Lady in the Lake
by Felipe Rosa
Lady in the Lake: Robert Montgomery’s film is marred by its stylistic choice of telling it in first person. The choice
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir
Tag: noir
Murder, My Sweet
by Felipe Rosa
Murder, My Sweet: Edward Dmytryk creates a competent, if ultimately unspectacular, noir; the plot is appropriately convoluted,
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir
Double Indemnity (1944)
by Felipe Rosa
Double Indemnity: Billy Wilder’s great movie starts from the basics: a seedy, engaging plot from James M. Cain’s head, enriched by the snappy dialogue of Raymond Chandler. Such dialogue calls for precise line reading, and the cast obliges. Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson are all great; Stanwyck gets the edge by playing such a great femme fatale; in fact, there’s just one character that is “virtuous”, but they are all well-written and great to watch. Elegantly done through and through. A masterpiece.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir, top
L.A. Confidential
by Felipe Rosa
L.A. Confidential: Curtis Hanson weaves a great tale; the writing here is superb, telling a plot that is far from straightforward, thematically rich and full to the brim with complex, interesting characters. The cast clearly appreciates and responds with uniformly great, layered performances; the stand-outs are Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and James Cromwell, but every other name could be here and it would be equally fair. Very carefully done, displaying great art direction and costume design; Dante Spinotti’s camerawork is classic, clean, […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir, top
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
by Felipe Rosa
The Maltese Falcon: John Huston tells this convoluted, fun story with great confidence and clarity; it all starts with the screenplay, that presents snappy dialogue galore, which makes every scene a joy to watch. That would all be for naught if the cast was not able to read it properly, but the cast here is in great shape. At the center of it all is Humphrey Bogart, playing a role that nobody ever played as well as he did here and in […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir, top
Chinatown (1974)
by Felipe Rosa
Chinatown: Roman Polanski’s masterpiece (a word not used lightly) starts with the writing. Robert Towne’s screenplay echoes from the work of Hammett-Chandler-Macdonald (mostly from the last of this great triad), presenting complex characters and a serpentine but irresistible plot. Jack Nicholson plays with great charm his rascal (making an unpleasant character one interesting to watch); Faye Dunaway and John Huston are also tone-perfect in their own presences. Production and costume design are top-notch, and Jerry Goldsmith’s moody score fits the bill perfectly. John A. Alonzo shoots […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir, top
Thieves’ Highway
by Felipe Rosa
Thieves’ Highway: a very unusually set noir, but an effective one nevertheless. The particulars of this film make it fresh while the general themes make it recognizable. The grim and simple story is very engaging, as are the characters, grey and interesting, well played by the solid cast. Visually, it doesn’t set itself apart but the camera movements are elegant and serviceable while not being attention-grabbing.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, noir
The Stranger (1946)
by Felipe Rosa
The Stranger: solid noir with all the usual Orson Welles’ fingerprints, and the better for it. In first place, his camera work and lighting design is complex, rich and expressive; while there is no shot that reaches out the opening shot of Touch of Evil, there are quite a few that caught my eye. (However, never is too much to recall that I’m biased towards long continuous takes.) The lighting (and the music) creates a sense of dread that permeates […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, noir, thriller
The Big Sleep (1946)
by Felipe Rosa
The Big Sleep: one of the great serpentine plots to ever be shot. Of course, the plot is simply part of the greatness of this film; there aren’t many better examples of tough-guy dialogue out there, all of it read to perfection; also, and more importantly, the screen chemistry is off the charts (and it is one of the great examples of mid-flight course corrections). Needless to say, acting and directing are top notch. (Full disclosure: if anyone ever wondered […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir, top
Fifth about The Seventh 