I've been feeling a little uninspired lately. Just a short bout of anhedonia, nothing I haven't been through before but all I've really wanted to do lately is read and sleep. I read a passage from a psychology text today that said it's important to schedule in things you like to do, even if you don't feel like doing them. Like getting up to do yoga and meditate, even though I'm still tired when the alarm goes off. Or writing something, even though I think it's going to be shit. Morning car rides are important - because I genuinely enjoy driving (I've been known to get lost on purpose, just to drive around a little while longer) and it's my time to enjoy music. Lately, I've been listening to Spotify's Taylor Swift mix a lot. Her songs paint such a fantastical, romantic picture of life, even the sad and angry ones - her Cancer moon is so obvious in her art (because Cancer placements, no matter what happens, we believe in True Love above all else - and Taylor Swift's love life has inspired basically her whole discography) and I'm surprised I didn't see it before. I'll save my "Why I Love Taylor Swift" essay for another time, but for now, I'm just trying to climb my way back to Hopeful Jess, because I miss her.
However, that leads us into today's topic, which is one of my favorite film styles - film noir. True story: I have written several essays on the topic of film noir in French to get my second degree (which is in the French language). No, it was not easy, but it was fun, if only to fall in love with Alain Delon and, to a lesser degree, Jean-Paul Belmondo. There are twitches and habits I still do today only because I saw Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless." Film noir and noir-ish literature are critical to the dieselpunk aesthetic, for obvious reasons. It was a genre that evolved primarily from the late 1920s to the 1940s. As such, the bulk of the classic noir films were made pre-Code, which set moral standards on films, meaning that they get closer to some of the darker themes that you generally don't see in popular films made in the 40s and 50s. Pre-Code films were able to get away with more violence and sexual innuendo, which is what gives film noir its flavor.
You had plenty money 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
You're sitting there wondering what it's all about
You ain't got no money, they will put you out
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
When someone mentions anything "noir," you probably get a picture in your head, particularly one of a gritty crime drama that's shot in black and white. Usually with a plot that could've been ripped from a story in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (a mystery/crime fiction digest I read a lot of when I stayed at my grandparents' house during summers). As a genre, noir tends to rely heavily on it's archetypes - the Private Eye, the Femme Fatale, the Crime Boss, et cetera - and the plot is very character-driven. However, it should always be noted - with all good narratives - it follows a fairly predictable story arc (which, inevitably, mirrors aspects of the Hero's Journey - always gotta bring things back full circle). The familiar film noir plot goes a little like the following: Our Hero (or, in some cases, Anti-Hero) is down on his luck. Perhaps he's fighting an addiction - alcoholism is common in film noir, especially in films from the 20s and 30s - or maybe his wife just left him, he's broke, his business is failing, or some combination thereof. That's when a feminine character - often a Femme Fatale, but sometimes just a Damsel in Distress - comes to him with a problem to solve. A quest, if you will. This is not a love story, my friends. Not usually, anyway. Yes, there will be sexual tension but most often, this woman is leading him into some sort of danger or quandary. Sometimes, she's even implicated in the trouble, like in "The Maltese Falcon" and the Hero (in this case, Humphrey Bogart) turns her in to the cops. Or maybe she's an innocent bystander who watches the Hero find some way to fuck up all on his own. You never can tell with film noir - its characters kind of do whatever they want, regardless of whether or not its logical. And, a lot of the time, they end up dead. Jean Paul-Belmondo at the end of "Breathless?" Dead.
The point I'm making is that you can't really pin down film noir as a single plot. The closest thing you could call it is a style. The lighting, the costumes, the music, the gritty realism, a stark commentary on morality, and a less-than-happy ending - these are the elements that define noir. And, much like porn, you know it when you see it. A few memorable films that I would classify as noir (some would disagree) that I recommend:
- Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard - You fucking saw this coming. But seriously, brilliant film and one of The Essentials (which are movies you have to see if you want to understand anything about film-making).
- Le Samouraï directed by Jean-Pierre Melville - Because everyone should fall in love with Alain Delon at least once.
- Rififi directed by Jules Dassin - The climax of this film is a 25-minute heist scene that is filmed in complete silence, a truly remarkable act of cinematic brilliance.
- Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz - Arguably the greatest movie of all time (and definitely Top 5 in films you have to see in your lifetime), it's a beautiful yet tragic love story that combines all the great elements of classic film. Some would argue that it's not noir, but if we're defining it as a style, I think all the key ingredients are there.
As always, thanks for reading!
"Why Don't You Do Right?" Video
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