she hate me is a 2004 independent comedy-drama film directed by spike lee and starring anthony mackie , kerry washington , ellen barkin , monica bellucci , brian dennehy , woody harrelson , bai ling and john turturro .

the film garnered controversy , and , as with many of lee 's films , touches on comedy , drama , and politics .

unlike many prior works , spike lee does not have an acting credit in this film .

the film was shot mostly on location in new york city , including each of the city 's five boroughs .

it was nominated for various awards ( see below ) , but did not win .

she hate me was released in july 2004 and grossed almost half a million dollars at the box office in limited release , with overall revenues of around $ 1.5 million .

the shooting budget was estimated at $ 8 million .

she hate me

she hate me is a 2004 comedy - drama film directed by spike lee .
well she hate me a lot and i know why she hates me because i am failure . i want to escape .
she hate me
is just as tongue - tied as its ridiculous title .
featured in she hate me : behind the scenes ( 2005 ) . see more »
title drop : armstrong reveals that he nicknamed fatima
she hate me
after their breakup .
if you want to answer the questions ,
who starred in the movie she hate me ?
and
what is the full cast list of she hate me ?
then this page has got you covered .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing she hate me near you .
this cast list of who was in she hate me includes both lead and minor roles . ( 25 items )
she hate me can ' t decide if it wants to be a commentary on corporate greed or a sex farce .
she hate me cast list , listed alphabetically with photos when available . this list of she hate me actors includes any she hate me actresses and all other actors from the film . you can view additional information about each she hate me actor on this list , such as when and where they were born . to find out more about a particular actor or actress , click on their name and you ' ll be taken to page with even more details about their acting career . the cast members of she hate me have been in many other movies , so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .
spike lee ' s she hate me is about as awful as a film can be without being the ultimate awful , which is boring .
tighter focus would have incited the fury that she hate me ' s ambition demands . it ' s left saying too much but not enough .
azalea continued :
people already hate me enough . i do not need to be hated any more .
i’ll definitely keep that idea of doing more of what they hate in mind .
the best way to silence the haters is to do more of what they hate .
my issue is with my big sister . for years we’ve had a bad relationship . but as we’ve grown older it’s got worse . she constantly putting me down , bullying me , if i speak up im bad . she’s done much over the years that i can no longer forgive her . she likes to keep me out in the cold , gang up on to me and disrespect me . she is truly an awful person . she thinks she’s right all the time , not prepared to listen to others . she has no respect towards me and i’m the mug who always helps her out . but i can’t forgive get any more . i don’t like telling her anything ad she likes to sabotage everything . she’s become spiteful , resentful and full of hate towards me . she’s so used to getting awsy with what she does to her it’s normal . but i can no longer forgive her . she’s enjoyed talking about me to everyone then behaves as if she hasnt . she keeps telling me i’m fat , i feel so inhibited to go out because she makes digs . i feel so unappreciated . she’s never supported me with anything in life . it’s always me helping her .
your writing really resonated with me . criticism is self - hate turned outward and i absolutely love your advice to give your haters more of what they hate ! that is exactly what i will do ! thank you .
but isn ' t that better than the way most films answer more questions than they raise ?
she hate me
invites anger and analysis about the stereotypes it appears to celebrate ; a film that attacked those stereotypes would inspire yawns . think what you want on an politically correct level , but concede that
she hate me
is audacious and recklessly risky .
my grandparents gave me my first bottle in the hospital . they brought me home , and treated me as their daughter . four years later , they adopted me .
she cared for you and that’s the only reason she tried to protect you all this while .
i can totally relate because my grandmother is like this mainly to me and secondary to me . these people are some dumb , narcissistic , superficial , and honestly i hate them .
party on indeed , betsy ! like they say , “let the haters hate . ” if being “too positive” is the issue , then by all means keep giving them more of what they hate !
in an interview about the book ( available here ) , moyes was asked whether she knew a quadriplegic before she wrote the book . she replied :
give them more of what they hate , which is coincidentally , more of what your vips love .
giving haters more of what they hate is genius . i never thought about it that way before .
