What does The Dark Knight, Seven, Taxi Driver, John Wick and Blade
Runner have in common? Well, they are all different variations of the same genre.
Sure, at first glance it's not that obvious. But Neo-Noir is a very expansive and
interesting genre with a great selection of cinematic bangers.
Even some of the best contemporary directors were cutting their teeth with stories of anti-heroes,
ambivalent mysteries, deceptive femme fatales and illusive truths.
But where does this genre come from? Isn't it just a shinier more modern noir iteration?
Well yes and no. Yes, as it continues in the footsteps
of its precursor but not as it's a more self-aware progression that goes beyond the limits of noir.
You see noir is a term we use retroactively to categorize those sleuth movies of the 40s and 50s
from films like The Maltese Falcon to Orson Wells' Touch of Evil.
Back then these filmmakers weren't thinking that they were expanding on a genre.
That classification came from an outsider perspective from the French that had an
interest in these dark American stories. Although, the big difference with the
current genre and its precursor is the expansion of its ambivalence.
Back in the early 30s to late 60s there was censure on certain things that would be deemed
immoral. The Hays production code regulated and minimized the use of blood, acts of violence,
and sexuality. If a villain committed a crime, then by the end of the movie the criminal would
have to be punished. Justice had to be served. But not in Neo-noir. That' why we see a rise of
narratives were the main character doesn't catch the killer, where justice is far too murky,
and all we are left with are loose ends... Welcome to the Screened Film Club I'm your
curator Moises and today We will be exploring the fascinating
recurring patterns of the puzzling and obscure Neo-noir genre.
And since we will be talking about how some of these movies end, some spoilers will follow.
And today's video is kindly sponsored Surfshark but more on that midway.
"You're a very nosy fellow, kitty cat. Huh? You know what happens to nosy fellows?
Huh? No? Wanna guess?" We start by taking a look at the protagonist
that must manoeuvre these uncomfortable stories of crime and mystery. An unconventional character,
unequipped with the qualities and virtues that inhabit an ideal or even a normal hero.
"The word 'hero' never seems to fit the noir protagonist,
for his world is devoid of the moral framework necessary to produce the traditional hero"
Here it's referring to the classic noir protagonist, but the meaning
hasn't changed only deepened. The neo-noir anti-hero is born
out of pessimism and alienation... If his precursor was a by-product of post
war anxieties this mutation is a manifestation of the cultural disillusionment of the time.
In the late 60s and early 70s we see an America that doesn't buy into the American
dream and image as easily as it used to. Still suffering the fresh wounds of events like
the Vietnam war and the Watergate scandal. There is just a growing sense of national
mistrust and uncertainty...that dovetails perfectly with the era's postmodern view.
The relativism of values and morality. These anti-heroes are symptoms
of this social ambiguity. That's why a lot of the neo-noir
characters have very distorted moral compasses and are representations of inverted archetypes.
The corrupt cop, politician, or authority figure like in Chinatown
or in L.A. Confidential where the antagonist is the systemic abuse of power of law enforcement.
We also see the use of the benevolent hitman like in John Wick, getting revenge for his
dog's death, Leon "the professional" taking in Mathilda after her family was murdered,
Joe from You Where Never Really Here trying to save Nina from a prostitution ring.
Or the example of the incongruous polite criminal to whom murder can
seem less of an affront than not tipping your waitress:
"What do you mean you don't believe in it? Come on you, cough up a buck you cheap bastard."
not bringing flowers to visit the sick mother of the man you're currently holding hostage:
"She carried you in her womb for nine months. People buy flowers, buy flowers."
arriving late to a pre-kidnapping meeting or giving a married woman a foot massage.
But we also have the contrast of the everyday person giving into a dark side.
Like in Fargo, a suburban meek husband stages a kidnaping of his wife to get
the ransom money from his father-in-law. In Prisoners it's a father ready to do
anything to find his daughter even torture a mentally challenged man:
"We hurt him until he talks or they are going to die. That's the choice."
Some neo-noir characters are either on the path to perdition or redemption.
The corruption of one's self, what they stand for or represent.
Or to absolve from a past, to try and right a wrong.
An extreme representation of the conflicting duality of human nature. That both light and
darkness can inhabit the same person. That we are both capable of destruction and restoration.
A person can be a breaker and the broken. The unforgiving and the merciful.
A hero and a vigilante.
"Where are you heading?"
"Far away from here..."
When discussing neo-noir,
it's important to keep in mind its two cycles. The first being the modernist period that started
in the late 1960s with movies like Point Blank or Bonnie and Clyde. This period embraced its genre
and explored its limits with crueler crimes and more sexual undertones.
The second is the postmodern cycle that started in the 80s and expanded into different genres,
they also became much more self-referential and experimental with the medium.
What I find interesting is that it doesn't seem like this cycle has ended
or perhaps it has morphed into something else and just doesn't have a name yet.
But one thing is clear that over 50 years of the evolution of neo-noir...we keep being pulled in
by these stories of crime and mystery. Just like the genre's characters...
When we were exploring the neo-western genre, we spoke about characters living
in the outskirts and in the frontiers of America but in neo-noir, the setting is quite different,
it takes place in very populated areas and most of the times in a variant of LA.
And here the threat is shown to be much closer, maybe just under our
noses or around the next corner. All you have to do is scratch
the surface and it will lead you to something you didn't know was hiding.
