I just wanted to weigh in on "Match Point" which is certainly
relevant to discussions of noir.
This is a quote from Roger Ebert's 4 star review of "Match
Point."
"One reason for the fascination of Woody Allen's "Match
Point" is that each and every character is rotten. This is a
thriller not about good versus evil, but about various
species of evil engaged in a struggle for survival of the
fittest -- or, as the movie makes clear, the luckiest. "I'd
rather be lucky than good," Chris, the tennis pro from
Ireland, tells us as the movie opens, and we see a tennis
ball striking the net it is pure luck which side it falls on.
Chris' own good fortune depends on just such a lucky toss of
a coin."
That sounds like he's describing noir to me.
Also the movie got a 92% positive review on Rotten Tomatoes
amongst the nations top critics, so it's hard to off-hand
dismiss the movie as junk.
I'm not a huge fan of the movie but I admire the filmmaking
craft, and I thought it was better than a lot of Woody's late
output. He created a movie with a modern noir sensibility
without using the standard dark and shadow contrast
photography, standard criminal characters or a criminal
plot.
Also, Woody has played with noir and hard-boiled conventions
before with parodies like "Bullets over Broadway" which was
terrific and
"Small Time Crooks" which was terrible. And he wrote and
starred in the hard-boiled satire, "Play it Again Sam."
Let's just say that Woody is familiar with the genre.
--Channing
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