2 x Top 10 Juliana Halea

Julian Hale je fanoušek filmu noir žijící v Belgii. Pokud byste si s ním rádi vyměnili tipy na filmy nebo podělili o názory a zkušenosti, můžete jej kontaktovat na emailu julianahale@gmail.com. Zde jeho krátké představení a dvě top 10 - jedna klasického noiru a druhá neo-noiru.

I am a big film noir aficionado. I have a small group of friends and acquaintances who go to film noirs in the Cinematek in Brussels and watch films/have dinner together at each other’s houses. I’m not quite sure how much of a fan they are but they keep coming so that’s got to be good!

My passion started without me realising it. I saw The Man Who Wasn’t There and Memento without knowing that these were neo-noir films (i.e films that hark back to and draw on elements of black and white film noir movies from the 1940s and 1950s). I recall watching, in the 1980s, various great black and white films and, in the 1990s, thinking to myself that there were a lot of old black and white films that I would like to see some day.

What sparked my current passion for film noir in particular was when, one day in around 2015, I went to see Touch of Evil (Orson Welles). After seeing that brilliant film (it is in my top ten film noir for sure), I found out that it was a film noir and started reading about it. I now have a small film noir library, which I dip into when I see films to look at the fantastically arty pictures and posters and to understand more about the films, the directors and the actors.

What first drew me to film noir and still draws me is the fast paced and clever dialogue and banter between the protagonists as well as the complexity of the plots.

My top ten film noir
Touch of Evil (1958)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Shadow of a Doubt (1945)
Citizen Kane (1948)
The Third Man (1949)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Rope (1948)

My top ten neo noir 
The Usual Suspects (1995)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Memento (2000)
Blood Simple (1984)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Fargo (1996)
Blade Runner (1982)
Chinatown (1974)
Dirty Harry (1971) (though not really film noir in my book)
The Matrix (1999) (possibly)