Film Noir - a French term that translates into black film - is a style of American cinematography popularized in the 1940’s and 50’s. These movies were deemed “black films” due to the dark visuals, the common theme of violence, sex, and mystery, and the fact that the movies do not have happy endings. Film noirs have main characters, but never heroes; the main characters have major personality flaws that prevent them from achieving happiness or success. Visually, these films are just as dark and dreary as their characters and plots; they are shot in black and white and dim lighting. This type of coloring adds to the overall dreary, gloomy, or mysterious mood that is invoked by the plot and characters in film noir.
In class, we watched Sunset Boulevard as an example of film noir. I am definitely one of those people who was bias towards black and white movies; I assumed that old films were boring and not worth my time. I was wrong! Sunset Boulevard completely changed my idea about old films. From the creative and captivating opening scene to the ridiculous relationship between Joe and Norma Desmond, I was impressed by the entire movie. It was interesting to see the characters, especially Norma Desmond, so engulfed in their dreams and ambitions, but never being able to attain their dreams made for a good movie. I especially liked the fact that the movie starts by showing the death of the main character. I found myself half expecting some kind of happy or satisfying ending. I kept thinking something pivotal would happen so that everything would work out because you get attached to Joe and become sympathetic towards him. But in the back of your mind you know that nothing is going to work the way the characters would want or expect them to.
I really enjoyed this dark film. It’s very different from the movies that I am used to seeing, but I plan on watching more of them in the future. ..
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When you think about it, is there any logical reason that it would be reasonable to assume an older or b&w movie would not be as interesting to us? If anything, the aesthetics and ways of life of a time gone by might be more interesting than movies set in our familiar times and with our familiar assumptions.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with you on the fact that, before this movie, I always held the belief that black and white movies were uninteresting and the technology was obsolete to the point of being unentertaining. Donna's post raised a good point that I never really stopped to think about. What is it about black and white motion pictures that our generation finds so distasteful? Apart from the obvious lack of special effect and CGI capabilities that we have grown accustomed to, there is nothing about older movies that separates them from the movies we see today. If anything, older movies have more developed and memorable storylines because of their technological shortcomings. Sunset Blvd. definitely opened a new chapter for most of us in terms of the films we watch and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteDonna:
ReplyDeleteI guess we (or at least I) feel a little disconnected when we see a film in black and white. Since we're so used to color films, we associate black and films with old, outdated cinema and assume that the entertainment of the films are old and outdated also.
Michael:
I agree completely!