70 articles
Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves (อินวิซิเบิล เวฟส์; 보이지 않는 물결) is a 2006 Pen-ek Ratanaruang psychological thriller starring Tadanobu Asano and Kang Hye-jeong, shot by Christopher Doyle, in Berlin Competition 2006 and first Thai film there in 25 years.
Lady Vengeance (친절한 금자씨)
Lady Vengeance (친절한 금자씨) is Park Chan-wook's 2005 South Korean thriller, the final film of his Vengeance Trilogy, starring Lee Young-ae as Lee Geum-ja, wrongfully imprisoned 13 years, who takes revenge on Mr. Baek (Choi Min-sik); it won the Little Golden Lion at Venice.
Limbo (2021 film)
Limbo is a 2021 Hong Kong crime thriller and neo-noir directed by Soi Cheang, starring Gordon Lam, Mason Lee, and Cya Liu, adapted from Lei Mi's novel Wisdom Tooth.
Lost Highway (film)
Lost Highway is a 1997 neo-noir thriller directed by David Lynch and co-written with Barry Gifford, starring Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, and Robert Blake, about a jazz musician accused of murdering his wife and a looping double identity.
Malice (1993 film)
Malice is a 1993 American thriller directed by Harold Becker and written by Aaron Sorkin, Scott Frank, and Jonas McCord, starring Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, and Bill Pullman.
Memento (film)
Memento (2000), Christopher Nolan's neo-noir thriller based on Jonathan Nolan's story "Memento Mori," stars Guy Pearce as amnesiac Leonard Shelby; its reverse-running color narrative, $5 million budget, and Oscar-nominated screenplay made Nolan's breakthrough.
Mother (2009 film)
Mother (마더, Madeo) is Bong Joon-ho's 2009 South Korean thriller starring Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin, about a mother investigating her disabled son's murder accusation; Cannes Un Certain Regard premiere and Korea's 82nd Academy Awards submission.
Motherless Brooklyn
Motherless Brooklyn: Jonathan Lethem's 1999 National Book Critics Circle Award-winning detective novel about Lionel Essrog, a Tourette-affected orphan gumshoe, and Edward Norton's 2019 neo-noir film adaptation, which resets the story to 1950s New York against a Robert Moses-like master builder, Moses Randolph.
Night Train (夜车)
Night Train (夜车, Ye che) is Diao Yinan's 2007 Chinese drama, premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard, starring Liu Dan as a bailiff drawn to the widower of a woman she executed; distinct from Yim Ho's 1980 Hong Kong film The Happenings.
Nightcrawler (film)
Nightcrawler (2014) is Dan Gilroy's directorial debut thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, a Los Angeles stringer filming night crime scenes for TV news; Oscar-nominated screenplay, 95% Rotten Tomatoes.
Nightmare Alley (2021 film)
Nightmare Alley (2021) is Guillermo del Toro's noir psychological thriller, co-written with Kim Morgan from William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel, starring Bradley Cooper as carnival mentalist-turned-conman Stanton Carlisle; second adaptation after the 1947 film, Best Picture nominee, 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.
No Habrá Paz para los Malvados
No habrá paz para los malvados (No Rest for the Wicked) is Enrique Urbizu's 2011 Spanish noir thriller starring José Coronado as corrupt inspector Santos Trinidad; it won six Goya awards including Best Film.
Nocturnal Animals
Nocturnal Animals (2016) is a thriller directed by Tom Ford, adapted from Austin Wright's novel Tony and Susan, starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal; released by Focus Features November 18, 2016, it won Aaron Taylor-Johnson a Golden Globe.
On the Job
On the Job is a 2013 Philippine neo-noir crime thriller by Erik Matti, premiering at Cannes Directors' Fortnight, about prison hitmen furloughed for political assassinations; extended as On the Job: The Missing 8 (Venice 2021) and an HBO Go series.
One False Move
Directed by Carl Franklin, One False Move (1992) is a highly acclaimed crime drama about three Los Angeles drug dealers who seek refuge in a small Arkansas town.
Phoenix (2014 film)
Phoenix (2014) is Christian Petzold's German drama, also known by its original German title Phoenix, in which Nina Hoss plays Auschwitz survivor Nelly Lenz, unrecognized by husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), who asks her to impersonate herself; based on Monteilhet's Le retour des cendres, co-written with Harun Farocki, premiered at Toronto 2014.
Purple Butterfly (パープル・バタフライ)
Purple Butterfly (紫蝴蝶, Zi hudie) is Lou Ye's 2003 China-France romantic spy drama starring Zhang Ziyi, Toru Nakamura, and Liu Ye, set in 1931 occupied Shanghai, in competition at the 56th Cannes Film Festival.
Red Rock West
Red Rock West (1993) is a neo-noir thriller directed by John Dahl, starring Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle, and J.T. Walsh; a drifter mistaken for a hitman in a Wyoming town, released via HBO before a Roxie Theater rescue.
Reminiscence (2021 film)
Reminiscence is a 2021 American science fiction mystery thriller written and directed by Lisa Joy, starring Hugh Jackman as a private investigator who relives clients' memories in a sunken Miami.
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs (1992) is Quentin Tarantino's debut crime thriller about a jewelry heist gone wrong, premiered at Sundance on 21 January 1992, notable for never showing the heist and its ear-cutting torture scene.
Romeo Is Bleeding
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) is a Peter Medak neo-noir crime film, written by Hilary Henkin, starring Gary Oldman as a corrupt cop and Lena Olin as a Russian hitwoman; it grossed $3.3M and scored 28% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Shutter Island (film)
Shutter Island is a 2010 Martin Scorsese psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a U.S. marshal investigating a 1954 disappearance at a remote island hospital for the criminally insane.
Suzhou River (苏州河)
Suzhou River (苏州河, Suzhou he) is Lou Ye's 2000 Shanghai romantic drama starring Zhou Xun and Jia Hongsheng; it won Rotterdam's Tiger Award, was banned in mainland China, and is a Sixth Generation classic.
The American Friend
The American Friend (Der amerikanische Freund) is Wim Wenders's 1977 West German-French neo-noir, adapted from Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game, starring Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as a dying framer coerced into murder.
The Aura
The Aura (El aura) is Fabián Bielinsky's 2005 Argentine neo-noir heist thriller starring Ricardo Darín as an epileptic taxidermist who takes over a dead man's armored-car robbery plan in Patagonia; his final film, an Oscar submission and multi-award winner.
The Big Sleep (1978 film)
The Big Sleep (1978) is Michael Winner's neo-noir remake of Raymond Chandler's novel, starring Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, relocated from Los Angeles to London, with James Stewart and Sarah Miles; critically panned.
The Black Dahlia (film)
The Black Dahlia (2006) is Brian De Palma's neo-noir thriller adapted from James Ellroy's 1987 novel about the unsolved 1947 Elizabeth Short murder, starring Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, and Hilary Swank; it opened Venice 2006 and was a critical and commercial disappointment.
The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element) is Lars von Trier's 1984 Danish debut feature, first of his Europa trilogy: a hypnotized ex-detective relives a serial-killer case in a yellow-tinted, post-apocalyptic Europe; Grand Prix de la CST, Cannes 1984.
The Good German
The Good German (2006), German title In den Ruinen von Berlin, is Steven Soderbergh's black-and-white film noir adaptation of Joseph Kanon's novel, starring George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire in July 1945 Berlin during the Potsdam Conference; R, 105 min, Warner Bros, released December 15, 2006.
The Longest Nite (暗花)
The Longest Nite (暗花) is a 1998 Hong Kong crime thriller directed by Patrick Yau and starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Lau Ching-wan, set in Macau.