RARA-AVIS: Noir definition from movies

From: sethharwoodpodcast ( seth@sethharwood.com)
Date: 17 Jul 2007


Ok, so maybe it's not kosher and it's probably bad form to start off my first post here with a reference to a movie, especially if I'm posting it at 4:15 because I can't sleep, but oh well. I've got to say it. I think Noir is best defined by the movie Le Samourai from 1967. It's French but don't think that makes me real Frenchy or anything (not that there's anything wrong with that) but it's about one of the coolest noir movies I've seen. And I think cool is important here, not in the overused sense that everything is "cool" these days, but cool in the sense that nothing flaps the main character, the assassin. He doesn't open his mouth to say too much or let anything out to anyone--in the face of the law, other killers, whoever. Impossibly, in some cases. That's cool. That's noir.

Why's it called Le Samourai? Dunno. But there're no swords here. And the reference/analogy is well placed.

That's my first post. Been listening in for a while. Now I'm a member, official.

Seth Harwood Jack Palms Crime



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