Film Noir

Everyone loves scary, thriller, murder mystery stories. But before horror and thrillers came into place, there was a very popular genre that was quite appreciated a few decades back, this was called "Film Noir". Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low key black and white visual style that was inspired from German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression.

The term film noir, first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the classic era. Cinema historians and critics defined the noir canon in retrospect; before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas. The question of whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.

Here are a few characteristics from movie examples that are quite oblivious to the presentation of Film Noir:

• Indicate extreme low key lighting to create distinct areas of light and darkness in films, especially in black and white films.
• Metaphoric
• Monochrome
• Red vs. blue tint
• Deep focus (everything is in focus)
• Doomed protagonist
• Femme fatale/good girl

A few examples of movies that have been shown to us during the first few weeks of the semester are:

• Detour
• Double indemnity
• In a lonely place
• House of bamboo