Film Noir is genre that began in
the 1940s with films that were black & white and traditionally
shared common aesthetic and thematic characteristics: they were
described as dreamlike, strange, erotic, cruel, and ambivalent,
and they were often synonymous with "hard boiled" detective
flicks and thrillers.
Since the classic era of noir, the genre has
influenced countless movies, and its permutations now encompass
a very wide range of films including westerns, sci-fi, horror,
and indie.
Join us for this fourth season called "Film Noir:
Classics & Reduxions" as the Film Fest
explores the mysteries & dark dreams of noir’s classics, reduxes, and revisionings from the past 60 years.
Images from The Big Combo (1954) left, and Blade Runner(1982) right.
About Rowhouse Film
Festival: It is a free
ongoing Sunday evening event at our house where we show movies, serve flavored popcorn, and encourage a
lively discussion of the films afterwards. All we ask is that you let
us know in advance if you're coming and kindly bring something to
drink.
NEXT SCREENING....
The next screening is SUNDAY,
Aug 22nd, at
7:30pm.
(Doors at 7:30pm, show time
8:00pm,
please arrive early for good seats.)
BRICK
(2005). This unconventional film noir -- set in the halls
of a modern-day high school -- marks a promising debut for
writer-director Rian Johnson. Innocent teenage loner, Brendan Fry, is
forced to navigate his school's social network when a secret
crush turns up dead and the murderer is anyone's guess. Through
intense interactions with thespians, band geeks and druggies
(including a grown-up Lucas Haas), Brendan works to crack the
cliques ... and the case. (1 hr 50 mins)
UPCOMING THIS
SEASON*....
*This
list is NOT in the order we will screen them, and is NOT
finalized yet,so PLEASE give us your suggestions,
recommendations, & feedback!
THE BIG COMBO (1954). Police Lt. Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is obsessed with
nabbing the notorious Mr. Brown (Richard Conte), a man he's
suspected of wrongdoing for years yet has never been able to
snare. But Brown's beautiful blond girlfriend (Jean Wallace), a
woman with shadowy desires, is an equally temping target. Joseph
H. Lewis directs this low-budget film noir that raised the
eyebrows of 1950s censors with frank suggestions of
sadomasochism. (1 hr 28 mins)
BLADE RUNNER (1982).
In Ridley Scott's dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade
runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is called out of
retirement to snuff a quartet of escaped "replicants" --
androids consigned to slave labor on remote planets -- seeking a
way to extend their short life spans. (1 hr 57 mins)
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971). Jimmy "Popeye"
Doyle (Gene Hackman), a foul-mouthed, violent narcotics
detective, pursues a suave French drug dealer (Fernando Rey)
through New York City with Captain Ahab-like zeal. Director
William Friedkin took the provocative stance that both the narcs
and the smugglers use similar thuggish ends to get what they
need. This thrilling Best Picture Oscarwinner based on a true
story is famous for its riveting car chase scene under an elevated train.
(1 hr 44 mins)
Se7en (1995):
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial
killer (Kevin Spacey) whose crimes are based on the Seven Deadly
Sins. David Fincher's dark and haunting film takes viewers from the tortured
remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Sommerset
(Morgan Freeman) researches the Seven Deadly Sins in an effort
to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice hotshot
partner, Mills (Brad Pitt), scoffs at his efforts to unravel the
case. (2 hrs 7 mins)
SHAFT
(1971). John Shaft (Richard Roundtree), the tough, cool,
badass black private investigator, takes on crime in grimy New
York in Gordon Parks's famous action thriller that started a
boom in blaxploitation movies. After battling crime lord Bumpy
Jonas (Moses Gunn), Shaft then turns around and helps Bumpy
fight the Mafia, who's kidnapped the crime lord's daughter.
Composer Isaac Hayes's irresistible theme song won an
Academy Award. (1 hr 40 mins)
PAST SCREENINGS THIS SEASON....
THE BIG SLEEP
(1946). A
dangerous blackmailer has targeted a wealthy family, and while
private eye Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) works on the
case, he ends up falling for the fiery daughter, Vivian (Lauren
Bacall). Crackling dialogue and the perfect pairing of
Bogart and Bacall make this adaptation of Raymond Chandler's
novel a timeless film noir classic. (1 hr
54 mins)
ANGEL HEART
(1987). Harry
Angel (Mickey Rourke, when he was still hot), a
down-and-out 1950s Brooklyn gumshoe, is hired by shady Louis
Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to locate a pop singer who
reneged on a debt. Each time Harry makes contact with someone
who might know the singer's whereabouts, though, he or she is
killed in a horrible, ritualistic fashion. Harry's journey soon
leads him to the sweltering, voodoo-filled swamps of Louisiana
in search of a somewhat satanic cult. Alan Parker
directs, and Lisa Bonet co-stars. (1 hr 53 mins)
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
(1946). The sexual chemistry between a Depression-era
drifter, Frank Chambers (John Garfield), and sexy, smoldering
roadside café waitress Cora (Lana Turner) is so hot that
they'll do anything to keep the fire lit -- even if it means
killing Cora's husband. In this film, based on an original story by author
James M. Cain, the sex
scenes were considered shocking for its time, even though they were watered down to
conform to industry standards, (1 hr 53 mins)
BLOOD SIMPLE
(1984). Texas tavern owner Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya) hires
unscrupulous private detective Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) to
tail Marty's two-timing spouse (Frances McDormand, in her
big-screen debut) and then murder her and her paramour (John
Getz). But events take a surprising turn when the gumshoe
double-crosses his client, and before you know it a bad
situation spirals out of control. Walsh steals this show in this
stylish shocker by the Coen Brothers. (1 hr 39 mins)
NOTORIOUS (1946). This top-notch Alfred Hitchcock espionage thriller
builds to an incredibly suspenseful climax. Government agent T.R.
