noir
/ˈnwɑː
/noun [mass noun]
1A genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity: his film proved that a Brit could do noir as darkly as any American...
- It is hard-boiled Hollywood noir, featuring fantastic dialogue and great performances.
- The film is a pastiche of screwball and noir, full of fast talk, funny banter, and venetian blind shadows.
- Both are strongly unconventional films in the dark noir tradition.
1.1 [count noun] A film or novel in the noir genre: he says he’s making a noir...
- Edgar Ulmer's reputation rests largely on a series of no-budget, claustrophobic noirs and thrillers like Strange Illusion, Bluebeard, and of course Detour.
- An ambitious pastiche of Hollywood noirs, pulp comic books of the '50s and classic science fiction, the film was created entirely with computers.
- Fortunately, Gun Crazy offers us much beyond this basic premise, making it not only one of the top few noirs of all time but, according to Gary Johnson, also ‘one of the greatest B movies ever made.’
Derivatives
noirish
- Only the capricious talent of David Lynch could manage to produce a noirish thriller that is so confusing and yet spellbinding at the same time.
- The show was a dark, noirish thriller about a psychopath working his way up through the ranks of a major corporation.
- When Himes was known at all, he was thought of as a writer of noirish detective thrillers, which were seen as a comedown from promising literary beginnings.
Origin
1970s: from film noir.