Showing posts with label neo-noir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neo-noir. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Following - 1998
"You take it away... to show them what they had."
Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight) writes and directs this odd, claustrophobic neo-noir film about a seedy young Brit (Jeremy Theobald) who's obsessed with following people -- albeit harmlessly at first. After meeting a like-minded bloke (Alex Haw), the twosome graduate to breaking and entering -- but meet their match in a tough blonde dame (Lucy Russell) who may have dubious plans of her own.
This is Christopher Nolan's directorial debut with a feature-length film. He came up with the idea for the film because he had his home broken into and wondered what the people thought as they went around looking at his belongings.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Croupier - 1998
Croupier is a 1998 film starring Clive Owen as a croupier. Directed by Mike Hodges, the film was released by Image Entertainment on DVD in the USA, and Alliance Atlantis in Canada. Though intended as a feature film, it was shown on television in North America. It was also initially released in cinemas and drew a steady audience at the box office, attracting a strong critical following in North America, and helping to launch Clive Owen's acting career there. Croupier was disqualified from the Academy Awards after it was shown on Dutch television.
The film has been classified as neo-noir. It uses interior monologues in the style of many early noir detective films.
Jack Manfred (Owen) is an aspiring writer going nowhere fast. To make ends meet and against his better judgment, he takes a job as a croupier. He finds himself drawn into the casino world and the job gradually takes over his life; his relationship with girlfriend Marion begins to deteriorate. One gambler in particular catches his attention: Jani, whom he starts to see outside working hours—a serious violation of casino rules. Jani (Alex Kingston) is down on her luck; under pressure from her creditors she approaches Jack, asking him to be the inside man for a planned heist at the casino. Jack carefully considers the odds; it all looks so simple but even a professional like Jack cannot predict the cards which he will be dealt.
The film has been classified as neo-noir. It uses interior monologues in the style of many early noir detective films.
Jack Manfred (Owen) is an aspiring writer going nowhere fast. To make ends meet and against his better judgment, he takes a job as a croupier. He finds himself drawn into the casino world and the job gradually takes over his life; his relationship with girlfriend Marion begins to deteriorate. One gambler in particular catches his attention: Jani, whom he starts to see outside working hours—a serious violation of casino rules. Jani (Alex Kingston) is down on her luck; under pressure from her creditors she approaches Jack, asking him to be the inside man for a planned heist at the casino. Jack carefully considers the odds; it all looks so simple but even a professional like Jack cannot predict the cards which he will be dealt.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The Grifters - 1990
The Grifters is a 1990 neo-noir film directed by Stephen Frears and produced by Martin Scorsese. It stars John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening and is based upon The Grifters, a pulp novel by Jim Thompson.
Lilly Dillon is a veteran con artist who begins to rethink her life when her son Roy, a small-time grifter, suffers an almost-fatal injury when hit with a thrust from the blunt end of a baseball bat, right after a failed scam.
Lilly works for a bookmaker, Bobo Justus, handling playback at the tracks — that is, betting money to lower the odds of longshots. On her way to La Jolla for the horse races, she stops in Los Angeles to visit Roy, whom she hasn't seen in eight years. She finds him in pain and bleeding internally. When medical assistance finally comes, Lilly confronts the doctor, threatening to have him killed if her son dies.
At the hospital, Lilly meets and takes an instant dislike to Roy's girlfriend, Myra Langtry, who is a few years older than her son. Lilly urges her son to quit the grift, saying he literally doesn't have the stomach for it. Because she leaves late for La Jolla, she misses a race where the winner was paying 70-1. For this mistake, Bobo burns her hand with a cigar.
Myra plays all the angles. She uses her body to persuade her landlord to overlook the rent. She makes a similar offer to a jeweler to get what she wants for a gem she is trying to pawn.
Upon leaving the hospital, Roy takes Myra to La Jolla for the weekend. On the train, she notices him conning a group of sailors in a rigged dice game. Myra reveals to Roy that she is also a grifter and is looking for a new partner for a long-con operation.
The project originated with Martin Scorsese who subsequently brought in Stephen Frears to direct while he produced. Frears had just finished making Dangerous Liaisons and was looking for another project when Scorsese approached him. The British filmmaker was drawn to Thompson's "tough and very stylistic" writing and described it, "as if pulp fiction meets Greek tragedy". Scorsese looked for a screenwriter, and filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff recommended Donald Westlake.
Frears contacted Westlake who agreed to re-read the Thompson novel but, after doing so, turned the project down, citing the story as "too gloomy." Frears then phoned Westlake and convinced him that he saw the story as a positive one, if considered as a story of Lily's drive to survive. Westlake changed his mind and agreed to write the adaptation. Frears was unsuccessful, however, at convincing Westlake to write the script under his pseudonym "Richard Stark," a name he had used to write 20 noir-influenced crime novels from 1962 through 1974. (Stark's name appears in the film, though, on a sign reading "Stark, Coe and Fellows"; Westlake explains in the film's commentary track that he has written novels as Richard Stark, Tucker Coe and "some other fellows.")
Lilly Dillon is a veteran con artist who begins to rethink her life when her son Roy, a small-time grifter, suffers an almost-fatal injury when hit with a thrust from the blunt end of a baseball bat, right after a failed scam.
Lilly works for a bookmaker, Bobo Justus, handling playback at the tracks — that is, betting money to lower the odds of longshots. On her way to La Jolla for the horse races, she stops in Los Angeles to visit Roy, whom she hasn't seen in eight years. She finds him in pain and bleeding internally. When medical assistance finally comes, Lilly confronts the doctor, threatening to have him killed if her son dies.
At the hospital, Lilly meets and takes an instant dislike to Roy's girlfriend, Myra Langtry, who is a few years older than her son. Lilly urges her son to quit the grift, saying he literally doesn't have the stomach for it. Because she leaves late for La Jolla, she misses a race where the winner was paying 70-1. For this mistake, Bobo burns her hand with a cigar.
Myra plays all the angles. She uses her body to persuade her landlord to overlook the rent. She makes a similar offer to a jeweler to get what she wants for a gem she is trying to pawn.
Upon leaving the hospital, Roy takes Myra to La Jolla for the weekend. On the train, she notices him conning a group of sailors in a rigged dice game. Myra reveals to Roy that she is also a grifter and is looking for a new partner for a long-con operation.
The project originated with Martin Scorsese who subsequently brought in Stephen Frears to direct while he produced. Frears had just finished making Dangerous Liaisons and was looking for another project when Scorsese approached him. The British filmmaker was drawn to Thompson's "tough and very stylistic" writing and described it, "as if pulp fiction meets Greek tragedy". Scorsese looked for a screenwriter, and filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff recommended Donald Westlake.
Frears contacted Westlake who agreed to re-read the Thompson novel but, after doing so, turned the project down, citing the story as "too gloomy." Frears then phoned Westlake and convinced him that he saw the story as a positive one, if considered as a story of Lily's drive to survive. Westlake changed his mind and agreed to write the adaptation. Frears was unsuccessful, however, at convincing Westlake to write the script under his pseudonym "Richard Stark," a name he had used to write 20 noir-influenced crime novels from 1962 through 1974. (Stark's name appears in the film, though, on a sign reading "Stark, Coe and Fellows"; Westlake explains in the film's commentary track that he has written novels as Richard Stark, Tucker Coe and "some other fellows.")
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