Film Noir is a genre of stylish crime dramas, difficult to define, but the 1940's and 50's were the classic period. Whether works since then can be accurately classed as Noir is a subject of much debate among film critics. Film Noir, and the literature from which it is drawn, is clearly the progenitor of later genres, particularly
cyberpunk.
Common subjects of noir films include murder investigations,
heists,
con games, and (mostly) innocent men or women
Wrongly Accused of crime. The
double-cross and
cigarette smoking are mandatory.
Complicated plots are further convoluted by
Flashbacks and
Flash Forwards — the
narration tying everything together,
assuming we can trust him.
Noir, in the classic and stylistic sense, is visually darker than your average gangster picture,
playing with light and long, deep shadows instead of bright, documentary-styled camera work. This visual motif is so iconic that homages and parodies are almost universally
Deliberately Monochrome, using a
transition between colour and black and white where necessary. Scenes are often filmed on location, and night scenes are shot at night. Camera angles are often very creative and unusual, heightening the viewers sense of unease, adding to the atmosphere. The contrast between light and dark is sometimes used in the cinematography to reflect the difference between the
villain and the protagonist(s). the combination of brooding sets with convoluted plots and you have the basis of the genre-defining works.
It rains every night in
Film Noir; filmmakers admit that this is entirely because at night wet pavement
looks cooler than dry. Also, the rain makes it plausible that no one else is around.
The
Anti-Hero is the most common protagonist of the Noir — a man alienated from society, suffering an existential crisis. Frequently portrayed as a disillusioned, cynical police officer or
private-eye and played by a fast-talking actor, the
Anti-Hero is no fool and doesn't suffer fools gladly. He faces morally ambiguous decisions and battles with
a world that seems like it is out to get him and/or those closest to him.
The setting is often
a large, oppressive city (filmed in dark and dusky conditions to create a moody atmosphere), with Mexico often playing a big role. Familiar haunts include dimly-lit bars,
nightclubs filled with questionable clientele (including, the
Gayngster) whom the lead may intimidate for information, gambling dens, juke joints and the ubiquitous seedy
waterfront warehouse. At night in the big city, you can bet the streets are slick with rain, reflecting streetlights like a Hopper painting.
Most of the characters (including the lead) are cynical, misanthropical and hopeless all the way through the film, and never find
true redemption.
The tone and outlook of Film Noir
must be
bleak,
defeatist, and
pessimistic — it always
suggests a sliminess beyond what it can
show. Nobody gets what they want, and
everyone gets what's coming to them. Characters are often armed —
revolvers,
Colt 1911s, and if they need
More Dakka, tommy guns. They'll probably wear a
Fedora or trilby hat with a
trench coat. Frequently the ending will be
low-key and
leave no one character happy or fulfilled. Commonly, there is also a great deal of
sexual tension between the hero and the female lead; Noir stories are quite risqué. The original Film Noir era followed the
Hayes Code, so the odds of a female lead removing her clothing are minimal. This applies to modern versions;
gratuitous nudity or scenes of excessive violence are
hinted at rather than portrayed. It is often what is
not seen that adds to the mystery and suspense.
Film Noir works are often low on
exposition to heighten tension, keeping the audience guessing until the
final unraveling. The conclusion takes place in the closing moments, ties up all the loose ends, answers many (if not all) of the major questions and keeps the
morally ambiguous theme of the work intact. These factors contribute to the widely-held opinion that Film Noir works are among the best artistic works of all time
despite their grim settings and contemptible characters.
Not to be confused with the religious conspiracy anime
Noir.
Characters associated with Film Noir:
Other tropes associated with Film Noir:
A common form of
Something Completely Different is the
Noir Episode — a work spends a single episode
homaging or
parodying Film Noir style (
or just has everyone wearing trilbies and talking about the rain, in black and white). See also our
Write A Film Noir guide.
Examples (the first three subcategories contain Film, Literature and Western Animation) :
open/close all folders
Proto-Noir
Frequently Referenced "Classic" Noirs
Post-Classic & Neo-Noir
- Breathless (1960)
- Shoot The Piano Player (1960)
- Brainstorm (1965)
- Le Samourai (1967)
- Heck, anything directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
- Taggart (according to the French)
- Which one, the (1964) action flick or the long-running Scottish TV series (1983)?
- Point Blank (1967)
- Bullitt (1968)
- Klute (1971)
- The Long Goodbye (1973)
- Chinatown (1974)
- The Drowning Pool (1975)
- Night Moves (1975)
- Taxi Driver (1976).
- Body Heat (1981)
- Blade Runner (1982), one of the most influential examples of Cyberpunk showing its Noir pedigree.
- Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1983) is an Affectionate Parody of Noir.
- The Element of Crime (1984) is simultaneously a Homage and a Deconstruction of the genre.
- Blood Simple (1985)
- Angel Heart (1987) combines Noir with horror to stunning effect.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
- Miller's Crossing (1990)
- Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
- Red Rock West (1992)
- The Last Seduction (1994)
- Se7en (1995)
- The Usual Suspects (1995), whose title comes from a famous line in Casablanca.
