My Experiences of Neo-Noir

Taxi Driver: Image From IMDB

Love of Neo-Noir

I think because of the wide range Neo-Noir covers most people like at least a couple of films within the subgenre. Everything from David Lynch movies like Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway and Blue Velvet can fall under the definition, to violent Neo-Noir’s like Sin City, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club and Taxi Driver. There’s classic’s like Chinatown, To Live and Die in L.A, and Fargo, to slightly more modern playful movies like Brick or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

For the purposes of covering the subgenre I tried to focus on the more Noir aspects of Neo-Noir, but really it’s a subgenre with vague boundaries now that so many anti-heroes exist. The days of the pure hearted good guy on the right side of the law have largely passed by after their decline in 70s cinema. Since then the Neo Noir anti-heroes and Femme Fatales have only grown in both their on-screen presents and personality.

However, I think the subgenre has somewhat retreated into the shadows of which it came of late during Superhero’s box office reign, and the Marvelisation of cinema. But, it’s a subgenre that won’t ever go away. It might adapt and have slightly different definitions, but rogue heroes, dangerous woman, and stories of power and corruption will always be a part of cinema.

For me, Neo-Noir is the genre that made me a cinephile. Movies like Taxi Driver, Reservoir Dogs, and Fargo broadened my understanding of cinema. I grew up on a hard diet of 80s action flicks and westerns. Two genres that I absolutely adore, but I enjoyed them in a purely entertainment way.

The Neo-Noir’s are what made me pay attention to things like symbolism and theme. The photography and framing. The Mise-en-scène. They’re what led me back to Film Noir and the more artistic westerns I’d previously missed. They pushed me in the direction of Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma movies, which then led me down the rabbit hole of the Maverick Film Makers and the Sundance Kids, but that’s another story.

Alongside these fantastic movies I also read plenty of Elmore Leonard in college. Books like Out of Sight and Rum Punch. I also read my fair share of Joe Lansdale Neo Noir’s as well. I imagine some of these books would qualify more as crime or thrillers, but again, the lines of Neo-Noir are blurry. The subgenre is a style and idea, together with many different useable tropes and archetypes, rather than strict dogmatic guidelines.

Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novels were also a big part of my formative years. That Film Noir look mixed with the heroes and villains of Neo-Noir was chief kiss. I couldn’t get enough of it.

To Live and Die in L.A: Image From IMDB

Neo-Noir Within My Own Work

Despite my love of the genre I’ve rarely written within it. In the past I’d started writing a couple of different Neo-Noir book and scripts ideas, but ended up abandoning them. One day I might go back to them, but I don’t recall ever completing any long-form work within the subgenre either as a screenplay or manuscript. Some of my work could be considered slightly more transgressive, but never what I’d consider out-and-out Neo-Noir.

I have however recently began working on a series of short stories that might be within the subgenre, it’s too early to tell yet. They’re something I intend to put online individually at first before compiling as a collection at a later date. The series will be called ‘Neon Drenched Violence’ and definitely plays with a lot of aspects of Neo-Noir, while probably upping the violence a little too, as that’s what I do.

These stories have some of the classic characters and traits, while also trying to build the atmosphere and city environment that Neo-Noirs are famous for. The stories are currently leaning more towards movies like Taxi Driver and Live and Die in L.A rather than the films I consider being a bridge from Film Noir to Neo-Noir: Chinatown and L.A Confidential.

Away from Neon Drenched Violence I recently published my Neo-Noir short story: The Long Day. This one was a rare story that I had completed, and always intended as a Neo-Noir. I first wrote it as a short screenplay about eight years back with the intention of directing it. During pre-production Covid happened, and by the time it was safe to direct movies again my life had moved in a different direction. I’d written Abby Vs The Splatploitation Brothers and writing books had become my future. It’s all I want to do now.

So when it came to researching and writing pieces for the Neo-Noir subgenre The Long Day re-entered my head. It was a story I’d always wanted to tell, and this suited it perfectly. The story was already written in screenplay format so it became an exercise in adapting my work into a short story. I’d gone through a similar process with a few of my books and felt a comfort in doing it again.

If you’ve read The Long Day I hope it captured what you’d consider Neo-Noir to be. Obviously with the female lead it moves away from the isolated hard-boiled male detective, but it was always Rita’s story from conception to finished short. I feel like I still kept the spirit of the anti-hero, along with the odds being stacked against them in the harsh environment, but I included some modern twists and sensibilities.

I loved adapting The Long Day (maybe one day I’ll share my original screenplay too) and as mentioned, I have been dabbling in the subgenre more with Neon Drenched Violence. I have a few other ideas for novels or novellas as well so it is a subgenre that I’ll work in a lot in the future now that I’ve started. Caught the Neo-Noir bug.

Neo-Noir is a subgenre I feel comfortable watching, reading, and writing within. It’s a subgenre with so much class and history, and as mentioned, it inspired more of my love of cinema as well. A lot of the tropes of Neo-Noir are probably in plenty of my own work too, even if none of it is within the genre itself. I love the heroes and villains of Neo-Noir. The settings. The atmosphere. The style and vibe. It has everything that makes stories interesting for me. Neo-Noir really is a fantastic genre, and one I look forward to seeing evolve over the upcoming years.

Stephen