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The Movie Gourmet
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  • Overlooked Noir
    • 99 RIVER STREET: can he get off the canvas of life?
    • ACROSS THE BRIDGE: predicament after predicament, all of his own making
    • ANOTHER DAWN: tight escapes embedded in political critique
    • ACT OF VIOLENCE: stunned into terror and self-loathing
    • ASHES AND DIAMONDS: a killer wants to stop
    • THE BEAST MUST DIE: it’s all in the motive
    • THE BIG COMBO: toppling a sadist to steal his dame
    • THE BRIBE: ambiguity and double crosses amid the sweat
    • BLACK GRAVEL: too jaded for love?
    • THE BURGLAR: loyalty among thieves
    • THE BLACK VAMPIRE: bad guys and good guys all chase the child killer
    • CAGED: Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson in the prototype for Orange is the New Black
    • CASH ON DEMAND: film noir’s Christmas Carol
    • THE CRIMSON KIMONO: Sam Fuller and James Shigeta break ground
    • CRY DANGER: getting framed wasn’t the worst part
    • THE DARK CORNER: framed…again
    • DECOY: the MOST FATALE femme fatale
    • ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS: one murder is his alibi for another
    • GAMBLING HOUSE: ordinary except for the patter
    • THE GANGSTER: a seedy empire crumbles
    • GUILTY BYSTANDER: booze gets in the way of redemption
    • HE WALKED BY NIGHT: nerd hunt
    • HIS KIND OF WOMAN: he knows the deal is too good
    • HUMAN DESIRE: she is who she is
    • JOE MACBETH: the Scottish play in gangster Chicago
    • I WAKE UP SCREAMING: framed by a stalker
    • KILLER’S KISS: Stanley Kubrick presages neo-noir
    • KISS OF DEATH: trapped, and facing a giggling psycho
    • THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK: outbreak noir
    • THE LINEUP: cool killer, volcanic killer, careening thru San Francisco
    • THE LONG HAUL: moments from an escape
    • THE MAN WHO CHEATED HIMSELF: he shoulda known better
    • THE MIDNIGHT STORY: a North Beach whodunit
    • MURDER, MY SWEET: hardboiled detective as piñata
    • THE NARROW MARGIN: murderous hide and go seek on a train
    • NIGHT AND THE CITY: he doesn’t know that he’s the sucker
    • NIGHT FALLS: can he skip out on EVERY woman he has mistreated?
    • NIGHTFALL: hunting loot while on the run
    • PAID TO KILL: paying for a murder and then changing your mind
    • PANIC IN THE STREETS: a man hunt on the down low
    • THE PHENIX CITY STORY: ripped from the headlines
    • Hugo Haas and PICKUP: an old fool and his young blonde…
    • PITFALL: a noir thriller without a sap or a femme fatale
    • THE PROWLER: Van Heflin takes a dark turn
    • PUSHOVER: stealing the girl from the crook and the loot from the cops
    • RAW DEAL: Ménage à noir
    • RAZZIA: Gabin as gangster consultant
    • RIDE THE PINK HORSE: disillusioned in New Mexico
    • SALON MEXICO: a Mexico City time capsule
    • THE SET-UP: when the loser surprises
    • STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR: Nicholas Musaraca and the beginning of film noir
    • SUDDEN FEAR: twelve minutes of movie perfection
    • LOS TALLOS AMARGOS (THE BITTER STEMS): his nemesis is within him
    • THREE STRANGERS: some motives are darker than others
    • THE TURNING POINT: justice comes at a high price
    • TWILIGHT: concentrated passion, obsession and betrayal – all ready to explode
    • VIOLENT SATURDAY: desert noir in De Luxe color
    • WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS: backstabbing in the boardroom in a race to find the killer
    • WITNESS TO MURDER: can she believe her own eyes?
    • WOMAN ON THE RUN: a sassy gal in 1950 San Francisco
  • Overlooked Neo-noir
    • ALL NIGHT LONG: Othello in the jazz world
    • …AND THE FIFTH HORSEMAN IS FEAR: a masterpiece exposé of political oppression
    • THE AMERICAN FRIEND: Dennis Hopper and Robby Müller make things weird
    • THE AURA: smart enough to plan the perfect crime, but is that enough?
    • BLAST OF SILENCE: a cauldron of seething hatred
    • BRICK: hardboiled neo-noir in high school
    • CARLITO’S WAY – Pacino illuminates another gangster epic
    • CHARLEY VARRICK: his wits vs. the mob
    • A COLT IS MY PASSPORT: a yakuza spaghetti western
    • CUTTER’S WAY – sometimes there really is a conspiracy
    • A DARK, DARK MAN: rounding up the usual suspects in Kazakhstan
    • DOSE OF REALITY:  an ending that no one will see coming
    • ELENA – a vividly dark peek into contemporary Russia
    • FRANK & LOLA: bad girl or troubled girl?
    • THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE: when all the choices are bad
    • THE GIFT: three people revealed
    • GUMSHOE: a noir fan plays detective
    • HARD EIGHT – the indie neo-noir that launched careers
    • IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH: undeterred, even by heartbreak
    • KILLER JOE: you sure ain’t gonna be bored
    • THE LAST LULLABY: backing out of a contract hit
    • LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE (SECOND WIND): a criminal and a cop, both formidable
    • THE LITTLE THINGS: worth it for Denzel
    • MEMORIES OF MURDER: one of the great serial killer movies
    • MYSTERY ROAD and GOLDSTONE: indigenous outback neo-noir
    • ONE FALSE MOVE: the inevitable confrontation with America’s original sin
    • THE OUTFIT: Robert Duvall, Karen Black and Joe Don Baker on the loose in the 70s
    • PALE FLOWER: bracing neo-noir
    • SAINT JACK: Gazzara, Bogdanovich and Corman take on the Vietnam War
    • THE SICILIAN CLAN: Gabin, Delon and Ventura
    • THE SNIPER: lethal mommy issues
    • THE STRANGLER: momma’s boy hunts women, then fondles dolls
    • TAKE AIM AT THE POLICE VAN: wild title, wild movie
    • TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.: obsession without an iota of redemption
    • THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY: dark hearts in sunny Greece
    • VICTORIA: a thrill ride filmed in one shot
    • THE WHISTLERS: walking a tightrope of treachery
    • THE WOMAN CHASER: a (very, very) darkly funny once-lost film
    • THE YAZUKA: an older Mitchum, just as cool
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SFFILM 2025

Photo caption: Marina Fois in MAGMA. Courtesy of SFFILM.

FEATURE COVERAGE

  • First look at the 2025 SFFILM Festival
  • SFFILM Festival: three international gems

SELECTED SFFILM FILMS

  • Magma
  • Triumph
  • Rains over Babel

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