Noir Films To Watch

[xenogia]

I've been hunting for more modern noir films of late to watch to research (camera angles, mood, etc) and I want some recommendations except for Blade Runner.  The following are the films I have watched in recent weeks.

Chinatown
The Two Jakes
Body Heat
Brick
The Missing Person

Any more suggestions?

[TheJBurger]

The Third Man.

Oops. Not modern, sorry!

[xenogia]

Its all good, I found it so I'm going to watch it anyhow.  I've seen a lot of old noir films but not that one.

[Questionable]

Are looking for modern noir because they're easier to find or because stylistically that is more what you are pursuing? I'll browse my library and put a list together for you!

[xenogia]

Stylistically I'm going for newer noir films, purely because they are in colour and I want to really look at the hues and stuff that they use.  As well as new camera shots also.

[Rincewind]

The Coen Brothers have made quite a lot of films influenced by noir/with noir-elements mixed in, the most obvious one being the pastiche "The Man Who Wasn't There"(which is available in both b/w and color, if I'm not mistaken), but a lot of their other films also have quite a few touches of it, even though they don't always follow the stereotypical neo-noir route.
Millers Crossing (More of a nod to old gangster/crime-films of the 1930's, but still with a lot of noir touches to it, both visually and dialogue-wise), Blood Simple and Fargo are probably the straightest examples, but even a comedy like "The Big Lebowski" have a heavy influence from Raymond Chandlers convoluted plots in novels/films like "The Big Sleep".

David Cronenbergs film version of William S. Burroughs "Naked Lunch" is also(despite it's general Burroughs-ish bizarre-ness and Cronenbergian share of body horrors) quite Noir-influenced as well. Also, a lot of David Lynch's stuff could definitely be classified as neo-noirs - "Blue Velvet" and "Lost Highway", most notably.

[Questionable]

Understood!

In order of what I last watched:

Lust & Caution (Chinese Language and therefore more unique than your typical Noir)
A Prophet (A bit slow in bits but ultimately a really good movie)
No Country for Old Men*
Gone Baby Gone
Murder on the Orient Express (I started watching it on TV, but had to stop. Got it about a three weeks ago. Just now watched it... it's simple and hardly Noir but it's got a great sense of characters and it might be helpful if you're doing this for research.)
Lucky Number Slevin
Collateral
Insomnia
The Dead Girl (Never Heard of this movie until I saw it in my brothers DVD collection, pleasantly surprised)
Scenes of the Crime
Inside Man
The Pledge (Saw this movie in Theatres and couldn't remember the name of it, a friend of mine figured it out and I JUST NOW FIGURED OUT WHO THE KILLER WAS... I consider this more of a psychological noir, it's not very gritty but focuses on the inner darkness of a man)
The Long Goodbye
Mystic River
The Usual Suspects
MR73 (Was watching TONS of French movies around this time and I stumbled across this rather good Noir)
Eye Witness (Another simple story, told well, with good characters... this on is closer to Noir than Orient Express, though)
Confidence
Beautiful Creatures (Reminds me of Lucky Number Slevin a Bit)
The Name of the Rose
Vertigo
The Killers (1964)
Blow Up (1966)
Devil in a Blue Dress (I don't remember watching this... lol, I'll have to go back and watch it now!)
Twilight (Kind-of bored me near the middle but I liked it after watching it all)
Mr. Brooks (Don't think I would consider this Noir but I did when I gave it a Genre...)
A History of Violence
Tony Rome (Kind-Of lame but Sinatra is how I would imagine an American James Bond)
Coma (It's listed as "Thriller" in my library but, it's decent and I have a soft spot for Michael Chrichton [R.I.P.] SO F***ING WATCH IT, ALLRIGHT?!)
Snake Eyes
Night Moves (Chinatown proved to me that Jack is an awesome actor, similarly, this is one of the movies that made me respect Gene Hackman)
Farewell My Lovely
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Blood Work
L.A. Confidential (A Masterpiece in terms of Contemporary Noir)
The Walker
Klute
The Constant Gardener (I really like noir that collides with political thriller [a'la Chinatown] it adds to a greater sense of corruption. Too often noir relies on gangsters and petty criminals yet ignores real crimes that people would kill over.)
8MM
Presumed Innocent (a noir from an interesting perspective with a kind of gay denouement)
Affliction
The Spanish Prisoner
Road to Perdition


Just about anything by Guy Ritchie & the Cohen Brothers* can be considered contemporary noir, too.