In Pulp Fiction one bad turn into a shop leads Butch and Marsellus
to an unforgettable encounter. In Collateral Max's next passenger
take him on a night of murder and mayhem. In Blue Velvet the discovery of a severed ear will
give Jeffrey a peek into the criminal underworld. In Chinatown a seemingly mundane case of
infidelity leads private investigator Jake Gittes to uncover a large-scale corruption.
Giving us a sense that even in our daily routine we are in close proximity to a random darkness.
The neo-noir protagonist is charged to navigate this mystery and to unearth the threat, to collect
the clues, find the killer and solve the case. But as the detectives keep searching,
the paths become more confusing and the mystery has lured them into a city-wide complex maze.
Jake Gittes is successful in finding out how all the different dots connect to each other
but for some reason he's also being diverted. At first, just like him,
we don't even notice it. The name of the movie is Chinatown,
but for a while we don't know why... since none of the events of the movie are happening at that
location. Then little by little we're clued in that Chinatown is part of Jake's past as a cop.
For him, it represents a no-win scenario and sadly no matter how much he has advanced and
moved on in life he is brought back to the place where he's always been defeated.
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." In Se7en Somerset is also trying to
escape. He's had a long career as a detective, and he's had enough.
"I don't understand this place any longer." "It's the way it's always been."
"Maybe you're right." He even tries to sober his
new optimistic partner to the reality of the nameless city...
that there is no winning. That even if you find the clues,
catch the killer... You still end up failing. Somerset's pessimism is later painfully
asserted... that there seems to be no exit from the maze.
"Where you going to be?" "... around."
Memento takes this concept a step further by internalizing the maze. Here we see the postmodern
narrative at work. Presented in an unchronological order showing the complicated mind of Leonard.
"I know who I am, I know all about myself, I just...
since my injury I cant make new memories." Neo-noir has a lot of examples of afflicted
psyches like in You Were Never Really Here where the movie is intercut with flashback
to represent the character's PTSD that makes him relive traumatic moments of his life. Or
in Nocturnal Animals where the narrative is mixed with a secondary story representing a metaphor of
the pain the character caused her ex-husband in the past. Or like in the Chinese film Long Day's
Journey into Night where we see a dream like introspection of the main character's regret.
In Memento it's to heighten a stagnation. Leonard is a man that is trying to solve the murder of his
wife, but he is hindered by the fact that he can't make new memories. So, he is constantly
re-exploring the same case for an unknown amount of time and for god knows how many iterations.
Leonard is stuck reliving this internal maze nurtured by a past he can't let go.
And just like the other characters of neo-noir either in city-space or inner-space
they are expected to loop back to defeat.
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"Sit down." "What for?"
"You may think you know what you are dealing with... but believe me you don't."
Most neo-noir characters are searching for the truth.
Or what they think it might be. The interesting thing is that the
neo-noir stories don't always try to withhold the truth from the characters or the viewers.
It can even try to confuse you by making you realise that maybe
you can't trust what you are being told. In The Usual Suspects, while being interrogated,
Verbal is recounting the story of events leading up to a deadly gunfight but by the end we realize
that he is an unreliable narrator and everything we've heard could just be a longwinded fiction.
In Gone Girl, it's about not trusting what you can see.
What starts as a movie about a husband possibly murdering his wife turns into an exploration
on appearances and counter narratives. A fight for the most convincing lie because
the truth is far too complicated. We don't really want the truth; we want a good story.
In Blade Runner appearances can also be misleading. Deckard is blade runner that must
capture four escaped replicants, androids that look exactly like humans but as things progress,
it turns into a re-examination of what he tough was real.
A truth that is hard to accept. Or even worse in OldBoy Oh Dae-su has lived with
a 15-year itch for the truth of who imprisoned him for so long and why but once all is revealed...
it's so disturbing he wishes he could forget it. Here, what's worse than searching for the truth
is actually finding it. Like in Memento the truth for Leonard
is that he can't tell who he is anymore. But one thing for sure is that he is far gone from who he
used to be. Rather than accepting that his wife's killer is already dead and that he's murdered
several people that had nothing to do with it, he decides to reset into a comforting lie.
The truth can be too hard to handle because it can change who we think we are.
"So, you lie to yourself to be happy there is nothing wrong with that.
We all do it. Who cares if there's a few little details you'd rather not remember."
A great symbol that can summarize this concept is actually a very
simple one hiding in plain sight as decorative item of the noir genre.
I'm sure you've seen them before. It's something as innocuous as the blinds:
"They want to announce the themes of the movie, that the movie will be about light and darkness,
knowledge and evasion of knowledge, the search for knowledge and the cost of knowledge, [...]."
That the shadows are a bit more comforting than the blinding glare of the light.
The neo-noir protagonist, their search for the truth,
the duality of the city and the characters, the return of the past and the lie we tell-ourselves
turns into a metaphor for an identity crisis. The consciousness is trying to uncover a trauma
but the subconscious is suppressing our efforts; we can catch glimpses of it but as we get close,
it quickly disappears because to fully view who we are can be too much to bear.
I hope you liked our broad look into Neo-Noir! Honestly, I feel like we only scratched the
surface of this very interesting genre. If you would like to learn more definitely read the very
helpful book The Philosophy of Neo-Noir. Next week we will give you a non-spoiler
list of movies you should watch but we also want your opinion.
So, let us know down in the comments what are your favourite Neo-Noir films and why! And your
comment might be featured in the next video. Before you go make sure to be notified so you
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The music was made by Eduardo Gonzalez if you liked his work check
his information down in the description. See you next week at the Film Club.