Miserable worldviews and doomed protagonists are the order of the day for this enigmatic movement. For more awesome content, check out: whatculture.com/ Follow us on Facebook at: / whatculture Catch us on Twitter: / whatculture
No "To Live and Die in LA"? The car chase is amazing! Great casting, anti-heroes and a killer, innovative soundtrack. It's criminal that you omitted it.
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Heat, The Terminator, Blade Runner (choose the cut most suitable for you), The French Connection, Zodiac, Seven, Bound, LA Confidential, Memento. Hellraiser even has some elements of Noir in it, but I think that is mostly down to its colour pallet and the lighting.
@B C "Who do you blame for that? Her?" Maybe THE best movie I have ever seen. If you wonder how/why people can be so despicably evil listen to Noah Cross.
No love for LA Confidential? Ok it veers towards classic Noir but there's still a chunk of moral ambiguity, an distinct suggestion that 'by-the-book' isn't the way to go and a general sense of nihilism about the facade of 50's-era California
1. Drive 2. Memento 3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 4. Blade Runner 2049 5. The Nice Guys 6. Taxi Driver 7. The Man Who Wasn't There 8. Hard Eight 9. Too Late 10. Collateral 11. Nightcrawler 12. Se7en 13. Dark City 14. Oldboy 15. Sin City 16. Brick I'm sure I'm missing some, but I think this is my list. Since I picked one per director/franchise, sadly Only God Forgives, No Country For Old Men, Blood Simple, Fargo, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Blade Runner had to miss out.
S D De Palma does a great job with keeping that Antonioni element from Blow Up and mixing a more enjoyable and watchable film. Not to shit on Antonioni (he’s one of the best), but Blow Out is on the same level as Three Days to Condor, The Parallax View, Klute... And you’re right about that firework scene. Beautiful
To me, neo-noir films revolve around a similar slow burn and realistic detective story as the earlier black and white ones were. Also considering it is in the similar vein as the old detective movies, it has to be from the 1970's and up. I honestly really appreciate that genre as I consider those old detective shows as classics and kind of timeless.
neo-noir was basically the revival of noire genre in modern hollywood. neo noir had the same concept but they expanded the genre within more different genres. back then you had movies like Maltese Falcon, Kiss Me Deadly, Vertigo with all the detective story cliché. but now you had movies like Blade Runner (cyberpunk sci fi noire), Blue Velvet (psychological thriller noire) Thief (crime thriller noire) etc
I liked the list, but I think that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Collateral and David Lynch's Blue Velvet are more essential than a few of the picks
@@threesmallpeopleinabigtren5056 No mater the genre Wind River and Hell Or High Water are great. I like Hell... a tad more. However, the ending of Wind River is perfect.
Watch Maltese Falcon, In Brudge, Zodiac and Seven as well! Thank you for including the Long Goodbye :) it gets overlooked so much! The Parallax View has noir inspired elements but would be more like a classic example of New Hollywood Cinema
Anyone else get the audible ad where the young woman is standing in the food aisle listening and relaxing instead of panic shopping empty shelves and robbing old people of their TP? Those were the good old days...
Chinatown is the one and only movie on this guys list worthy of being on this type of list. Most of the rest this guys list really suffer from recency bias and some are plain not that good...
Don’t know if Brick should be above Chinatown but I enjoyed it. Shoot I enjoyed the script on its own merit and was in tune through one reading of the story. But Chinatown, though slow paced, is poetic and haunting. Great list. I’m obviously a Noir guy cause I’ve seen almost all of these, and glad there is more to discover.
The idea that Brick is 'above' ie better than Chinatown is a painfully stupid notion, as is calling Johnson an auteur, never mind how sluggish Brick is.
Nice review, but i wish you had provided a LIST (1 thru 10) in your Description for making it convenient for your viewers, who could then have your handy list to refer to! - This little 'extra' adds a lot. Thanks.
Kinda cheating to name two from the same creators, but people really should see the Coens debut film Blood Simple- their most obvious noir. Although really, half their films are Noir take-offs. The Man Who Wasn't There is obvious, Barton Fink, Burn Before Reading, Even The Big Lewbowski have elements. No Country introduce you to it as a Noir as a Red Herring before destroying it by discarding the characters and basically focusing on the crimes and perpetrator.