Classic's You Should Watch:
Asphalt Jungle
The Killers (1946)
The Night of the Hunter
Rear Window
To Catch A Thief


Two movies that pop into my head in terms of the style that I'm trying to achieve in my Noir game is The Black Dahlia and Changeling (come to think of it, Clint Eastwood's cinematography matches my visual concept of modern Noir the best: Invictus & Gran Torino look so Noir to me...)

Something I saw recently that isn't in my library is Edge of Darkness, it's a bit slow, unbelievable and derivative but every actor gives a solid performance and it's definitely worth a watch.

I just got "Brick," haven't watched it yet. Heard good things, I'll keep you posted.

Final Thought: The impact of crime and lies is illustrated beautifully in: separate lies.

EDIT @ Rincewind:
90% of David Lynch makes me wish I was stoned so I could enjoy it... =P

[xenogia]

Questionable: Edge of Darkness is a fantastic film, but I would recommend watching the original BBC mini series.  It is a lot better   And thank you for the list of films.

Rincewood: Thanks for your detailed analysis on specific directors and films, time to grab these films.

[Ali]

While you're at it, don't miss Welles's Touch of Evil. Because it's a great film, and because it's quite a late noir film.

I can see why you want to watch colour films, because you're making a colour game. But if you want new angles and new ideas, why not look at older films? The angles and ideas were newer back then!

[xenogia]

Haha I've watched a lot of olders ones, but there are tons I haven't seen yet.  I'll do asearch for it.

[Stupot]

Sin City?
It's a bit too noir, perhaps. But nevertheless, noir it is.

[xenogia]

Sin City?
It's a bit too noir, perhaps. But nevertheless, noir it is.

Haha that is very true, but I've seen it many times.  What was his more recent films?

[Stupot]

Oh he directed The Spirit aswell.  That's film noir but again it's overdone almost to the point of taking the piss out of itself.

[Ali]

Please, please, please don't use Sin City as a reference.

It's important to remember that the great Noir films were made by men returning from World War II, and european exiles. People who had experienced real horror, and had been given a new perspective on the darkness under the surface of American life. Those of us who haven't lived through a period like that would be wise to pay attention to them.

Sin City on the other hand, appropriates the Noir aesthetic very stylishly and puts it to the service of a fourteen year-old boy's lurid fantasy.

[xenogia]

I was never using Sin City as reference to be honest, wasn't the style I was going for.  I'm going for a more traditional outlook on Noir films just with use of colour.  To the point I have the basic story boards worked out.  I thought I would add to them as such, by looking at other films.

[blueskirt]

13 Tzameti is pretty awesome if you don't mind reading subtitles.

[Stupot]

Have you seen Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy.  I've seen two of them, and 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance' in particuar makes great use of colour. Infact there are 2 versions of this film.  One of which starts off in colour and gradually goes black-and-white as the film progresses.  But even in the full colour version, it is put to good use.

[Dave Gilbert]

Some of my personal faves:

Out of the Past
Mildred Pierce
Postman Always Knocks Twice
Night and the City
Double Indemnity
Little Cesear ("Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?!")
Rebecca

[Questionable]

This thread made me want to do some official research:

According to Wikipedia John Alton was a prolific noir cinematographer and created alot of the visuals that we associate with film noir.

I can't say specifically what noir films he's done (never got into the cast and crew side of films, besides directors) but it might be worth digging up some of his work!

[xenogia]

Wow, information overload.  Where will I find the time to watch these films.. lol