After
reading the Newsweek article “The Neo-Noir 90s” by David
Ansen’s and Tara Weingarten’s, I immediately recalled two movies that could
easily be considered “film noir” before I even finished the first paragraph. In
2005 the film “Sin City” and 2006 the film “The Black Dahlia” were released and
are both full of comparisons to what the writers of the article describe as
“film noir”. In the film “The Black Dahlia” the movie takes you back to a time in
the 1940’s when two local LAPD detectives are trying to solve the murder of a
young woman. The film expresses a dark and vicious underworld that the young
woman was involved with. The film follows the two detectives as a normal film
would but they add moments in which the character speaks in a third person point
of view which you rarely seen in any films. The film portrays almost every
description of what the article contained even down to the way the detectives
smoked cigarettes anywhere they pleased with no regard for anybody’s health and
welfare but in today’s time you’re lucky if you get the chance to light one up.
The film “Sin City” is just as dark and violent as “The Black Dahlia” filled
with murder and intrigue centered upon a group of people. What I liked about
“Sin City” was the way in which the shot it in black and white to keep it true
to the meaning of “film noir”. The way they portrayed the main “hero” of the
film but as you watch you see that he’s just as evil as the villains in the
film, he just somehow gets turned onto a path of revenge but in his mind is the
righteous thing to do. In all I’m a fan of the films portrayed in the article
but can understand why such films are not for the everyday person but I hope
the genre never comes to end.
