In a message dated 4/8/05 8:03:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
bradstevens22@hotmail.com writes:
> > noir hero inhabits an everyday world that
suddenly spins out of
> > control. That's the distinction I was trying to
make.
> >
>
>
> That's fine as a starting point, but it must be
remembered that
> individual noirs can inflect this schema in a
thousand different
> ways. In Edgar Ulmer's film DETOUR, for example, the
protagonist is
> constantly moaning about his bad luck, about how an
impersonal fate
> has reached out and put the finger on him for no
good reason at all.
> He sees himself as an everyday guy whose world has
suddenly spun out
> of control. Yet the film makes it absolutely clear
that this man is a
> hypocrite who invokes the concept of 'fate' as a
means of denying
> what is blatantly obvious to anyone who looks
closely at the film -
> that he personally responsible for everything which
happens to him.
>
> Elmore Leonard's novel CAT CHASER works is a
somewhat similar way.
> The protagonist sees himself as an ordinary guy who
has somehow
> become involved with a noir world of violent thugs
and ex-torturers.
> Yet the truth is that he is able to emerge
victorious (with two
> suitcases full of money) only because he is
ultimately capable of
> surpassing his enemies in calculated
self-interest.
>
>
These are what I would call "literary" films. Exactly my
taste. Vicki
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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