Devlin (Cary Grant) recruits Alicia Huberman (Ingrid
Bergman) to spy on her father's influential Nazi friends. As
part of her cover, she marries ringleader Claude Rains, but
finds she's falling in love with Grant. The 360-degree camera
pan around a smitten Grant and Bergman ranks as one of the
screen's greatest love scenes. (1 hr 41 mins)
BLUE VELVET (1986). In this "psycho
noir," an innocent and young Kyle MacLachlan gets mixed up in a small-town
murder mystery involving a kinky nightclub chanteuse (Isabella
Rossellini) and a kidnapper (Dennis Hopper) with a
penchant for snorting helium. One of the most bizarre and
critically acclaimed movies of the 1980s, David Lynch's
Blue Velvet inspired
a generation of independent filmmakers with its dark look behind
the all-American veneer of small-town life. (2 hrs 0 mins)
NAKED LUNCH(1991).
Director David Cronenberg brings William S.
Burroughs' hallucinatory, and supposedly "unfilmable" novel to the screen.
Part-time exterminator and full-time drug addict Bill Lee (Peter
Weller) plunges into the nightmarish netherworld of the
Interzone, pursuing a mysterious project that leads him to
confront sinister cabals and giant talking bugs. (1 hr 55
mins)
SEXY BEAST(2001).
Ben Kingsley is unforgettably menacing in this
high-voltage film that crackles with style and wit. When
sociopathic gangster Don Logan (Kingsley) tries to recruit an
ex-partner (Ray Winstone) for a high-stakes heist, the retired
criminal refuses. But Logan won't take no for an answer. Tension
hits the fever-pitch as this battle of wills plays out in a
story that is as funny as it is terrifying. (1 hr 29 mins)
SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950).
Running from debt collectors, screenwriter Joe (William Holden)
stumbles upon the crumbling mansion of former silent-film star
Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). As he begins working for Norma,
writing a comeback screenplay, their professional relationship
evolves into something more. This classic noir directed by Billy Wilder is a provocative look inside old
Hollywood show business, and it won Academy
Awards for Art Direction, Music and Screenplay. (1 hr 40 mins)
MEMENTO (2000): Suffering short-term
memory loss after a head injury, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce)
embarks on a grim quest to find the lowlife who murdered his
wife. To carry out his plan, Shelby snaps Polaroids of people
and places, jotting down contextual notes on the backs of the
photos to aid in his search and jog his memory. A gritty,
complex thriller, Christopher Nolan's Memento packs more
knots than a hangman's noose. (1 hr 53 mins)
THE USUAL
SUSPECTS (1995). When five unacquainted
scalawags are hauled into a police station to appear in a
criminal lineup, they decide to pull off a heist together. The
plan gets complicated, however, when they intermix with an
underworld kingpin named Keyser Söze. Gabriel Byrne,
Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Stephen Baldwin
and Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey star in this
intricately plotted, critically acclaimed thriller that won
another Oscar for Best Screenplay.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944).
Smitten
insurance man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) plots the perfect
murder with femme fatale client Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara
Stanwyck): staging her husband's "accidental" death to collect
double indemnity on his life insurance and absconding with the
loot. But before their scheme can pay off, the lethal duo must
first get past a crafty claims investigator (Edward G. Robinson)
who senses something isn't kosher.
Glengarry Glen Ross(1992): A group of real estate
salesmen (Jack Lemmon,Al Pacino, Alan Arkin,
& Ed Harris and ) in
Chicago vie for the best leads at a small firm selling
property in resort areas such as Florida and Arizona. When a
hotshot executive (Alec Baldwin) from the head office arrives
and proposes a vicious sales contest where the winner gets a
Cadillac and the loser gets fired, competition gets stiff as the
veteran salesmen suddenly find their jobs in jeopardy.
David Mammet directs his own screenplay. (1 hr 40 mins)
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958). Straight-arrow narcotics detective Mike Vargas
(Charlton Heston) sees his honeymoon cut short when a car
crossing the U.S.-Mexico border explodes before his eyes. Vargas
forsakes his bride (Janet Leigh) to mount an investigation but
soon locks horns with corpulent Sheriff Hank Quinlan (Orson
Welles), a shady cop who's not above planting evidence or
colluding with the local crime lord to keep Vargas from
discovering the ugly truth. (1 hr 35 mins)
PAST
SEASONS....
For information about the
past seasons of the Rowhouse Film Festival go to:
