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FILM
HUFFINGTON
09.30.12
TRISTAR PICTURES/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION
The Slow-Motion
Evolution of Noir: 1920-Now
OOPER IS ALREADY
being touted by critics
as one of the smartest
films of 2012. While the
sci-fi action flick starring Joseph
Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis is
set in the future, there’s no denying
its roots. Urban city, mafia dealings,
a gun-toting hitman with a serious moral dilemma on his hands
— Looper is shaping up to be a film
heavily inspired by the twists and
turns of film noir over the years.
L
From the silent era’s gangster pictures came the somber crime dramas of noir’s golden age in the 40s
and 50s. The gloom and grit of city
streets, a wily femme fatale and a
misbegotten leading man become
fixtures of the style, even after the
advent of “neo-noir” in the 60s,
which embraced films that have not
all, but enough, elements of classical
noir. Ahead, a look at the films that
have defined each decade of
the genre. — Emma Diab