Film Noir is a fairly self-explanatory name. French for “Dark” or “Black Film”, this style (not genre) of film is pretty much summed up in those two words. These films started being made in a 1940’s, Post WWII paranoia, with the threat of nuclear missiles looming over the heads of all United States citizens, Hollywood included. This paranoia led to disillusioned attitudes and existential feelings, which in turn were reflected in Film Noirs through things such as characters, with the two most prominent types being hardened male protagonists and femme fatales. Also, the “Darkness” of Film Noirs was not just a metaphor for the content of the film, but also a fairly literal description of the visual style was like. Taking influence from German Expressionism, among other things, the visuals of film noirs were often of gritty city streets, dark alleys, or smoky, cramped-looking rooms. To add to the dark appearance, the lighting included heavy use of chiaroscuro, a style that is characterized by a dark environment with single-source, high contrast lighting on the subject. While many film noirs fall into the crime genre, as well as detective, there are some exceptions, such as the drama/black comedy Sunset Boulevard. Despite it’s setting and characters being a bit unconventional for the Film Noir style (the film was a fairly realistic account of what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood), Sunset Boulevard is definitely a Film Noir, due to it’s use of an archetypal Film Noir hero, a femme fatale, and conventional film noir cinematography and storytelling.
One characteristic that almost all Film Noirs have in common is a certain mold of protagonist. While most genres of movie have a heroic, or at least optimistic and generally positive...
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...e visual examples, plus the situation and Norma’s now completely insane attitude, show very well that Sunset Boulevard is, in fact, a Film Noir.
Many people say that what makes a film good is how it can be distinct enough from other films to be groundbreaking and original, while staying true to the style it was made to be. If one believes this, they could easily say that Sunset Boulevard is an amazing Film Noir. Despite having a far from traditional story for the Film Noir style, Sunset Boulevard uses character types such as a hardened male protagonist and a femme fatale, along with the classic Film Noir visual style, to create a unique film that definitely fits the definition of what a Film Noir is. The truth is, Hollywood is not as bright and happy of a place as it may seem, and Sunset Boulevard goes above and beyond to represent this using the Film Noir style.
For this essay I will briefly describe what film noir is and I will also be critically analysing the film noir “Sunset Boulevard” by Billy Wilder. I will be exploring character themes, thematic concerns and visual style. Film noir originally comes from the French language, it means black film/dark film, this could be referring to the fact that film noir are traditionally black and white as they are from the 1940s to around the late 1950s or because film noir has a dark story line and generally have dark shadowy scenes and shady characters. The story in a film noir is almost always an American crime involving a very stereotypical, average man who lives a boring, routine life and seems to be becoming bored of his 9 to 5 job who stumbles upon
Janey Place and Lowell Peterson article “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir” establishes noir as a visual style and not a ...
What makes for a classic Hollywood film? Increasingly, films have evolved to the point where the standard by which one calls a “classic Hollywood film” has evolved over time. What one calls a classic film by the standards of yesterday is not the same as those of today. The film Casablanca is no exception to this. While David Bordwell’s article, “Classical Hollywood Cinema” defines what the classical Hollywood film does, the film Casablanca does indeed conform to the very definition that Bordwell provides the audience with in his article. However, while it is true that the film capers closely to Bordwell’s definition, this is a controversial, as well as subjective, claim to make because everything other than the ending of the film indicates
Film noir (literally 'black film,' from French critics who noticed how dark and black the looks and themes were of these films) is a style of American films which evolved in the 1940s. " The Internet Movie Database LTD. Film noir typically contains melancholy, and not so moral themes. Another characteristic of film noir is just because the main character has the title hero, that does not mean that he will always be alive at the end of the book, or that the hero is always "good." Marlowe in The Big Sleep is a prime example of this concept.
Film noir as a genre began in America following the Great Depression with a visual style reminiscent of German Expressionist cinematography. It reflects the time’s general sense of pessimism, cynicism, and dark confusion. It became widely known for its psychologically expressive approach to visual composition and many definitive stylistic elements. The use of dark and white lighting, a morally ambiguous protagonist, loose plotlines, a corrupt authority figure, and a femme fatale character were among its defining features. Neo noir, a sub-genre of the classic definition, utilizes the core elements of film noir but with evolved characteristics better suited to contemporary society, particularly toward technological advances. Christopher Nolan’s neo noir psychological thriller Memento (2000) encompasses many of the widely known characteristics of classical film noir in a unique way. Its form, narrative, cinematography, and mise-en-scene show its undeniable place among modern neo noir film. It tells the story of Leonard (Guy Pearce), a grief stricken man in search of his wife’s killer—the same person responsible for his short-term memory loss leaving him frozen in time. Although he cannot make new memories, he attempts to seek vengeance for his wife’s murder with the help of reminders he leaves for himself, including polaroids with notes scrawled in the margins and tattoos covering his body. Among his notes are important people he meets, including Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), the corrupt police officer and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), the femme fatal with suspicious motives.
