Film Style Of Neo Noir Film: Neo Noir Film

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Neo Noir Film Neo noir genre of film production is a style that has existed in the world of film production since the 1940s. Neo is a French word for new while noir means black. Noir film means black film although it does not literally incorporate the racial orientation of the black people. Rather it is the mood and attitude of the film in terms of different styles. Neo noir is an updated version of noir films of the 1940s. Noir films today have updated content, visual elements, style, themes or media that was not present in the 40’s and 50’s films. Nino Frank is said to have coined the term film noir in 1946 to denote to the overflow of American crime. This introduced a new filming style that incorporates antiheroes, criminal element and desparate characters (Cobb, 211). The cinematic style in noir films is characterized by dark places like deserted and creepy houses, wet streets at night and low key lighting. There is a dramatic contrast between light and shadow. The Se7en features a black detective (Somerset) as it was in the 1960’s when the noirs featured black detective characters. Whites and blacks are racially featured in noir where equality is achieved as Brad Pitt and Morgan freeman are partners in the film. There are more white criminals and black detectives (Covey, 61). This is visible in the Se7en film where the setting of the film is in a city that is constantly raining. There is high crime rate and urban decay. There is plenty of dark areas and places in the film especially where the victims are found. For example, the sloth victim was found in a dark house without any source of lighting. There are inverted frames that represent the inner thoughts of John Doe. Se7en is an example of a neo noir film. It has a lot o... ... middle of paper ... ... Somerset’s girlfriend represented a better life for him but he choose to let go out of fear of emotional connection that family brings. Doe envy’s Tracy because she represents a life he would want. He kills her after he is unable to play husband with her. This is an element of noir sex with female fetale in noir films. Most noir films are for adults only. They have few to no female characters as in the case of Se7en. This is probably because not child can be subjected to such violence and crime. The plot twist and reversals are visible in the film Se7en. First Doe hands himself over to the police. He fails to shoot detective Mills when the audience expects him to shoot. It is a twist that at the end of the film Tracy mills is killed something that the audience cannot sense from the beginning. Doe being shot dead by Mills is also a twist that the film introduces.

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