Noir comes from the French word meaning “dark” and it generally refers to a type of crime melodrama that often includes hard-boiled detectives, beguiling femme fatales, taboo topics, and violence. In order to tell the story flashbacks, voice-overs, as well as chiaroscuro cinematography are often used. The tentative period of film-noir is often said to be from 1941 to 1958 but none of things are set in stone. To put it simply film-noir has a cynical tone that often reveals the world’s underbelly. A film may not have all of these parameters and it can still be considered noir. Although many people say the true noir period is over, movies still come out with similar themes or qualities and are thus christened neo-noir. In the following weeks I am looking forward to releasing reviews on some of my favorite films in the genre. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. After all, this is the stuff that dreams are made of.