Un-American activities: Ten best films noir not from the United States
Jul 20 '05 (Updated Aug 25 '06)
The Bottom Line The French coined "film noir" so it makes sense that some terrific films noir have come from France. Other top-notch ones are from Great Britain, China, Germany and Spain.
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Its name comes from the French and it often is called the dark side of the American dream, but film noir is global. Filmmakers from around the world have taken an art form that originated in the United States and made it speak their language. Their works are just as cynical and dark as their American counterparts and the characters they spotlight are just as aggressively selfish, but the accents are different.
Among the world's best films noir might be Place Vendome (1998, France) and Sonatine (1996, Japan), but I haven't seem them yet. My list of the top ten that I have seen is:
10) Carne Tremula (1997, aka Live Flesh, Spain)
Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar.
Reviewed by DavidMac: "Almodovar comes up with an entertaining movie; probably not as outlandish as his other features, but a decent film noir."
Almodovar adapts a complex Ruth Rendell novel about five people affected by the shooting of a cop. It's serious, but he lightens up the provocative goings-on with some of his humor.
9) Die Xue Shuang Xiong (1990, aka The Killer, China)
Written and directed by John Woo.
Reviewed on Epinions by Sloucho: "If God truly lives in the details, then He pays rent to John Woo, for it is only in the details that we see the difference between what Woo does and what other action directors try to do."
A cop is willing to exploit a blind woman to catch a hired killer. Some of the story might seem corny, but the brilliantly paced action and choreographed gunfights pull us past the few, slight rough patches.
8) Der Amerikanische Freund (1977, aka The American Friend)
From France and Germany, although much of it is in English.
Written and directed by Wim Wenders, adapting Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith.
A version released directly to video in 2002 is titled Ripley's Game and stars John Malkovich. About it, Stephen_Murray says, "Not boring, but hard to believe."
The Wenders original is reviewed by metalluk: A "superb character study with effective visuals and fine performances."
Wenders cast two top directors of American films noir, Samuel Fuller and Nicholas Ray, in small parts as gangsters in this tribute to U.S. gangster films. It's anchored by Dennis Hopper's performance as an American expatriate who sets up a young German man to become a hired assassin. Parts of it drag but that seems deliberate, as if Wenders wants us to have time to think things through. This unsettling one is worth thinking about.
7) Plein Soleil (1960, aka Purple Noon and also Lust for Evil, France)
Written and directed by Réne Clément, loosely adapting The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith.
Reviewed by virelai: "As a thriller, a mystery, or simply a story it is superior."
Alain Delon (also impressive in Le Samourai, 1967) is cool and compelling as the original talented Mr. Ripley on the big-screen. The movie is a beautifully filmed take on the covetous, deceptive young man who wants his best friend, or at least wants to be him.
6) Du Rififi Chez les Hommes (1954, aka Rififi, France)
Written and directed by Jules Dassin.
Reviewed by macresarf1: "It's the granddady of heist/caper movies, some say of the noir genre in France."
The highlight is a daring jewel theft and so it might seem derivative of the U.S. movie The Asphalt Jungle (1950), except that Dassin has crafted a thrilling and intriguing original. It takes a long time for the thieves to pull off the elaborate heist and they do so in complete, nervewracking silence. That suspense gives way to something more interesting when they're done and they start looking at each other with growing distrust.
5) The Long Good Friday (1980, Great Britain)
Written by Barrie Keefe.
Directed by John MacKenzie.
Reviewed by brodieman: It "is a dark, intricate, complex and demanding story, not to mention horribly and graphically violent."
Bob Hoskins explodes as a crime lord whose underworld empire seems to be under siege by rival gangsters. There are touches of humor to break up the graphic suggested violence. Even without Hoskins, it would be interesting. With him, it is dynamic and gripping.
4) The Third Man (1949, Great Britain)
Written by Graham Greene.
Directed by Carol Reed.
The American Film Institute in 1998 named this one of the Top 100 Films.
Reviewed by spus025: "The film completely captivates the viewer in a shady underworld of intrigue."
Many of Greene's stories have been adapted into films noir but probably none as well as this one. It is deservedly famous for its chase through a cavernous sewer and it is both acclaimed and scorned for its haunting/irritating musical score, which has Anton Karas playing a zither. Joseph Cotten is a writer caught up in the black market in Vienna after World War II. He's there to visit a friend (Orson Welles), but is told his friend was murdered. Or he is still alive. Maybe.
3) Les Diaboliques (1955, aka Diabolique, France)
Written by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Frederic Grendel, Jerome Geronini and Réne Masson.
Directed by Clouzot.
Reviewed by st_patrick: "The final twenty minutes are almost unbearably suspenseful."
A murder conspiracy reflects the film noir vision of a world in which vicious people operate with seeming impunity. This eerie movie has a conspiracy of two chilling killers, a woman and her husband's mistress. They kill him, but maybe he's not dead after all. That possibility fuels an exhilarating, twisty thriller.
2) Le Professional (1981, aka The Professional, France)
Written and directed by Georges Lautner.
Not reviewed on Epinions yet.
Before Matt Damon was Bourne, Jean-Paul Belmondo was Bourne-like. He is terrific in this thriller, which is fast-paced and smart. Belmondo is an assassin for the French government who spent two years in an African prison because his superiors betrayed him. Now they want to kill him. They might be in trouble because he's much smarter than they are.
1) Get Carter (1971, Great Britain)
Written and directed by Mike Hodges.
Reviewed by sadgit: "An old and of its time movie, but ultimately a timeless one."
Hodges (Croupier) tells with flair a story about a small-time hood seeking revenge for his brother's murder. The movie is full of surprises, including a stunning turn by Michael Caine, whose ruthlessness is astonishing.
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