Film Noir and Double Indemnity

Errol Morris describes the great Noir films as “films about fall guys”. In the film Double Indemnity there are two fall guys. The first and is Walter Neff who is the sucker that falls in love and kills of the husband thinking he’s going to live happily ever after but ends up taking the fall for the whole conspiracy in the end. The second is Nino Zachetti who was set up to take the fall for the murder Walter committed.

A femme fatale is described as a very smart, powerful, and extremely sexual woman.  Janey Place describes a femme fatale as a woman who “uses her sexuality to get what she’s after and what she’s after is not the man, he’s another tool. What she is after is something for herself. Phyllis’s character in Double Indemnity fits this quote perfectly; she lures Walter in by entering in a towel and flirting with him and later kissing him and saying that she loves him, when really it was all an act to get him to forge the accidental death insurance and murder her husband. She convinces him that it is for both of them when really it was just for her so that she could collect the money on her own making her the typical femme fatale.

Double Indemnity uses many Noir elements in their filming. The first scenes of the movie show Walter entering his office and telling his story into a recorder which narrates the rest of the movie in first person from his perspective.  In the scene where Walter and Phyllis first meet they shoot Phyllis from a low angle and Walter from a high angle putting her in the place of power. The entire movie is dark and shadowy using the Noir type of filming to portray the mystery of Phyllis scheme and the dark side of the characters. The good characters such as Keys are in the light while the mischievous characters such as Walter and Phyllis are in the shadows even when in the same building. The film also uses dramatic music when the tempo picks up you know something is going to happen it gets darker or creepier when the characters are plotting what they want to do or talking in the store.

I hate Memento; I struggle to watch this movie every time I watch it. Memento is an example of neo-noir films in that even though it is a color movie it still uses the use of light and shadows to portray mystery and the good characters from the manipulative ones. It also contains a femme fatale while Natalie is not a typical femme fatale in my opinion she is still using Leonard to get what she wants. We also hear Leonard’s voice over throughout the entire film.

What is it that makes a movie compelling, noteworthy, or deserving of an award?

                What is it that makes a movie compelling, noteworthy, or deserving of an award? In my opinion in order for a movie to be compelling, noteworthy, or deserving of an award it needs to have  three simple things; a great cast, a story that’s going to keep the attention of the viewers and myself, and a plot that’s easy to follow.

                A movie has to have a great cast; both leading and supporting. The actors don’t have to be famous or attractive (although in most cases that does help) they just need to be able to act. I want to be able to believe that they are happy, sad, hurt, or scared. There are so many times I’ve tried to watch a movie where the acting just bugs me. Facial expressions don’t match the reaction or hey I just got shot in my leg but wait until the next scene and you won’t be able to tell from the way I am talking and I can walk fine now.

               If you can’t get the original cast or at least some of the characters to continue the story don’t make a sequel. While I have never been a fan of the Terminator movies past the original, once you lose Arnold you lose your series just give it up and move on don’t try to go another direction with it. XXX is my biggest problem you can’t replace Vin Diesel with Ice Cube and expect the movie to do anywhere near as well as the original. If your actor was signed on to do the sequel and then changes his mind maybe you should take a step back and reread the script maybe it just isn’t very good, and clearly by the reviews it has gotten it isn’t very good. I am however all for remakes and in some cases the prequel. Batman Begins, Tron, Captain America, all have new actors and some new characters but all are amazing movies.

                If a movie doesn’t have a story that keeps your attention you are going to fall asleep, not pay attention, walk out, or change the channel and it won’t make any money. If the plot is too hard to follow you won’t have any idea what is going on and you aren’t going to want to watch it. Nobody wants to watch a movie where you have to keep asking the person next to you what is happening or who that guy is and nobody wants to be the guy who has to keep answering all the questions. I like to be able to watch a movie and if something distracts me for a minute I’m not going to be totally lost at what’s going on. While I hate lulls in movies and scenes of what just seems to be filler, as a parent I do need to take my eyes off the screen at times. I have no problem with the what’d I miss I do have a problem with the whoa did I miss something I am totally lost. My friends love Memento, I personally can’t stand it. I’ve watched it four times. I’ve fallen asleep twice was totally lost once and finally figured out what was going on the last time. I understood what was going on but all the flashbacks just got me lost and I found the movie to be boring overall. Syriana, I don’t know if I spaced out or fell asleep but I have no idea what that was about. I recently watched Visioneers I am a huge fan of Zach Galifianakis but that movie was just hard to watch. I kept expecting it to get better and it never did but I couldn’t turn it off in hopes that it would.

