What is "Film Noir"?

I've seen plenty of "film noir" movies but I can't come to a definition of what the term means.

What is "Film Noir"?

Good examples of which are Heat, Mulholland Falls Hollywood Confidental and Chinatown

Good examples of which are Heat, Mulholland Falls Hollywood Confidental and Chinatown


Wrong wrong wrong.

And it's not black humor, either.

Before movies were made in color, it was a technique of accentuating the black & white contrast. It produced pronounced shadows and vague backgrounds, and it starkly illuminated the features of the actors.

Good examples of which are Heat, Mulholland Falls Hollywood Confidental and Chinatown


Wrong wrong wrong.

And it's not black humor, either.

Before movies were made in color, it was a technique of accentuating the black & white contrast. It produced pronounced shadows and vague backgrounds, and it starkly illuminated the features of the actors.

Good examples of which are Heat, Mulholland Falls Hollywood Confidental and Chinatown


Wrong wrong wrong.

And it's not black humor, either.

Before movies were made in color, it was a technique of accentuating the black & white contrast. It produced pronounced shadows and vague backgrounds, and it starkly illuminated the features of the actors.







Very oversimplified for brevity: Film Noir is a genre of film that usually explored 'darker' issues, hence the 'Noir'. Usually there is some sort of crime and people being dishonest etc. The above mentioned technique was part of this genre but it was used to convey the larger content or atmosphere, not just because it 'looked dark'
Look to the older 30/40's stuff, the above mentioned movies are homages to the real deal.

Good examples of which are Heat, Mulholland Falls Hollywood Confidental and Chinatown


Wrong wrong wrong.

And it's not black humor, either.

Before movies were made in color, it was a technique of accentuating the black & white contrast. It produced pronounced shadows and vague backgrounds, and it starkly illuminated the features of the actors.

Very oversimplified for brevity: Film Noir is a genre of film that usually explored 'darker' issues, hence the 'Noir'. Usually there is some sort of crime and people being dishonest etc. The above mentioned technique was part of this genre but it was used to convey the larger content or atmosphere, not just because it 'looked dark'
Look to the older 30/40's stuff, the above mentioned movies are homages to the real deal.

Very oversimplified for brevity: Film Noir is a genre of film that usually explored 'darker' issues, hence the 'Noir'. Usually there is some sort of crime and people being dishonest etc. The above mentioned technique was part of this genre but it was used to convey the larger content or atmosphere, not just because it 'looked dark'
Look to the older 30/40's stuff, the above mentioned movies are homages to the real deal.

Well, as far as themes go (not just visual concepts), the definitive noir film must address the bleaker aspect of human nature, with a common mood of cynicism, distrust, paranoia and guilt... There doesn't have to be a femme fatale, though one would be welcome. "A divorced cop, with a murky past, hires a contract killer to exterminate his ex-wife but gets more than he bargained for when he falls for the gun-for-hire's seductive wife" would be a definitive noir plotline. Guilt, hopelessness, lust and murder all come into play.
Remember film-noirs continue to be produced today. They're called neo-noirs. Body Heat, Memento, Drive, Taxi Driver, Brick, American Psycho, the list goes on, etc, etc.