Aug 18, 2011 — Stanley Kubrick’s labyrinthine 1956 heist flick The Killing—an exploded rethink of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle and eventual template for the narrative convolutions of Reservoir Dog—became an instant facet in the jewel that was film noir, even as it refracted...

Apr 2, 2017 — What defines noir acting? In her latest Dark Passages column, Imogen Sara Smith examines the stylistic variety in some of the genre’s most iconic male performances, including Burt Lancaster in The Killers and Ralph Meeker in Kiss Me Deadly.

Apr 22, 2016 — Writer Harold Schechter shares a list of five true-crime films that encapsulate the essence of fear—including collection favorites In Cold Blood, The Honeymoon Killers, and Badlands—in the Library of America’s biweekly Moviegoer column.

Jan 23, 2024 — Close contenders include Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie, and Maestro.

May 22, 2023 — Blending a tragic love story and a terrifying, slow-motion genocide, Killers has premiered out of competition in Cannes.

Mar 19, 2007 — In 1945 Arthur Fellig, known as Weegee, a canny and gifted tabloid newspaper photographer, did something unprecedented: he assembled some of his best shots, of corpses and fires and arrests and crowds and spectacles, and made them into a book,...

Oct 28, 2008 — Winner of a 2005 MacArthur Foundation Fellows Program genius grant, Jonathan Lethem is one of America's premier contemporary writers. His works include the novels The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, as well as a vast array of short stories...

Jonathan Lethem is the author of thirteen novels, including Chronic City and Brooklyn Crime Novel. His writings and commentaries on film include the monograph They Live; liner notes for releases of Robert Siodmak’s The Killers, Thom Andersen’s Red Hollywood, Orson...

Jul 31, 2017 — What is the defining characteristic of the femme fatale? Critic Imogen Sara Smith explores the range of this film noir archetype through a handful of classic performances.

Mar 22, 2017 — A tragedian at heart, Shirley Stoler found her Medea in the role of a glowering bandit on the run in Leonard Kastle’s seedy true-crime drama.