Saw the title and immediately thought of Chinatown and Brick, although I think the ranking of both should switch. Would also prefer Blood Simple or Miller's Crossing instead of Fargo. Thief is a great inclusion. Some other great missing pieces in other comments. A Simple Plan, Memento, LA Confidential, Manhunter, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Usual Suspects, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway.
the Usual suspects is not a neo-noir. Its a psychological thriller but not neo-noir. L.A. Confidential I agree. Its a good movie but its not a completely focused neo-noir. It has drama and romance thrown in good measure. Body Heat is not as good as it lacks the twist or maybe you can sense the ending rather easily.
Never heard of Mystery Road so thanks for that. Will have to look it up. Also the original version of 'Insomnia' should make pt 2 of this list. As should 'The French Connection.'
Body Heat deserves a spot on the list with John Barry’s sultry score, Kathleen Turner’s ultimate femme fatale, and a plot filled with greed and deception.
The Blade Runner 20 things they did is full mispronounced words. I don't recommend watching it. It's like someone just trying to read words with the minimum of effort and no one taking the time to have it changed when it sounds stupid. He also says auteur wrong.
I don't think Road to Perdition would count since it's set in the era of "original noir". And no, I don't think A History of Violence would qualify either.
I think you're getting into the realm they were talking about- calling any crime movie a noir. It's not just darkness, its also the common features of a seemingly good man being drawn into a darker world by a temptation- usually a femme fatale. Down on his/her luck investigator being confronted by a corrupt world.
The head-stomping scene in Drive loses something when you see that half-second shot of the dude on the floor and it's obviously a mannequin he's stomping.
This is such a big and rich genre that choosing only ten films just can't do the job. I'd toss in "Red Rock West" as a film noir that just happens to be in color. There's the sticky situation that someone blunders into and becomes totally involved in. and then "all hell breaks loose. Originally underrated and released straight to DVD, the word of mouth spread quickly and it was finally released on the big screen.
I feel like giving mentions to - ‘Too Late’ with John Hawks, but also ‘Mulholland Dr.’ I’ve considered Mulholland Dr. as one of my favorite movies of the 21st century, and although it’s bizarre and surreal, it keeps the tone of a neo-noir.
I think it's amazing and one of the most underrated movies of all time, but i'm not quite sure it belongs on this list. It's as much The Big Lebowski as it is Chinatown.
Excellent list, I've enjoyed all these except the Swedish one. I echo Steve Mcnary 2 weeks ago "Missing are Body Heat, LA Confidential, The Usual Suspects"
Checking out the comments. There are enough top films included in them to make this lockdown almost seem like fun, (if you can call watching noir films ‘fun’) which I certainly do. Manhunter Let the right one in Momento French connection The hard word (Australian) Good morning Britain (joke) Blue velvet. Probably my favourite. What’s Mulholland driver like?
I would recommend "The Last Seduction" as a neo-noir classic. Linda Florentino was never better as the ultimate femme fatale Bridget Gregory. Well worth checking out. The same goes for "Memento", "Victoria" and "A Simple Plan".
Black Man JRPG only the first scene takes place in North Dakota. The rest of the film takes place in Brainerd, Minnesota (with a quick detour to the Minneapolis-St Paul area).
Too many actual Neo-noir films missing on this list & replaced with crime dramas. Missing are Body Heat, Night Moves, LA Confidential, Harper, The Usual Suspects, Blood Simple, Mulholland Drive, Point Blank to name a few.
The word is in-die-tment, not in-dikt-ment Fargo is in North Dakota not Minnesota Winter Bone takes place in the Ozark MOUNTAINS, which are in Arkansas. There is no mention of the Ozark Plateau
It is so impossible to list all the good ones and there are many. Two left off that I noticed were The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Both versions) and Michael Mann's Heat. It wasn't a great movie but Brian De Palma's Black Dahlia. Mulholland Drive is a noticeable absence as is Blue Velvet. American Psycho. Wind River. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and a recent one that is worthy The Devil All the Time.
You fell into the trap of using the Cohen's more well know offering while their fist film, Blood Simple, is far and away the better fit for this list. It's one hell of a movie, and as classicly neo-noir as Chinatown. You saved it by having both Jar City and Brick at the top. Two very underrated movies.
My definition of neo-noir is a bit different. To me is represents movies told in either a contemporary or futuristic setting but using the same recognisable narrative and stylistic tropes as old school film-noir.
We might finally get to see them now though (with all the social distancing), So there's a silver lining. I'd rather be able to buy toilet paper, milk, bread and hand-wash without having to try multiple places though