                You can’t have a good cast and expect to be an award winning amazing movie without a great story and plot. At the same time you can’t have a great story and plot and expect to be a noteworthy award winning movie without the cast to support it. It takes a combination of everything to be a great movie, you take away one part and you might as well save your money and find a new movie to produce.

  Le voyage dans la lune A trip to the moon Georges Mlis 1902 if it weren’t for the narrator I’m not sure I could have followed this film in the majority of it. While I understand it was about a guy trying to get to the moon and eventually getting there it was hard to tell what was going on. It may be a noteworthy film simply because it was about a guy who wanted to go to the moon in 1902 that in itself was pretty clever. It could have done without some of the scene changes with the smoke coming off of the roof and some guy falling in a bucket really pointless and without a narrator who would have known what was going on in those scenes especially since the film quality back then was so poor you could hardly see the details. It was acted fairly well the actors did a good job at going over the top in expressing themselves making up for the lack of dialogue.

The Great Train Robbery while not as creative of a subject as going to the moon was a very good film. It had a very simple plot that kept me watching and easy enough to follow even if I had to look away. They could have put a little more effort in to making me believe the ragdoll was a person while being thrown from the train but the movie itself was acted very well. While filming isn’t on my list of qualities of an award winning movie I do have to say that this movie was filmed and spliced together very well for being from 1903 there was a very nice flow to the movie and I never had to stop to think where they were or how they got there. They really could have done without adding the music to it, I know it wasn’t original to the film but it didn’t fit with the movie at all.

Two of my favorite movies that I feel meet my ideas of an award winning, noteworthy, and compelling are Fast Five and Back to the Future.  While Fast Five didn’t win an academy award or a people’s choice award it was nominated and should have won. It met all of my expectations and criteria for an award winning movie. If you didn’t see the first three of the four Fast and Furious movies you may have been a little lost in where some of the characters came from but they did a pretty good job at updating you. It also had their top stars in Vin Diesel and Paul Walker return and added to it with Dwayne Johnson. The story was fast paced and action packed and kept me watching. I never lost interest or had to stop and figure out what was going on and there were just enough twists to make me wonder what was going to happen next. Fast Five or any Fast and the Furious movie will probably never be a classic but it will always be one of my favorites. Back to the Future on the other hand already is a classic. It has won numerous awards including academy awards and it’s easy to see why. Even though most of the cast was fairly young they had a lot of talent. Back to the Future also meets all of my criteria for an award winning movie; a great cast with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Crispin Glover, a memorable story that kept me entertained and was super easy to follow. I can watch Back to the Future over and over and not get tired of it unlike some movies that I’ve seen once and need a break of a couple of months at least before watching it again.

Getting to know me

I have been collecting movies for fifteen years; I suppose I have my parents to thank for that. As a kid I didn't have cable in my bedroom so if I wanted to watch something other than regular TV I had to rent it. I soon learned that it was cheaper for me to buy the movie than rent it.... I still have issues returning movies on time. Wal-Mart’s $5 bin and Blockbusters going out of business sales and I have become very close friends over the years.

While I do not call myself an avid film buff my friends and family call me blockbuster. If somebody wants to see a movie they usually turn to me before going to the store or the box. I have more movies than I care to count. I'm sure I have lost more movies than most people own.

I have watched many movies from all areas of film and I can't pick a favorite type. As technology improves the action scenes improve and the picture quality improves and the movies look amazing but it never stops me from going back and watching old westerns or films starring members of the Rat Pack.

Over the years of movies that I've seen (as I'm sure it is with most people) movies have become pretty obvious at what is going to be said or done at a certain point and I can tell where the movie is headed most of the time. That doesn't stop me from watching a movie unless of course it is actually so bad that it’s like watching the same movie with different characters. I can always tell why a character is in a fight or running or having the discussion or that they are going to end up together in the end or what that type of music means. I am looking forward to learning the art of film and going back and watching movies from a different perspective.