Neo Noir History of the Neo Noir films

Neo Noir

History of the Neo Noir films � � � � Neo Noir is a sub genre that was born out of the noir films of the 1940’s and 50’s – which were dark detective stories featuring gritty settings and dark plots. The first Neo Noir films are hard to pinpoint as this is quite and ambiguous sub genre, but the 1960’s films Breathless (1960), Bande a part (1964) and especially Alphaville (1965) made by Jean-Luc Godard are considered the first of this type of film. The films to be produced after this such as John Boorman’s Point Blank (1967) and Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973) were seen as a new style of film that could not be called noir due to the fact they focused on a world view, rather than the psychological struggle of the protagonists. This was partly bought about due to the cold war and growing pessimism in society. Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) was also a notable release that bought the genre to a new generation. 1982 saw the release of Blade Runner, a film that stretched this sub genre due to being a sci-fi noir – a film type not commonly seen before. This was also seen in Alex Proyas’s Dark City (1998), again showing that science fiction can embrace the neo-noir atmosphere. Since then, films such as Memento (2000), Sin City (2005) and Drive (2011) have referenced to the dark moods of the noir films of the 40’s and are critically acclaimed titles of the neo noir sub genre. An interesting group of films to mention are the Christopher Nolan Batman films, which started with Batman Begins in 2005, and are an example of the neo-noir sub genre being used in a superhero film, and this added a popular dark, brooding edge to the films and broke with common superhero film tropes in terms of the mood of the films. Perhaps more recently, the release of Blade Runner 2049 in 2017 is one of the most modern examples of this sub genre being used to show audiences a more gritty world were our psychological state and world view are challenged through the neo noir sub genre.

Sub-Genres of the Neo Noir film �Neo Noir is in itself a sub genre, and so couples with other genres, such as: �Neo-Noir Science Fiction �Neo-Noir Crime �Neo-Noir Horror �Neo-Noir Thriller �Neo-Noir Superhero

Iconography of the Neo Noir film �Cigarettes �Guns �Darkness/Low Key Lighting �Smoke �Rain

Actors/Directors associated with Neo Noir films �Actors: �Harrison Ford �Sean Young �Jack Nicholson �Faye Dunaway �Guy Pierce �Carrie-Anne Moss �Christina Hendricks �Ryan Gosling �Directors: �Ridley Scott �Roman Polanski �Coen Borthers �Christopher Nolan �David Lynch �Nicolas Winding Refn �Alex Proyas

Box Office – Top 10 films of the Genre

Critically acclaimed examples �L. A Confidential (1997) �Brick (2006) �Point Blank (1967) �Blood Simple (1984) �Chinatown (1974) �Memento (2000) �Blade Runner (1982) �The Grifters (1990) �The Long Goodbye (1973)

Stretch and Challenge: Ideologies/Contexts �Neo-Noir films are seen as those that challenge the tropes and optimism of Hollywood films, and that stretch the audiences view on the world we live in, and reflects the pessimism of a modern world view. They do not always have the ‘good guy’ reinstating equilibrium in the world, and usually challenge the audience to see a world without any sense of equilibrium – and the lines of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are extremely blurred because of this. They show the viewer that the world is not necessarily a happy place, and crime can come from anywhere – as well as violence usually having the uncensored quality that also challenge the viewers to see something gritty and real – a world that is a reflection of the one we live in but taken in whatever direction the filmmakers see fit.

Filmic Influences �The films of the various Neo-Noir sub-genre are: Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049 and Dark City. This is because they all use the Neo-Noir sub-genre in a sci-fi context, and also contemplate themes which I am interested and influenced by. As well as this, the films present a world without equilibrium, and do not follow many common tropes within cinema – something which I would also like to do in my film to try and make it unique.