogart is our leading detective, examining the clues that lead to… murder! Exciting stuff for a 1940s audience. But, for a modern day audience, the narrative gets a bit confusing and they seem to take the low-key lighting to a new depth of darkness, making it rather hard to see any of it. A good one to tick off the list if you’re going through all the old classics, but for your average Joe this film might get a little lost on you. (***)
Chinatown (1974)
Beautiful and exquisite, truly celebrating film in all it’s glory. Chinatown provides us with the talented Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson, gorgeous costumes, an incredible screenplay, and a challenge to the way the world works. Polanski offers a film that will stick with you for a while, whether that’s in your wardrobe department or attack on the rich and wrong is your choice. (*****)
Double Indemnity (1944)
And we’re back to the forties with a story of a doomed man who goes after money and a woman, and (plot spoiler) get’s neither, “pretty, isn’t it?” Having to fit to the Hollywood requirements of the time (not showing sex or murder) this film probably lacks a little for a modern-day audience. Although a classic noir, it’s difficult to see this film beyond its dated forties time period. (**)
Sin City (2005)
A film that is definitely not forties, and definitely not following the Hollywood rules of the forties, let me introduce to you, Sin City. As you may have guessed, this film is all about sinning, in the most violent and most graphic ways it knows how. Adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novels of the same title, Rodriguez tries to bring the comic book to the screen, resulting in lots of stark black-and-white imagery, monstrous men, and women that would put Victoria’s Secret models to shame… Innovative, exciting, thrilling, and star-studded, give this film a watch if you fancy neo-noir at its finest. (****)