Contemporary Film Noir -- My Top Fifteen

My first feature, The Last Lullaby, just released on DVD on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and in a bunch of other places.  It's a hybrid of genres, probably, but it's also probably a film noir.  So to mark this big occasion for the film, I thought I would throw out a list of my personal favorites from the contemporary noir period (I started it, as many people do, after 1958.) 


Pierrot Le Fou
Shoot the Piano Player
Blue Velvet
Mulholland Dr. 
Techine's Thieves
Fargo
Straight Time
King of New York
Chinatown
Heat
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Night Moves
Blow Out
Carlito's Way
Godard's Breathless

Noir, My Friend

It was the first genre I ever took to, speaking to me in a way that nothing else ever had.  What was it?   Was it the clever, little rejoinders?  The neat little twists and turns of many of the films’ plots?  Or was I nocturnal and liked the underworld, the seedier side of things? 

I ask all these questions but already know the answer.  I grew up in a Blue Velvet world.  The suburbs, small town, surrounded by smiling faces and happy people.  And I didn’t feel all that way inside, but it seemed that everyone else did, and that’s the way I needed to be, too.  

Most of the movies I was seeing were echoing this rampant optimism, as well.  But then I discovered film noir, and my first cinematic companion.  A filmed document that felt as unhinged and raw as many of my emotions inside.   It wasn’t until much later, of course, that I learned noir was mostly the product of disenfranchised Europeans who had fled their countries and come to Hollywood.

Rose-colored Hollywood must have felt exactly to them as my Blue Velvet world felt to me.  And their films expressed this chasm.  They told stories of a world when Hollywood was asleep.  Their stories were tough but with an honesty and truthfulness that seemed unique to American cinema.   

Noir might mean black or dark.  And film noir might not be the most upbeat tales to ever come out of our nation’s cinema.  But for me, and I think so many others, they were liberating, catharsis as truth, and will forever remain relevant as a result.

*This post is a part of the For the Love of Film (Noir) Blogathon and Fundraiser for the Film Noir Foundation to help preserve our film heritage.  The Blogathon is hosted by Ferdy on Films and The Self-Styled Siren.  Please make your donation by clicking on the link below.  Thank you.

Favorites of My Favorites #7 -- David Lynch

There’s a real danger to David Lynch’s work that is almost unrivaled in the history of the medium.  He’ll take us to places most others won’t dare go.  And he does it with a power, a punch, and a sexiness that for me, at least, is ultimately much more appealing than it is unpleasant.

If being a great filmmaker means having a wonderful eye and ear, creating an experience that is intellectually and viscerally satisfying, and delivering remarkable performances, then I would have to say that Lynch is indeed great.  Many polls recently chose Mulholland Dr. as the best film of the decade, and you won’t hear an argument from me.  It’s just amazing to think, it’s not even my favorite David Lynch film.

I’ve long felt that the medium is 50% visual/50% aural, and no one makes a better argument for this than Lynch.  His sound designs and collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti uncover another layer, an underbelly, that most filmmakers can only graze. 

I would imagine much of his strength comes from his thirty plus years of transcendental meditation.  He trusts himself and his instincts so fully that his work takes on a primal intensity at times.  Of course, I also find that he has a lovable innocence and moments where he demonstrates both a great deal of heart and a wonderful sense of humor.  

I love the way he manages his career.  He’s an independent, an artist, one of the most unique people working in the medium.  Although I can’t say that I understand every moment from every one of his films, it really doesn’t matter to me.  His work affects me about as much as anyone's.

DAVID LYNCH (in preferential order)

1.  Blue Velvet
2.  Mulholland Dr.
3.  Twin Peaks (pilot)
4.  The Elephant Man
5.  Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
6.  Lost Highway
7.  The Cowboy and the Frenchman watched 4/17/11
8.  Inland Empire
9.  Eraserhead
10.  Wild at Heart
11.  The Straight Story

12.  Dune watched 1/26/10
13.  DumbLand (short) watched 1/30/10
14.  The Alphabet watched 4/16/11
15.  The Amputee watched 4/16/11
16.  The Grandmother watched 4/16/11
17.  Lumiere: Premonitions Following an Evil Deed watched 4/17/11
18.  Six Figures Getting Sick watched 4/16/11

 

Never seen:

Dune
More Things That Happened (video)
To Each His Own Cinema (segment "Absurda")
Boat (video short)
Darkened Room (short)
DumbLand (short)
Rabbits

Lumiere and Company (segment "Premonition Following An Evil Deed")

The Grandmother (short)

The Alphabet (short)

Six Figures Getting Sick (short)