Film Noir/LA Confidential

There was a time that the label ‘noir’ could legitimately be applied only to a specific cycle of post-World War II Hollywood films. In recent years, however, there has been increasing acceptance of a much more flexible use of the term –both to draw in pre-World War II examples and, more importantly, to expand the category sufficiently to include the phenomenon of “Neo-Noir.”

This widening of the term, of course, complicates one of the questions that critics continue to debate. That is, what kind of classification is 'noir'? Is it a visual style, a tone, a genre, a generic field, a movement, a cycle, a series - or just a helpful category? Rather, it is a ‘network of ideas’ that can be borrowed from and played with. Therefore, a “Neo-Noir” is a film that harkens back to the original genre, but also re-invents itself for more modern sensibilities.

The transformations of the genre in Neo-Noir have helped to clarify some of the constant, recognizable elements of 'the noir vision', most importantly the moral ambivalence of the protagonist and his (or her) ill-fated relationship with a wider society that itself is guilty of corruption and criminality.

L.A. Confidential is one such film. While we watch, let's keep track of some of those key noir elements that help define the genre.