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Recommend: noir movies/novels/anime/whateverthefuck
EVOL
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I watched Le Samourai and Blade Runner (which are, admittedly, not traditional noir as far as I know) and got really interested. Can anybody recommend me some good examples of film noir? Less traditional examples are welcomed too.
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Anyway, I was damned impressed with Brick. I'll leave it to others to offer other suggestions.
Dark City - make sure to get the director's cut, or turn the sound off until Kiefer Sutherland appears, because the studio added a stupid speech that explains the entire premise for the cinematic cut.
It's from 1998 and firmly in the neo-noir camp, sci-fi premise or not.
LA Confidential
Payback
Insomnia
Heat *
Ronin *
Momento *
A History of Violence *
Road to Perdition
Reservoir Dogs *
Serpico
Taxi Driver *
Point Blank
Get Carter
The Getaway (The Steve McQueen one) *
The Driver *
Mean Streets
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
Touch of Evil
The Asphalt Jungle
* some might argue that these aren't quite noir.
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Movies:
Sunset Boulevard (Absolutely essential. Also, there's a funeral for a monkey in the first 15 minutes)
Kiss Me Deadly (just got an amazing Criterion release)
Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (Modern. Robert Downey Jr. Amazing.)
The Thin Man, After The Thin Man, Shadow Of The Thin Man (Slightly comic, but essential. Also, Myrna Loy. Rawr Rawr.)
The Third Man
Rififi (French)
Bob le Flambeur (Bob The Gambler, French)
Night And The City
Pickup On South Street
I could go on for a long time. On Amazon, there are several sets called "The Film Noir Classic Collection". They're really cheap and there's some amazing stuff in them. The first one is " http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Collection-Asphalt-Jungle-Murder/dp/B000244F2S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1310860139&sr=8-5 " Anything you see in those collections is going to be worth watching.
EDIT: Oh, and if you haven't seen Ghost Dog by Jim Jarmusch, rent it. It was HEAVILY inspired by Le Samourai.
EDIT 2: And if you like Brick (which you should definitely watch), rent The Lookout. It's noirish and also has Joseph Gordon Levitt.
If I knew how to lime this, I would.
Also, once you become familiar with the tropes of noir, watch The Big Lebowski. The Coens have stated that it's their take on Raymond Chandler. Speaking of which, the 70s version of The Long Goodbye with Elliot Gould is a bit underrated
I forgot about The Long Goodbye, which is rather well-rated and definitely worth catching. It's got Sterling Hayden in it too. Classic noir actor. Also, a VERY early appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaking of the Coen Brothers, The Man Who Wasn't There is a great example of neo-noir.
I never got around to seeing blood simple but it looks good.
Falcon and The Third Man have both been mentioned. Some might not consider Casablanca noir.
It's the only book of his that I've read, but it feels like he's intentionally going nuts with the silly stuff just for fun. It's a crime noir story in a 1940s-lookalike alternate world where instead of nuclear reactors they have necrotic reactors fueled by energy harvested from the bones of the dead. Instead of elevators they have empty shafts with spirits lifting you to the floor you want. Oh, and the protagonist's boss is a zombie.
Lots of silly stuff, but I found it to be a quick and enjoyable read.
For James Ellroy, it's tempting to start with L.A. Confidential, but be warned the opening chapter sorta spoils one of his previous "L.A. Quartet" novels, The Big Nowhere. I'd start with the first of that series, The Black Dahlia and then work your way forward if you dig that one.
Also, avoid the movie version of The Black Dahlia since it's pretty terrible. The movie version of L.A. Confidential is excellent.
For Walter Mosley, check out Devil In A Blue Dress, especially as a nice counter-perspective to the often overwhelming racism depicted in Ellroy's L.A. novels.
Edit: More, older movie suggestions: D.O.A. (the original, not the remake), Force Of Evil, Double Indemnity, and Detour are all worth seeing.
read A Postman Always Rings Twice and then Double Indemnity after that. both are some of the best noir fiction out there.
this is another hard-to-find novel, but absolutely worth reading if you can
They Shoot Horses, Don't They by Horace McCoy
Jonathan Lethem! I forgot about that book. Motherless Brooklyn that is. The protagonist has tourettes. It's a great read.
EDIT: I'm really surprised no one has mentioned Cowboy Bebop yet. Futuristic noir.
Also, in classic noir, I'm a huge fan of The Big Sleep. It's a bit darker, but Bogart really knocks it out of the park.
