Author Archives: goingtothepictures

            In his novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera writes, “Our dreams prove that to imagine – to dream about things that have not happened – is among mankind’s deepest needs.” (59).  A defining feature of films noir, … Continue reading →

One of film noir’s dominant characteristics is the transmutation of the familiar and comfortable into the wrenching and vulgar.  In Shadow of a Doubt Alfred Hitchcock transforms the lofty “Merry Widow Waltz” into a whirling psychosis.  So too in Blue … Continue reading →

David Lynch throws his audience into a polarizing, absurd world by hyper stylizing classical noir themes and techniques.  Specifically, in Blue Velvet, Lynch highlights the classical noir themes of sex and violence to produce an utterly jarring watching experience.  Lynch … Continue reading →

           The success of Alan Pakula’s Klute as a neo-noir is only partially due to its narrative; rather, it is Klute’s cinematography that is so captivating and simultaneously nauseating.  Pakula uses long shots, odd zooms and … Continue reading →

One almost expects a sausage pizza pie to randomly arrive in Kiss Me Deadly.  Frankly, this film desires to be stereotypical soft-core pornography.  Instead of bad acting and pseudo sex Kiss Me Deadly employs bad acting and phony violence.  It … Continue reading →

Carol Reed’s 1949 film, The Third Man, is laden with unnerving commentary on post-WWII international tensions.  Before even watching the film, one already has expectations for xenophobic calamity given the nature of the story – an English director, Reed, with … Continue reading →

Alfred Hitchcock’s prescient 1943 film, Shadow of a Doubt, uses iconographic and dialogical cues to capture nihilistic notions of urban life and capitalism’s penchant for social decay echoed by historians like Lewis Mumford.  In 1961, Mumford wrote, “…it is plain … Continue reading →

The average 1944 moviegoer would most likely have picked up on some of the more overt sexual innuendoes and undertones in Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity.  For instance, the audience is made well aware of Walter Neff’s sexual attraction to Phyllis … Continue reading →