I like the Pusher series, especially the first one, which is, I think,
one of the best depictions of the reality of street level drug pushing
and the stupidity and sordidness of the whole enterprise. The second
one was kind of off, and didn't really interest me the way the first
one did, but the third one was a return to form.
On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 5:51 AM, Sean Shapiro <ssshapir@yahoo.com> wrote:
> If you want good noir on your screens look offshore. France, Germany, South
> Korea -- they have all made some pretty decent noirs in the last few years..
> And speaking of which, I will be watching Denmark's Pusher 2 and Pusher 3
> (Pusher is as noir as they come, and comes highly recommended) this weekend.
> Oh joy.
>
> Sean Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: "Cinefrog@comcast.net" <Cinefrog@comcast.net>
>
> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 7:08:15 PM
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Disappearance of the private film and the
> detective film in gener
>
> If slumdog is noir, I must be black... (as they used to say at PIL)...
> ... just kiddin' of sorts, because the last thing we need is another debate
> about what is and what is not noir...but slumdog as noir is a bit far..
>
> and besides I hope that you speak about the original The Night & the
> City...because the recent one is abominable, no..abysmal. ..
>
> Montois
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Channing" <filmtroll@sbcglobal .net>
> To: rara-avis-l@ yahoogroups. com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 2:52:13 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Disappearance of the private film and the detective
> film in gener
>
> I'm not sure what everyone is grumbling about. There are plenty of excellent
> films being made today with hard-boiled or noir elements. Many of them are
> popular, too.
>
> Crime movies win Oscars. Just look at the winners of the last three years.
> "Slumdog Millionaire" "No Country for Old Men" and "The Departed."
>
> "Slumdog Millionaire" has elements of noir and hard-boiled. It's not exactly
> a noir film but it has a lot of great elements: A police detective looking
> to get to the bottom of the mystery (and using torture), a story told in
> flashback, gangsters, prostitutes. It's about children growing up in abject
> poverty and making the decision to stay honest or to devolve into crime.
> That's a pretty noirish situation. Sure it's got wacky editing and loud
> Bollywood music, but it's also a great film.
>
> "The Wrestler" also from 2008 was a pretty great sports-noir story. Right up
> there with "Fat City" and "Night and the City", it's about small-time dreams
> getting crushed by reality and a once great athlete's downward spiral. The
> story starts off with the Wrestler pretty low, and then he falls even lower.
> That sounds pretty noir to me.
>
> 2007 Oscar winner "No Country For Old Man" is a pretty good crime thriller
> with noir and hard-boiled elements.
>
> 2006 Oscar winner "The Departed" is a fantastic police/gangster film. With
> double and triple-crosses, deception at every turn. Strong sense of place.
>
> Just a quick look at the top grossing Crime Thrillers include "The
> Departed", "American Gangster" "Pulp Fiction", "Collateral" "Mystic River"
> "Payback", "Heat" and "Goodfellas. " All of those were released in the past
> 10-15 years, and they're all good to excellent movies and successful
> financially, too.
>
> Best wishes,
> Channing
>
> .
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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