Film Noir - is it a genre of the past?
 

Although there have been some modern noirs made in the last thirty odd years - China Town, LA Confidential, Blade Runner (neo noir), The Last Seduction to name some of the better attempts, it seems to be a genre whose life was firmly fixed in the ideology of the forties. Is it because the femme fatale is no longer relevant (because of supposed equality)? Is it because the post war fears of Communisim no longer exist? Or is it purely because colour doesn't work in true film noir, and very few people will pay to go and see a black and white film these days? With The Good German Soderbergh attempted to resurrect the genre with an in depth tribute to the classics, as did the Coens with The Man who wasn't There, but these didn't do particularly well at the box office. Perhaps noir is too stylised for a modern audience, and relies on cinematography to carry the vision, rather than action - something that audiences on mass prefer to avoid.

Perhaps this genre always had a limited lifespan. There comes a point where people will know what to expect, particularly from the female character.

But isn't that the case with any genre? We expect certain conventions, and that includes character types, but not all genres have fallen by the wayside in the way that noir has done. Perhaps it's to do with production values. Noir was always made on a minimal budget, whereas these days if a neo-noir is made, it has a much bigger budget, and therefore fails to grasp the stripped down feel of a classic noir. With money, the style of noir is actually difficult to replicate.

There have been a few noir movies recently that I know of.
The Black Dahlia springs to mind also
LA Confidential
Millers Crossing
Mullholland Falls
Brick
Two more that are not exactly noir but have that "feel" are
Copland and Bound
If you want to talk Neo-Noir then can I recommend the fantastically atmospheric Dark City.

Oo good! I was hoping this subject would come up as I read about 5 books on Film Noir during the summer! :D

A good film indeed, but although the cinematography is noirish, it's nothing like a traditional film noir. It's a very ********** film though.

dark city is sooooo amazing. i brought it when i was like 14 thinking it was a horror film and though it scared the shit out of me it was just amazing, really influenced me.

i really love the video games Max Payne, the story is so noir-ish. especially the comic strips they use to tell the story.

Agree about Max Payne. A few Coen brothers films have been mentioned, I would like to add Blood Simple. Also the more recent A Simple Plan by Sam Raimi had a noirish feel to it, but I did not rate this film as highly as some others.

Recommendations are always good, but I was hoping for some discussion about noir's demise. Or do people believe that film noir is still very much live and kicking? If the former, what contributed to its demise? If the latter, how does the genre fit into Noughties ideology?

i dunno really. perhaps it's become more of a reclusive genre, popping up every now and again but it isn't the strength of it's yester-years mostly due to it not being all car chases and explosions.