After world war two America was giving a black and white style of films for audiences. In the 1940s these films were often about untrusting, pitiless, discoursed men who find themselves in a world that involves a beautiful but is unfaithful, backstabbing women. These types of films were called film noirs and “Double Indemnity” by Billy Wilder’s was one of them. This grey cynical film brings a very strong sexual essence along with a dark disloyalty between characters. In “Film History. 3rd edition”, by Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, it tells us about the key factors that makes “Double Indemnity” a Film Noir. It states, “Many typical traits of the film noir are present: the venality of both the main characters, the voice-over narration by the insurance salesman, the somber urban setting, and the doomed romance.”(233) According to “Film History 3rd edition”, film noir tried to have happy endings but they were very unconvicting, I believe that this film attempted to end in a manor less unfortunate. If Walter would of stayed and listened to Barton he would of not died. But it’s unfortunately obvious
In the American Cinema / American Culture book by John Belton expresses film noir as an American Expressionist movement. Film Noir differs from the Classical Hollywood Cinema with specific elements. Belton explains this differences as “[…] the same old familiar classical Hollywood cinema possessed by a new, recognizably alien spirit […]” (Chapter 10, p. 229). The “possessed” and “alien spirit” refer to the stylistic elements of Film Noir’s. Extreme camera angles of low and high angle perspectives, extreme lighting on actors (dark atmosphere), dramatic or mysterious genre of murder or crime, and a detective to solve the case. Another strong Film Noir element is a visibly narrative presence that turns out to be untrustworthy and/or sometimes a form of flashback changing back and forth to the
Director John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941), one of the first film noirs ever made, tells the story of the hard-boiled detective Sam Spade when he takes on a case brought by a beautiful but mysterious woman, Miss Wonderly. As he becomes involved in a complex entanglement filled with crime and deception, troubles arise not only when Spade’s partner, Miles Archer, is shot to death but also when he is confronted by a man who requests his help to find a valuable statuette known as the Maltese Falcon. In creating this film, Huston incorporated a number of different styles and elements that would later become hallmarks of film noirs. Among many others elements used in the
Hollywood’s film noir represents a hard-boiled and cynical portrayal of American life that is mostly about a male-dominated world. Attractive male characters lead the film’s storyline, and female characters such as a femme fatale take their positions that indicate in relation to the male protagonists. Also, in general, the world of dark, corruption and crime are usually described in film noir, and thus it shows a strong sense of social contradictions. “Outrage,” directed by Ida Lupino, strongly criticizes the male-centered society and the film culture during the period. This is largely because not only does she represent an unvarnished image of the inexcusable crime, especially rape, but also provides the audience with the use of mise-en-scene to reproduce the protagonist’s entrapment and emotional distress, and thus makes us understand a legal failure of the attack with logical depictions.
Casablanca can be considered a prime example of Classical Hollywood Cinema due to many of the film’s goals, its narration, style, sounds, visuals, and subject matters. Looking first to the goals of the film, Polan claims in her essay, “Casablanca comes closest to for many fans to embodying Hollywood cinema in its classic moment insofar as we imagine this classic cinema to encapsulate a certain high level of achievement in escapist entertainment and story telling accomplishment” (Polan 343). The film’s goals fit with the time’s wartime ideals and achievements, and coincide with topics that many people are very interested in. In this way Casablanca is able to uphold its reputation as an example
Film Noir contains several classic movie traits that separate it from the other numerous genres in the industry. The movies The Big Sleep and Chinatown are examples of Film Noir for their femme fatale, hardboiled detective and the use of Mise en Scene throughout the films. After viewing The Dark Knight the Rises, I have come to the conclusion that it too falls under the category of Film Noir for using the same traits as the previously mentioned films.
Chinatown is the essence of a neo-noir film, it captures everything a noir film would encompass, just in a different era. By 1974, the year in which Roman Polanski’s Chinatown was released, the era of film noir had long passed. The film is sure to make the relation obvious to past films, including Evelyn Mulwray’s double - Ida Sessions to parallel Miss Wonderly in The Maltese Falcon (1941). In further contrast, Jake may be financially more stable than Sam Spade, but he is not quite so capable at protecting the vulnerable and uncovering the guilty. Chinatown is corrupted from any angle, the streets we see in the film are dark and treacherous, a perfect depiction of film noir. Chinatown is an unblemished example of the lasting effect of the era’s
It’s funny how all these years I never figured out that one of my favorite movies, Memento, just happens to be a film noir. The film centers on our protagonist, Leonard Shelby, who is in pursuit of his wife’s killer. What takes this film out of the norm and into a neo-noir setting is that Leonard is unable to make new memories. This is due to a condition called Anterograde Amnesia, which he got trying to save his wife. It all seems like pretty a nihilistic film, because you can’t see this ever possibly working out. Too bad Leonardo doesn’t see it that way. Instead he believes that he is doing things in a very precise manner, such as taking Polaroid pictures to keep track of the people he meets and the places he visits, and tattoos of the facts as a reminder to what his mission in life is. While watching it with my newfound knowledge I can definitely see how this film fits into the criteria. The connection to film noir is shown in a number of ways. For one, many of the characters in film noir cater to the idea that the protagonist suffers from an identity problem. Another connection is the story plot and use of low-key lighting, and finally the most important aspect of this movie that ties it to many of the classic noir movies watched in class is the idea that male protagonist is an unreliable narrator.
Above all else it can be said that Noir is a tale of raw human
When thinking of the Film Noir genre, I cannot help but think about all the stereotypes about it. All that comes to mind are random sketches that the television show “Family Guy” does and all of the parodies that many of the other television shows do that are inspired by the genre. The Film Noir genre consist of stereotypes such as: fast talking, heavy smoking or drinking, dark lighting, and a voice over or narration. It was not very surprising when many of these stereotypes appeared in Double Indemnity; however, the film used what are now considered clichés to tell a fascinating story of a man, a woman, and their plot to runaway together.