Film Noir Defined in Double Indemnity

"Knowing what you are doing is doomed and ... doing it." Was the first quote that I heard in the documentary named Film Noir .  Unfortunately it did not name the person who said it, but this is one of the quotes that are spot on to the explanation of the movie Double Indemnity.   In the movie the main character, Walter Neff, knows as an insurance agent that there is no way to get around his manager and "father figure", Barton Keyes, with insurance fraud.    Keyes has a sense for peoples trying to commit fraud.  Yet Mr. Neff is drawn in by the sexual anticts of  Phyllis Dietrichson.  

A couple of other quotes that reflect the "Film Noir-ishness" of Double Indemnity are one by Director Abraham Polonsky. He said about the main characters, "if they are reflecting The general sense of anxiety if life, which exsists in all film noir, then it is a correct representation of the anxiety caused by the system.  How circumstances become more and more unendurable but some how you must endure."  He is right in this explanation for in Double Indemnity, Neff's situation is unendurable more and more throughout the movie, but he must endure or he will get caught.  The second quote was by Director Errol Morris, he said in the documentary "films about fall guys, a person who is caught in the net, the more he struggles the deeper and deeper he becomes intwined in nightmare." Neff's nightmare does not end unitl his life ends.

In the documentary many Directors go over the definition of a femme fatale.  Director Janey Place says a femme fatale is "very Smart, very  powerful and she is extremely sexual.  She uses her sexuality to get what she is after, and what she is after is not the man in the picture, he is another tool what she is after is something for herself." Phyllis Dietrichson, the main woman character in the movie Double Indemnity.  She wants money and she will use Neff to get what she wants.  She uses her sexuality to get Neff to do commit an insurance fraud for her husband's money, because she knows that this is the only way to get money.  In his death all his money will go to his daughter and none to Phyllis and she must find a way to to get around this.  Another Director, Marie Windsor, says a femme fatale will "get a man into bed, then into trouble" and this is exactly what Phyllis does to Neff.

The world of Film Noir is dark and mysterious, hence the term Film Noir, which means Film Black.  There is extreme contrast in the setting and the lighting of the films.  Director John Bailey explained that in Film Noir the lighting is set "using the lights in a small dramatic frame."  Another Director, Katheryn Bigelow, said that Film Noir displays "the trapped character. there is no light, there is no escape."  Which means the character has no light and therefore reflects that there is no light at the end of the journey for them either.  Director John Bailey talks about the Film Noir characteristics in camera usage as a "deep focus, wide visual feel behind the actors to the see the background".  Director Andre de Toth said "Shooting on location is a must for Film Noir, because it is reality." This is true in that Film Noir is trying to show the reality in human life and thought.  The music in most Film Noir movies are dark and dramatic.  To reflect the world that the characters are living in.  A dark and doomed existence.  In the movie Double Indemnity, the music score was very on tact.  An example would be the scene with the death.  It starts out slow and quiet and builds up to the death.  To enhance the climatic scene, then it slows down as Neff and Phyllis pull the "con", but raises up again at the main part, the jump.  The music allows the audience to experience how dramatic the movements of the characters are.

In both Film Noir and also in Neo-noir the story is told in narration and therefore has narrators.  Whether it be in first person by the protagonist or in third person by an omniniscient voice.  Another similarity would be the use of mise-en-scene.  In both the films are set in a way for the audience to see the world of the characters. To know how they are feeling and to their actions.  The last would be the sound and music in both films are set in a way where it sets the story for the audience. It clues the audience on clues to the climax or other important scenes and story plots.

What makes or Breaks a movie

A movie is most compelling and rememberable to me mostly due to the how influential it is.  Mainly how the story is put together and set up for the audience in new and interesting ways.  The story of the movie or film sets the basis for the movie.  Such as the story line determines the setting of the storyline and scenery and those determine the costumes and characters in the movie.  Also the visual aspects of the movie make or break it.  Such as the settings and scenery, the costume design, and the characters themselves all make the movie come alive and entertain us.   A movie must have all these aspects to be a good movie.  One can not have the visual aspects of a film be wonderful, but the storyline be overdone and redundant, such as the movie Avatar.  Or have a wonderful storyline, but dire and drab visuals.  

The movies in the week 2 viewing were scratchy and visually not to wonderful, but that is mainly due to the lack of technology at the time.  Taking that out of the picture the storyline for The Voyage to the Moon, was new for the time and the costume design and setting was unique and influential, also the fact that is was all done without a moving camera makes it more special.  Its visual aspects are still used today, such as in the music video for The Smashing Pumpkins, Tonight Tonight.  I personally liked the costume for the aliens, the cave of mushrooms and how the moon had a human face.  George Melies created this film in a time where no one had gone to the moon, and he imagined how it would be and how the inhabitants would be.  The other movie The Great Train Robbery was on the other hand more slow and realistic.  It lacked the creative appeal of The Voyage to the Moon, but instead it had more scene changes and special effects, like the bomb on the train.  But the movie in itself was not as good compared to the other movie.  

As I mentioned before one of my favorite movies is Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Not only is it visually beautiful in setting and characters, but the storyline is interesting and has been used over and over again.  In similar movies such as Pretty Woman and other recent movies.  A bought woman who does not believe in love, who ends up finding true love in unexpected places.  Also it is a movie that I can watch over and over again.  Like this scene from the movie, which is a staple for every romantic movie.  The final kissing scene in the rain, which has been used afterwards in movies like Dear John and Spiderman.

Another favorite of mine is The Matrix.  It takes an idea and makes it so complex and unique.  Yet it stays in line so the audience can watch it without being lost or confused.  The story itself complex in it is an alternate universe run by the energy from harvesting humans, but also it keeps the human emotions in finding one's place in live and also in finding love real.  It also brings complexity and thought provoking ideas.

 It is very hard to make movies that are new and unique not a days.  To make the storyline new or the visual scenery and characters new, but when a movie does it is an amazing thing to view.



  

A Few of My Favorite Things

{Title: My Neighbor Totoro/Director: Hayao Miyazaki}

{Title: Breakfast at Tiffany's/Director: Blake Edwards}

{Title: The Fifth Element/Director: Luc Besson}

I have always been interested in anything that could take me to new places and create new & unique ideas.  I started watching T.V. and reading at an early age.  I was raised by parents, who worked well into the night, most nights, all the time.  So in a sense the only baby-sitter I had in the evenings was the television or if it was during school period, a good book borrowed from the school library.  Currently my brother and I have a combined DVD collection of well over the 100's, including all genres and languages. 

When asked what my favorite movie is, I always resist answering.  I have many "favorite" movies, they range from Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Neighbor Totoro, and to The Fifth Element.  I also like to watch Foreign films and read subtitles.  The only time I am hesitant in watching a film if it is an adaptation from a book that I have read and liked.  Like the adaptation Water for Elephants or The Time Teller’s Wife.  The only reason is that the book created an image in my head and the image and story is my interpretation and when watching a mediocre adaptation of the movie, it destroys the story created in my head and the book is never the same again.