Neo-Noir
Over the years, film noir has gone through many changes, from being the memorable black and white classic like “The Maltese Falcon” to being the dark and mysterious graphic novel-inspired “Sin City”. While the classic era will always be considered as one of the richest periods of films in history, it is time to make some space for the new day film noir movies, dubbed “neo-noir films”. Neo-noir films are not unlike their predecessors; they still have a dark and somewhat depressing story line, there is still a strong femme fatalecharacter and her weak and inferior male counterpart is still present, however nowadays, neo-noir films have adapted to this era’s problems and hardships. These days, our problems are slightly different than the ones that people faced in the 1940′s and 1950′s. There is not a huge difference, however they are still present and quite noticeable. Furthermore, today, there are different types of film noir movies, such as the science fiction film noir. The film noir genre has adapted to what people want to see. There are a lot of science fiction fans, therefore it was only logical to create a science fiction film noir. Films such as “Gattaca”, “Minority Report” and even the famous “Blade Runner” can all be considered as sci-fi film noir films.
Over the years, there have been many movies that have ties to the film noir “genre”, but are not necessarily considered as a film noir movie. Many films have even attempted to parody the classic genre. One of the funniest films inspired by the film noir “genre”, while not really being considered as one is none other than Robert Zemeckis’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” In this film, many of the characters are animated, but they play alongside actual human characters.The storyline is based on the film noir concept, with a comical twist.
As you can see film noir has changed quite a bit. In the golden film noir era, there were many film noir movies created, however it was easy to distinguish whether a film was one or not. Film noir movies all had the exact same characteristics and sometimes, even the same actors, as is the case with Humphrey Bogart. However, nowadays, it is hard to distinguish whether a movie is considered to be film noir or not. The next question is if the movie is part of the film noir genre, what makes it so? Or even what kind of film noir movie is it? Is it a sci fi film noir movie or maybe even a comedic film noir movie? Sometimes, you do not even realize that you are watching something that could be considered film noir, until after it is pointed out to you. Then, and only then can you see the special characteristics that make it film noir.
Whatever the case may be, film noir has impacted the cinema industry drastically. It has brought forth so many new ideas and opened up so many new doors. When you think about it nearly every police or detective type story has taken its roots from the film noir genre. Every movie that has a female character in a role of super authority refers to the film noir “femme fatale”. The film noir genre has paved the way for so many films, some of which have become masterpieces. Next time you watch a movie, observe whether it has any ties to the film noir genre. Does you movie refer to any film noir characteristic? If so, you might be watching a film inspired by the late great film noir classics, and you might not even know it.
