It’s November. Or, to my little on-line circle of cinema lovers, Noirvember. There’s even a #Noirvemberchallenge out there on the Twitters. Today, I got name dropped by Christa Fucking Faust as we talked about our favorite cinematographers.
(Yes, I’m a John Alton fanboy. There’s a pantheon of great noir cinematographers including Alton, James Wong Howe, Roger Deakins, and Nicholas Musuraca are in there).
And while the classic period of Film Noir came from a specific confluence of events in the US, every film making hub in the world had its noir period. Mexico, the UK, France, Japan, Germany, and Argentina all had moments where the shadows loomed deep. Look at a film like Black Gravel or Los Tallos Amargos. If you can. They’re all gut punches.
Why does everyone have a noir period? Why does it often crop up after conflicts and wars, especially as conservative forces are pushing people into their very specific closets to get things ‘the way they should be?’ Because I think every culture and generation, especially after the last few wars, has a moment when they realize the promised land is a real-estate scam. You do everything, break every rule, to try and get a small piece of the dream only to find you’ve bought a one-foot-square plot – not even enough room in your grave.
Mythbusting. Cracking open the comfortable lies we tell each other designed to keep power with the powerful while the rest of us fight for crumbs from their tables. It’s why filmmakers who travel in Noir Alley often find themselves driven out by studio heads, HUAC types, and the authoritarian dictators we’ve quietly left in power because they said they’d beat up the right people when we asked.
This Noirvember, don’t just look for fedoras and gumshoes. Take a trip out to Red Rock West. Look at some Nordic Noir (“Yes, things are nice, but we’ve also got nazis and serial killers under the polite surface. Also, feel like tying up Mads Mikkelsen?”). Shoot the Piano Player while you’re at it. Why? Because A Colt is My Passport, and La Bestia debe Morir.
Every culture out there has its expression of noir. And looking in the shadows will tell you a lot about what is being hidden from the bright lights.
Biomechanoid Blues 