The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

Noir Time

03-11-24

I watched Man from Nowhere in the 12th HoF. Not my type of movie, I generally haven't like Korean action films...I wrote this:

The Man from Nowhere (2010)

I first started watching this with the optional DVD English dubs. Big mistake! With English dubs, the opening action scene, seemed comical. It reminded me of the early Spaghetti Westerns, with their flat and odd way of talking. It's very hard for a voice actor to capture the intensity of the real actor in the movie. The dubs felt like a bad pantomime. To make the effect worse, there were no accents at all! Ugh...

So after 8 minutes of this, I switched over to the original Korean language with English sub titles. I did that during the scene with the little girl and the pawnshop keeper as they eat at a table.

As soon as I switched it over to Korean, I warmed up to the characters, especially the little girl who was sympathetic. Anyway that was a good experiment between dubs vs subs.

If you love, non-stop action with an ultra-cool, mysterious Chinese James Bond type, you'll be in heaven. Especially if you like twists and turns at every corner with lots of fighting and martial arts!....Unfortunately that's everything I dislike in a movie. Well made, but not my cup of tea.

Harry Lime

BANNED FROM VIENNA

03-11-24

Haven't seen Dead Again or Red Rock West - cool I have a couple of early nineties films to add to the old watchlist. The Man from Nowhere is okay. La Haine is a great film but noir? Okay if it passes the test I guess it counts. I didn't think of it.

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John W Constantine

Alias: John Utah

03-11-24

My watchlist is expanding quite a bit here the past week. That is all.

Thief

Master of None

03-11-24

AWARDS?

Red Rock West received only three award nominations, but won none. These were:

Saturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Independent Spirit Award for Best Director (John Dahl)
Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay (John and Rick Dahl)

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Thief

Master of None

03-11-24

AWARDS?

The Man from Nowhere received numerous nominations and awards. Some of the most notable were:

Eleven (11) Blue Dragon Award nominations, including three (3) wins
Seven (7) Grand Bell Award nominations, including four (4) wins
Six (6) Baek Sang Film Award nominations, including one (1) win for Best Film
Three (3) Max Movie Award wins, including Best Director (Lee Jeong-beom)
Two (2) Buil Film Award wins, including Readers' Jury Award

Wyldesyde19

The trick is not minding

03-11-24

Seen both, liked both, didn�t vote for both.
9/14.

mrblond

Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence

03-11-24

That's right, the late 80's and early to mid 90's been rich time for neo-noirs and I've exploited them heavily.

#88. Red Rock West (1993) is my #6 for almost half of the points it accumulated.

Personally, I consider it as one more cult movie of the nineties. Saw it in the theatre when it was released and I've seen it numerous more times through the years since then.
Stylish, interesting, very watchable and very collectable. Nicolas Cage and Lara Flynn Boyle at their peak years are superb here. On top of everything is Dennis Hopper. If you are in search for characters for your best-villains list, this is the guy.
When the topic about Neo-Noir was launched, this title was one of the first in my mind.

+
93/100

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My Ballot
▽
...
6. Red Rock West (1993) [#88]
7.
8. Shallow Grave (1994) [#95]
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. Purple Noon (1960) [#94]
...

-----

My Near Misses:
▽
The Ninth Gate (1999) [one-pointers]
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) [#96]

Last edited by mrblond; 03-11-24 at 11:21 PM.

WHITBISSELL!

Registered User

03-11-24

Haven't watched Red Rock West but after perusing the HoF thread and all the recs here it's definitely going on my watchlist. But a big enthusiastic yes for The Man from Nowhere.

Neither of these were on my ballot. I'm 6 for 14.

crumbsroom

Registered User

03-11-24

Originally Posted by Little Ash

Hana-bi is the one Takeshi Kitano film that I've seen. It was interesting and I keep meaning to watch more of his films (Mubi currently has a small number of them)

Sonatine and Boiling Point are the other two stone cold classics with Kitano. I don't think either are currently in Mubi though.

Violent Cop, which is streaming, is decent. And I'm not familiar with the Outrage movies.

Thief

Master of None

03-11-24

Originally Posted by crumbsroom

According to JustWatch, Sonatine is available for rent only on AppleTV, but Boiling Point is available free on Tubi, Mubi, Kanopy, and a few others. At least that's what the app says.

Torgo

Mu-Tant

03-11-24

I've seen the first two Outrage movies. They're good, but not up to his standards. Think The Departed in comparison to Goodfellas and Mean Streets. Brother is also very good and I think you can rent it anywhere.

John-Connor

Registered User

03-11-24

The Hustler, The Man from Nowhere, Fireworks and La Haine are all favorites of mine from my first Top 250. Some I didn't realize were eligible and some had less Noir-ness than the ones that made my list. Very nice to see them appear though.

Infernal Affairs and The Departed are both solid for different reasons and would make a good pairing as a double-feature watch.

'Adios, Red Rock!'

Red Rock West is awesome and was on and off my list a couple times but eventually got cut. Glad it made the list!

SEEN 13/14
BALLOT 2/25

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Last edited by John-Connor; 03-11-24 at 04:43 PM.

stillmellow

Basic Non-B

03-11-24

Swing, and two more misses for me. I haven't seen either.

5/14 seen

0/14 in my top 25

cricket

Registered User

03-11-24

I watched Red Rock West back in the 90's, thought it solid but nothing special. Glad it showed though because to me it suits the genre properly.

Seen The Man From Nowhere twice-above average action film.

beelzebubble

Registered User

03-11-24

My Neo-Noir List
10. The Hustler (1961)
11. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
25. Swoon (1992)

I am surprised that some don't feel The Hustler is noir. I'm curious what your reasoning is. Regardless, its a great movie. I have only seen it once and yet it really sticks with me.

SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

03-11-24

I haven't seen Red Rock West.

I watched The Man From Nowhere for a HoF a while back. I like it, but it didn't make my ballot.

Originally Posted by SpelingError

The Man From Nowhere (2010) -

Overall, this is a solid action film. My opinion on it was slightly tinged by the awful dubbing in the version I watched (specifically in regards to the young girl), but fortunately, I was able to adjust to it after a while and, though I still would've preferred watching a non-dubbed version of the film, I found enough to enjoy about it.

To get it out of the way, yes, the action was definitely the main highlight for me. The various action scenes in the film were diverse and inventive enough so that the film didn't feel like it was repeating itself as it rolled along. The fight in the bathroom, the terrific window jump where the camera follows the protagonist out the window, or the final fight all had great choreography and I can see myself revisiting those scenes in the future. In fact, some moments were so jaw-dropping, I found myself rewinding the film on several different occasions to watch them again. Nowadays, it's rare for action scenes to impress me since I've seen so many of them, but this film was an exception to that.

As for the story, it's fine, I suppose, but I definitely think this is a case of action over story. A number of plot elements (mysterious loner with a criminal past, kidnapped young girl, tragic backstory, villainous side kick who's more skilled than the main villain) are clich�s which I've seen in other action films. For the most part, I didn't feel like the film was able to find a unique voice in tackling these plot elements for it to avoid these pitfalls. Of course, this isn't to say I disliked the story by any means. Again, I think it was fine. It just wasn't anything spectacular, in my opinion. If I rewatch the film, I'll likely skip to the second half where most of the action occurs.

Overall, in spite of my reservations towards the story, I did like this film quite a bit as I felt the action was strong enough to make up for the missteps in the narrative. I don't know if I'll watch this film from start to finish again, but I can definitely see myself rewatching the second half in the future.

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GulfportDoc

Registered User

03-11-24

I thought Red Rock West was a strong noir. I had it at #13.
Here's some commentary:

Red Rock West (1993)

This is a solid neo-noir set in present day Wyoming, with a little dark comedy and some Hitchcockian twists thrown in. It�s both directed and written by John Dahl (Unforgettable; Rounders)-- well known for his neo-noir work. DP Marc Reshovsky provides some very tasty photography. Composer William Olvis provides an expressive and moody score

After Michael Williams (Nicholas Cage) is discharged from the Marine Corps he drifts around looking for work. He�s rejected as a hire for an oil field worker due to a war injury to his leg. His wandering takes him to Red Rock, Wyoming. When he sits down at a bar, and the bartender, Wayne (J.T. Walsh), spots Williams� Texas license plates out front, the bartender mistakenly presumes that Williams is the hit man (Lyle from Texas) that he has hired to murder his wife. When the bartender plunks down one-half payment of the hit man�s fee, Williams sees the mistake, plays along, and accepts the money.

Instead, Williams goes to the man�s wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle), and informs her of her husband�s murder plot. Suzanne then offers Williams double the money to kill her husband. After that meeting Williams decides to leave town, but along the way he has an auto accident. When the sheriff shows up it turns out that he is the same man as Wayne the bartender who he met earlier. Wayne realizes the ruse, and wants to dispose of Williams. But Williams escapes on foot, and is eventually picked up by a motorist who turns out to be the real hit man-- Lyle from Texas (Dennis Hopper).

The two bad guys, the femme fatale, and Williams proceed to partake in a deadly square dance to get the cache of money that Wayne had stolen back east, and to do away with each other. It all comes to head when the quartet ends up at a remote graveyard to dig up the stolen money, leading to a satisfying finish.

Michael tries several times to get out of Red Rock, but keeps getting brought back for one reason or another. Being chased by the bad guys at one point, he jumps off of a building onto a departing semi truck to get out of town. But several miles later the truck driver (Dwight Yoakam) discovers him, only to order him out of the truck at gunpoint.

The casting was first rate. Cage is good at playing a guy thrown into a situation not entirely of his making, and in that way is a little reminiscent of his hapless character�s role in Raising Arizona. Boyle (Twin Peaks) makes for a convincing femme fatale. The inestimable J.T. Walsh is perfect as an unblinking double dealer. And Hopper couldn�t have been a better choice for a kooky but threatening hit man who�s going for all the marbles.

Doc�s rating: 8/10

PHOENIX74

I forgot the opening line.

03-12-24

88. Red Rock West - I felt this film had a lot of ideas, and there were some very neat twists and turns throughout most of it's runtime - which was nice and short. Nic Cage as the honest, friendly good man caught amongst a murderous conspiracy works out well - he's good for those kind of roles, as much as Dennis Hopper is good at playing murderous psychos like he does in this. J. T. Walsh is really good too - and often overlooked. Overall this is pretty much an old time film noir formula transplanted to a modern day crime drama, with the femme fatale and other elements all in place. I only saw it for the first time a little while ago when it was in the Neo Noir Hall of Fame - but I was glad to finally see it, after catching bits and pieces here and there for so long. Dwight Yoakam makes his first appearance in a feature film! One of his hits plays on the closing credits. A pretty good movie - not good enough for my list though. The ending felt a little unimaginative considering just how good the film had been to that point.

87. The Man From Nowhere - This is only the second film to show here I haven't heard of - and it feels I really should have. I perhaps have, but anyway. Never seen it, need to get onto it.

Seen : 9/14
Heard of : 12/14

No ballot action yet.

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Iroquois

Welcome to the human race...

03-12-24

no votes. both are fine.

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