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This essay will be looking at three films from the category defined as neo-modernist noir: Taxi Driver directed by Martin Scorsese , Chinatown directed by Roman Polanski , and The French Connection directed by William Freidkin . These films are considered to belong to the film noir genre even though they were made outside of the original period traditionally accepted as film noir. These films are therefore seen as being genre revisions in that they attempt to re-create a style of film making from an earlier time in Hollywood and improving it.
The term ‘film noir’ was first coined by the French film critic Nino Frank in 1946 . ...
The term stuck, and film noir was expanded to include other films hat shared the same characteristics. Since then film noir has become an institution in the categorising of Hollywood film. In the 1960s and 1970s, film noir was revisited by Hollywood by the new generation of film school educated directors who wanted to show their vision of a classic/modern film noir.
According to Andrew Spicer , neo-modern cinema only came about because of the decline of film production in the 1960s. ... Hollywood was still putting al its efforts into producing musicals and action/adventure film though there simply was just not the audience that these films demanded. ... Also in 1968 the introduction of a new film rating system allowed films of a much more adult content to be released under a new ‘X’ certificate.
As have been touched on previously, the emergence of the new, film school educated ‘movie brats’ film makers helped to bring around an ‘anti-establishment’ movement in Hollywood. The old guard of film directors from the classic era of Hollywood were now either retiring or had died, lead to a change of styles for Hollywood. This new generation of film makers were well educated in both American and European cinema styles and so a mixing of film production techniques was inevitable.
The neo-modernism revival in film noir we must not forget was also influenced by larger political and social events at this time. ...
Polanski is commented as saying: “I saw Chinatown not as ‘retro’ piece or conscious imitation of classic movies shit in black and white, but as film about the thirties seen through the camera eye of the seventies.”
Chinatown gives the impression of being very much, visually wise, like the classic film noir films. Even though it was filmed in colour, the grainy look of the film and the very plain, neutral colours used by Polanski can make you at times forget that it is in colour.
Approximate Word count = 2108
Approximate Pages = 8.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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