- Heat (1995)
- Clive Barker's Lord Of Illusions (1995) combines noir elements with Lovecraftian body horror.
- Bound (1996)
- Mulholland Falls (1996)
- LA Confidential (1997)
- The Big Lebowski (1998) is a simultaneous homage to and parody of Film Noir specific tropes.
- This is known as "Parody of Reaffirmation", like Weird Al parodying music, but at the same time is making music, or Scream parodying horror movies, all the while being a horror movie.
- Following (1998) Christopher Nolan's directorial debut is the British (somewhat subverted) version of the Film Noir standard.
- Dark City (1998)
- The Matrix (1999) hardly pure noir but has strong elements of it. The sequels, much less so.
- The Thirteenth Floor (1999) is noir through and through, right down to the music and the dress styles.
- Payback (1999)
- The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
- Brick (2005), which is interestingly set in a High School. It also uses 1930s slang so thick you might need a translator.
- Sin City (2005), which is the genre's conventions turned Up to Eleven.
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) throws in a heavy dose of comedy.
- Renaissance (2006) (Black & white CG movie set in Paris, IN THE FUTURE)
- The Empire State Building Murders (2006) uses Talking Heads and film noir clips to tell its own noir story.
- Memento
- The Bourne Series (2002-2007) has a heavy neo-noir feel in many scenes
- Fight Club (1999)
- Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008)
- Road to Perdition (2002)
- The Spirit (2008). Oh man, The Spirit.
- Public Enemies (2009)
- Winter's Bone (2010) is an example of Neo-Realist Noir, setting a missing persons case in the isolated and meth-ravaged communities of the Ozarks.
- Drive (2011)
Anime and Manga
Comic Books
- One Hundred Bullets
- Sin City
- Dogby Walks Alone - parodied by being placed in a Theme Park setting.
- The Marvel Noir line. Changes to Wolverine, for example, include his signature claws actually being handheld Japanese weapons. Naturally, there's an entirely different version of Logan on the X-Men.
- And even in normal Marvel continuity, such street-level heroes as Daredevil, Moon Knight and the Punisher have all had runs or story arcs that followed many noir conventions.
- Blacksad - An anthropomorphic detective series, that follows the stories of John Blacksad.
- The Damned - A detective cursed to never die working for demonic(literally demons) gang bosses in the midst of a war with a rival organization.
- The third series of X-Factor features Jamie Madrox's attempt at a noir mutant detective agency.
- Criminal by Ed Brubaker.
- Sleeper by Ed Brubaker.
- Incognito by Ed Brubaker.
- Brian Michael Bendis's Alias
- Watchmen contains significant noir elements.
Fan Fiction
Literature
Spoofs and Parodies
- Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
- Play It Again, Sam (1972), a Woody Allen film that matches up Allen's "neurotic Jew" character with Humphrey Bogart. Hilarity Ensues.
- Problem Sleuth, at least setting-wise, plays with the genre and its tropes in part. The bulk of the work is an incredibly silly take on the Eastern RPG, but it's decidedly within a Film Noir framework. And when it does noir, oh, it does noir
◊.
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, an Affectionate Parody with a surprisingly happy ending.
- The Tracer Bullet stories in Calvin and Hobbes.
- Sam & Max: Freelance Police, especially with the character Flint Paper.
- Less spoof than reference, but Tyrell Badd of ''Ace Attorney Investigations is a blatant noir detective down to the stubble, trenchcoat, and tragic past.
- The Black Bird is a film spoof of The Maltese Falcon without much originality.
- Rock Slyde (2009) is a modern film-noir parody starring Patrick Warburton as "Rock Slyde", private-eye and former homosexual-pirate musical-pornstar.
Live Action TV
- Veronica Mars somehow effectively used this style in a San Diego high school setting.
- Charmed had an episode based around a book taking them to a place with this style.
- An episode of Moonlighting did this well.
- Smallville had a Jimmy centric episode set in a noir dream sequence.
- Other than being set in Hawaii, Magnum, P.I. tended this was as well, complete with Private Eye Monologue.
- Kamen Rider Double is based on Noir.
- Terriers
- Luther
- The BBC two part Drama "Exile"
- Peter Gunn
- The Shadow Line is heavily inspired by Film Noir, borrowing many plot elements and a very dark and cynical tone.
- Season 5, episode 10 of Monk, "Mr. Monk and the Leper," was filmed as a noir, and there are both color and black and white versions, which were shown back-to-back when the episode premiered (the B&W version aired first).
- Angel was heavily influenced by Film Noir, mostly up to about half way through the third season, but it retained certain Film Noir traits until the very end, such as the moral abiguity. Heck, the final scene of the show is in the classic Film Noir setting of rainy alleyway.
Video Games
Webcomics
Web Original
Western Animation
Other
- The 2007 Hollywood Portfolio of Vanity Fair magazine set up a faux noir film called "Killers Kill, Dead Men Die" to accompany the series of photos taken, complete with casting and set descriptions in the captions.
