THE CLOWNK. A. Laity It was the clown. The party had been lively enough before her arrival. Shrieking children seemed to entertain themselves for a while. She promised fun on her website—that balloon-littered vomit of coarse Pantone tones with too many gurning GIFsa and autoplay videos. That should have been a warning flag. It had …
Classic Noir: The 7th Victim (1943) I know what you’re thinking: isn’t that Supernatural Noir? While the Val Lewton production The Seventh Victim is usually referred to as a horror film, I think it’s really much more clearly noir. What confuses people are the trappings of horror – and of course the horror chops of Lewton, who produced some of …
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Noirvember can be a little too much of a look-back-bore at times (at times!) so it’s good to remind ourselves that we’re living in something of a heyday of new noir (neo-noir too, but let’s not nitpick about genre borders just now: life is hard enough at the moment). Maybe we don’t want to think …
Continue reading Noirvember Review: John Bowie’s Transference by KA Laity
THE CHIMP for Carol I see you, human. You with the clump of hair on top of your heads. Have to wear coverings in snow so you don’t freeze your bare asses. You laugh at me wearing clothing. Funny, you know, funny. Funny to see little creature dress like a human. Look at the chimp …
Female Human Animal (2018) Dir. Josh Appignanesi Starring: Chloe Aridjis Here is another film that dwells at the intersection of art and noir: Female Human Animal isn’t a heist though, nor is it a con. Instead it’s a film that brings together many unexpected strands for a story that doesn’t neatly fit any genre. Nevertheless the noir ambience is pervasive …
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Classic Noir: The Long Goodbye (1973) I read the novel so long ago (back in my L. A. days so looooong ago) I could only remember the basics of the story. There were probably more of them in the original script by the legend Leigh Brackett, but Robert Altman’s style of filmmaking always left room …
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Supernatural Noir: Miracles for Sale What a delight! Thanks to Ray Garton and Paul D. Brazill for leading me to Tod Browning’s last film, Miracles for Sale. It’s a fun romp with magicians, psychics, trickery, grifters, and plenty of style. Currently airing on TCM, it’s also available in various versions online in the usual places. I admit …
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Supernatural Noir: Cast a Deadly Spell (1991) Having recently seen (and wrote about) Witch Hunt (1994) I was looking forward to seeing this mash up of supernatural and noir, largely because I figured Fred Ward would play the part of PI Harry Philip Lovecraft a lot better than a rather wooden Dennis Hopper did in the later film. …
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Supernatural Noir: Witch Hunt (1994) I am so grateful fabulous film critic Anne Billson retweeted a reference to this into my timeline. She has great taste in films as well as encyclopaedic knowledge (seriously, check out her work). Also it could not be more on-brand for my stuff: a mash-up of witchcraft, horror, hard-boiled and noir: The film takes …
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6 Songs About Rain (because I’m not one to ignore a summons from Mark E. Smith even if it was only a a dream) 1 Weird tales Of the conjure woman A Dæmonomania in Tideland Waifs and Strays are Tapping the Dream Tree Memory & Dream in a Soho black with rain 2 That day …
