a kiss before dying

filmsnoir.net van Anthony D’Ambra

Voor deskundige informatie over het film noir genre voelde ik mij altijd aangewezen op noiroftheweek.com, de blog van Steve-O. Deze filmrecensent en film noir liefhebber recenseert alweer bijna vijf jaar wekelijks een film noir uit de klassieke periode 1941-1958. Maar gisteren ontdekte ik filmsnoir.net van Anthony D’Ambra. Deze blog bestaat sinds mei 2007 en kent al een lange reeks besprekingen. Ongeveer 170 film noirs, van Ace In The Hole (1952) tot You only live once (1937), zijn op dit moment in de reviews opgenomen.

The Maltese Falcon
still uit The maltese falcon (1941)
volgens velen de oerfilm van de film noir
Film Noir is a cycle of mainly American films of the 1940’s
and 1950’s exploring the
darker aspects of modernity
A kiss before dying, the desperate lurch before oblivion, and the erotic click-clack of stilettos on pavement. Dank stairwells and silent corridors. Closed doors and hidden secrets. You break in and fall into a bottomless pool of black. Cut to a bare light-bulb burning on a current wired from hell. Lying on a steel-framed bed you stare through the bars of perdition at yourself a wraith in a cracked mirror on the ceiling.
 
Film noir is a cycle of mainly American films of the 1940’s and 1950’s exploring the darker aspects of modernity, and usually set in a criminal milieu or exploring the consequences of a criminal act.
 
Film noir is not only for film buffs and academics. The film-makers of the 40’s and 50’s were not making “film noir“ movies, they were making pictures for a wide audience which are still immensely entertaining. The movies of the classic noir cycle were subversive and questioned the facade of everyday life in stories that had wide appeal. They retain their popularity, firstly because the noir themes and motifs have universal appeal: films noir are about the individual in a hostile universe, and in the best noirs, the anti-hero has at least a shot redemption. Secondly, they are so well-made with a craft and discipline we don„t often see anymore.
 
Bron: filmsnoir.net

filmsnoir.net | noiroftheweek.com