By Ali Moosavi. At my age, receiving such an award may be a sign that you have reached the end of the line and this is an appreciation for going on this journey that I have travelled for 44 years. But I don’t see it that way. I can’t imagine […]
Round Like a Circle in a Spiral: The Poster Art of Film Noir (Preview)
By Marlisa Santos. As the movie-viewing public was becoming more comfortable with these kinds of filmic depictions, poster art, never to shy away from marketing hooks, aimed to tantalize prospective audiences with images that promised entrance into a suspenseful world of increasingly commonplace criminality and subversion of systemic stability…. University […]
Steven Zaillian’s Ripley: Neo-Noir or Revisionary Noir?
By M. Keith Booker. Many aspects of Zaillian’s series, both thematic and visual, make it an almost perfect example of neo-noir. Yet, in other ways, Ripley goes beyond the original noir cycle in ways that are reminiscent of the best revisionary noir films.” In my new book American Noir Film: […]
“Why Did Fate Make You a Sinner?”: Victims of Sin (1951, Criterion Collection)
By Jeremy Carr. Its pulp façade encases a genuine, sincere examination of sundry motivations, dilemmas, and outcomes, routinely begging the question stated in one its many songs: ‘Why did fate make you a sinner?’” Victims of Sin, or Víctimas del Pecado, is an aptly titled Mexican melodrama where the concept […]
Black and White, with a Splash of Color: Three from Il Cinema Ritrovato 2024
By Theresa Rodewald. There is a lot of dark, a lot of noir to be found in Bologna after all….” Bologna in late June is terracotta porticos, scorching sun and sweat. A city in dusty pastel colours, full of medieval remnants, with the world’s oldest university. Quite possibly the opposite […]
More “Dead Men and Broken Hearts”: Liminal Noir in Classical World Cinema
A Book Review by Dávid Szőke. While acknowledging the broadening of the debated canon, this volume, edited by Elyce Rae Helford and Christopher Weedman, focuses on how liminality extends beyond physical spaces, emphasizing the fragmented psychological and social realms onscreen after the war.” “Dead men are heavier than broken hearts,” […]