Characteristics of Film Noir

Film Noir

From Wikipedia


"Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-whitevisual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during theDepression.

The term film noir, French for "black film",^[1] first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the classic era.^[2] Cinema historians and critics defined the noir canon in retrospect. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas.^[a] The question of whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.

Film noir encompasses a range of plots—the central figure may be a private eye (The Big Sleep), a plainclothes policeman (The Big Heat), an aging boxer (The Set-Up), a hapless grifter (Night and the City), a law-abiding citizen lured into a life of crime (Gun Crazy), or simply a victim of circumstance (D.O.A.). Though the noir mode was originally identified with American productions, films now customarily described as noir have been made around the world. Many pictures released from the 1960s onward share attributes with film noirs of the classic period, often treating noir conventions in a self-referential manner. Such latter-day works in a noir mode are often referred to as neo-noirs. The tropes of film noir have inspired parody since the mid-1940s."

Characteristics:

History: 1940s-50s, Hollywood Studio but a reaction against the glamour and idealisation of Hollywood
Setting: Nameless timeless urban landscape,
Tone: cynical, subversive
Themes: crime, detective, thriller, revenge, immorality, bleakness, alienation, moral corruption, guilt... a lack of a happy ending...
Characters: Male protagonist: detective, police officer, a drinker and smoker, not a success in his personal or professional life, often as amoral as the people he chases, falls for the... femme fatale: a beautiful usually independent woman who typically leads the male protagonist astray, the antithesis of the loving, maternal, domestic female. 

Femme Fatale

Classics: The Third Man, A Touch of Evil, The Maltese Fiction, Big Sleep, Sunset Boulevard...  
Neo Noir: Se7en, Fargo, Fight Club, The Game, Brick, Batman, Memento...  
Technical aspects: close ups, spot lighting, contrasts between black and white, use of shadows, smoke; iconography of fedoras and cigarettes, smart three piece suits and pcket watches...