When I saw Brick in the theater, they gave me a little booklet that translated all the 40s slang in the movie. I still have it somewhere.
Also, Michelle Monaghan in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Rawr.
I can't decide if I like the movie or the book ending better.
One book that I hated that they watered down the film version ending for was The Getaway. I won't spoil anything, but man could it have been darker had they stuck to the original ending.
Reminds me of how the remake of Spoorloos (The Vanishing in America) gutted the ending of the original story.
Discworld Noir - An adventure game. Part noir, part noir parody. Pretty fun
The Long Goodbye is my favorite novel. The first time I saw the Gould movie I really didn't like it, because it's really different, but some rewatchings have made me reconsider my opinion.
Also, another book is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. It doesn't fully stick the landing, but I think it's worth reading. It's told through the POV of a kid with autism, and the writer really handles it well.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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The Lady from Shanghai is a classic example of the genre (omg Rita Hayworth).
Roman de Gare is a french flick from '07 that's very noir-ish.
Several people have recommended Brick, but if you're just getting into the genre, I would hold off until you've seen some of the classics. It will make the structure, character archetypes and dialogue more readily identifiable and understandable. It will also probably make the film seem more clever.
For books I saw Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler mentioned and I can't endorse them enough. I've read everything Hammett wrote and it's all awesome. His novels are great, but the majority of his work is short stories. Check out The Continental Op, The Big Knockover and Nightmare Town for short story collections, The Maltese Falcon, Red Harvest, and The Thin Man for books, but I'd recommend reading The Continental Op and The Big Knockover before Red Harvest, just to establish the character better.
I'd also recommend the works of James M. Cain. The Postman Always Rings Twice is an awesome little piece of noir fiction and his other stuff is also worth checking as well.
Not quite noir, but close enough I'd recommend The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont which is a pulp/noir hybrid story about the writers of the old pulp characters The Shadow and Doc Savage going on their own adventure. If you liked Blade Runner, get Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, it's what Blade Runner is based off of and really shows a much more detailed and complex story.
There's also a lot of Old Time Radio Dramas dealing with detectives and noir settings that are available as podcasts. I know for a fact you can get a bunch of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe episodes on iTunes for free that are all pretty good. I'd also try and find some episodes of The Whistler if you can, you might have to hunt for those; however, they are worth it. They're the only major thing in entertainment I'm aware of that is told entirely in the second person and are noir to the core.
Also, with the advent of ebooks, there are tons of great, pulpy reads that you can get for really cheap. Yeah, it's sort of hard to find the good ones vs the trash, but twitter has been awesome in introducing me a bunch of new writers.
And covering the "whateverthefuck" part of the thread title ... Games. LA Noire.
Can you give an example or two?
Sure.
Anthony Neil Smith(docnoir) This is the first writer that I found and from there I started adding others he followed and talked to. He has a whole series bunch of books out on Kindle, most .99-2.99. They're fun, filthy, dark books.
Matthew McBride(matthewjmcbride) He has one book, Frank Sinatra in a Blender. His protagonist is an alcoholic, pill popping ex cop who's trying to quit smoking.
Jarret Rush(Jarrettrush) His book, Chasing Filthy Lucre, is a bit Blade Runner/Snow Crash, but not bad.
Also, other random writers;
Brubaker-Another one that should have been mentioned sooner. If you haven't, check out his comic book work. Sleeper is my personal favorite, but Criminal, and Incognito are also really fun and definitely are noir/have some of the tendencies.
Dwayne Swierczynski- Just this month he released I believe three books all at once, all pulpy, noir/thrillers.
Charlie Huston- If you don't mind a bit of Supernatural with your noir, his Joe Pitt series, about a vampire living in NYC is really good stuff. If you want something more normal, check out his Caught Stealing Trilogy, and my fave- The Mystic Arts of Erasing all Signs of Death.
Simon R. Green- Again, supernatural/noir, but his Darkside books are fun reads that don't take themselves too seriously.
Oh! On the tv side check out Justified. It's not full blown noir, but it's based of Elmore Leonard Stuff. Also, if it ever comes out on DVD, Terriers, a short live FX show
Okay, I'm going to stop now.
Pretty wobbly (as in WAY skewed towards the more recent) representation, honestly. You should delve back a little further. Brick isn't going to resonate near as much until you watch some of the stuff from the 40s.