The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

70's Hackman rules and Night Moves made my ballot

The Nice Guys may as well be called The Suck Guys as far as I'm concerned.

Love Pulp Fiction and Lebowski but don't view either as a fit for this countdown.

1. Killer Joe (#66)
3. Gone Baby Gone (#64)
4. The Player (#47)
9. Mona Lisa (#78)
11. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (#62)
12. Body Double (#69)
15. The Driver (#79)
17. Night Moves (#40)
21. Manhunter (#77)
24. Bound (#59)

Why did I consider Lebowski Noir and not Pulp? Got me, but I am sure I had a reason at the time. Anyway, both rock and are among my faves ever. Lebowski was my 7 for this list.

__________________
Letterboxd

Well, the eligibility rules are what they are, so I can’t argue with that, but let’s say of the thousand influences you can find in Kill Bill, noir is so far down the list that we might as well have allowed every black & white movie released since 1960. And that’s all I’ll say on that.

__________________
I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

I've seen both of today's movies but for the sake of world peace and brotherly love, I won't comment on them

I love both of these films. All-time faves. Top 50 material. Endlessly rewatchable. Not on my neo noir list though. When I first started making my list I went through and listed (almost) everything that would qualify, and sorted by personal rating. But then I took a second look and started removing a bunch that even though they qualified it didn't feel right to me at the time. See ya Lebowski. So long Pulpy.

That said I feel The Big Lebowski was the one I had the most trouble with because it plays on noir themes and plots in such a fun way. It deserves to be here. And while I was convinced the same at the time I figured enough people were voting for it and I wanted to give another Coen film my money.

People asking about other Coen films to make it? Surely Miller's Crossing and Blood Simple will rank high. Maybe The Man Who Wasn't There makes it too. Probably Fargo...which I will heap praise on like these other two nineties classics that made the cut...but also exclaimed when making my final list: "I choose not to vote for it!" Anyway at least three more Coen films.

__________________
"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I agree with 50% of your post

__________________

I'm shocked, shocked, that I haven't got Pulp Fiction or The Big Lewbowski on my ballot - which in both cases means I did not consider them for the countdown. Pulp Fiction I simply didn't connect with neo noir, and Lebowski was too much of a comedy to come to mind when thinking of possible films to vote for. For some reason I can't fit comedies into Neo Noir-inclusive categories.

40. Night Moves - Haven't seen it.

39. The Nice Guys - I've seen this, and I think it's fine. I don't have so much love for it that I'd be pushing it forward amongst my favourite films though, so it quickly gets forgotten. I'd be okay with watching it again if I had to - it's that kind of okay. Gosling once again got to show he's versatile enough for comedic roles after showing such signs appearing in the winsome Lars and the Real Girl.

38. The Big Lebowski - One of my all-time favourite films, but it's not on my ballot. It's just a strange interpretation thing, because obviously this film has a very up-front film noir-inspired narrative and style. I just didn't think of it because when thinking of neo noir I always think about serious films, and this is a comedy. I mean, noir=dark, and although there are dark comedies out there (you could argue this is one) I never think of a comedy as noir.

37. Pulp Fiction - Another of my all-time favourite films - and another that's not on my ballot. It didn't stand out to me as neo noir, and as such it never came to mind while I compiled my list. I'm not saying it's definitely not - I'm just saying it's a bit hazy when it comes to Pulp Fiction. I wonder what other unexpected surprises I'm in for!

Seen : 40/64

__________________

Correct. I was not thrilled with my ballot and felt like it was off. Partly because my mind got wiped and I forgot just about every classic neo-noirs of the 70s that seem quintessential neo-noirs (with only one exception I consciously omitted). And googling lists of greatest neo-noirs... basically looks a lot like what we're getting in this countdown. I didn't consider just looking for random letterboxd lists labeled neo-noir (though I also just threw my ballot together at the last minute). I've got a lot of questionable entries on it.

I have a lot of Coens' movies on my ballot, but not The Big Lebowski, mainly because it's one other people love a lot more than me, always leaving me in a weird space of how I feel about it, like, I should like it more (and at a high level, I don't know why I don't. It has all the elements of a movie that should work).


Pulp Fiction - one I never considered, but compared to Kill Bill, it's riffing off of a lot of French New Wave influences, some of which seemed foundational for neo-noir, so it seems like a legit one to consider. It's also just a movie that I find myself enjoying rather than loving (or hating, which is a clashing phenomenon I experienced with it ever since its release, in contrast to other (young-ish) people who were just quickly declaring it one of the greatest movies of all time). So, no vote.

ETA: one pattern I'm noticing with these two and the one afore-mentioned quintessential neo-noir from the 70s that I omitted from my ballot, one way for me to omit a movie is if I simply enjoyed it and I get the strong sense other people considered it one of the greatest movies of all time. Just saying it now for when we get to its reveal in the top 5, 3, 1(?)-spot.