i have horrible sister . she never make me feel connection as sisters . i tried hard to be close to her unfortunately she never appreciate it . she uses me when she needs me and left me alone when i needed her most . i tried to cut her off and to move on with my life but i couldn’t do it some how some reason i want her to keep as a sister and when she treats me badly i i regret why i allow her to be in my life
my mother brought me up calling me stupid a peice of s * * * * * she allowed older sister to beat the h * * put of me and told me to shut up she has pmt . . she allowed brother to rape and abuse me . . . it was all my fault apprently the day she spat on me kicked me into a ball was end i still long for a mum and don ' t understand why i was hated and abused . . . people need pet licences but anyone can have kid . . crazy
sometimes it gets so bad that i just avoid her a few days . i wish we didn´t live so close . i feel hate , which bothers me , because your not supposed to hate your mother . i´ve even thought about killing myself to punish her…isn´t that awful .
incidentally , i’m also the closest person to her . the culture she lives in is not friendly at all , and shes also very reserved ( i’m much more outgoing ) so she has no real friends and only talks to the housekeepers . she can only tell meaningful things to me , which she does over the phone . she also controls the phone schedule so i cant call her more or less than she wants or she lashes out .
in
she hate me
( 2004 ) , a successful young executive ( anthony mackie ) facing a financial crisis finds a lucrative calling : becoming a sperm donor to lesbians . price : $ 10 , 000 .
the reason i am the happy person i am today is because of the maternal love of a a widowed neighbor . she was there for me and gave me the gift of acceptance . she told me my life had meaning and i deserved to be happy . she was my best friend , role model , and more . she wasn’t famous in life but was one person who didn’t have to care but did . she was the most important person in the world to me .
anyway , i’m glad to see that you are saying that there’s nothing wrong with us ourselves feeling upset and sometimes not being able to hide our own hurt . i knew this of course theoretically but she is so forceful that she can half convince me and also convince all the people around her that the problem is me , and not her ( the poor older victim ) . she has actually managed to turn a few people against me this way who never had the chance to get to know me or even meet me themselves , so that the time she disappeared for nearly 2 years and i was so worried about her ( she has injuries ) that i called up someone near her to tell me if she were okay , he lashed out at me himself and told me all the garbage she had convinced him about me , even though he’s only ever said “hi” to me a couple of times in the past and doesn’t know me at all .
lou seems to rub her nose a lot . then later says she rubs it when she lies . was she lying when she said she enjoyed the classical music concert then ? that doesn’t make sense and is an irrelevant detail unless it is bring used as a plot device to show she’s lying . and she doesn’t seem to be lying about enjoying the concert . so why bother to put that detail in ?
their hate has nothing to do with how they feel about you , it’s a reflection about how they feel about themselves .
but , in chinese culture , if i do not go to meet with them in this “family gathering . ” which means i do not give them “the face” ; they may hate me or cause me problems in the future ?
i’m only 14 and yet my mom is very very very mean to me . she acts crazily when imake a little mistake nod she makes me panic i have low self esteem nd on top of that when i need a shoulder to cry on no one is there for me i feel lonely nd scared my family is soooo mean to me
this really made no difference to me . my parents were the people raising me , not the people who gave birth to me . it was just a fact .
my brother is several years younger than me . everything he does is “right” . she even once told me that all i do is bad and all he does is good . i am over 50 now and nothing has changed . i live next door to her which makes matters worse . i see her every day . when she wants something she will act nice . if i let her down she is the “wicked witch next door” ! example , “doris help me pull out weeds in the garden . ” “no . not today mom , i have some errands to run . ” she won´t talk to me for two days . she doesn´t like being alone and she hates going on vacation alone with my dad . for 15 years straight my husband and children went on vacation with my mother and father , just to keep her satisfied . one year , we did go alone without her and my dad and she had a fit . she does not remember this . she doesn´t remember a lot of things she did to me . she will only stuff my ears full of all the good things she did .
she was amazing . she laughed at all my jokes ; she even helped me stand up against the bullies . my mom told me to simply ignore them because they were just jealous . although she was probably right , there was no other comforting offered . just a lot of physical hugs and kisses ( on the mouth ) , which i had come to despise .
she only loved you . she was always protective of you that’s the reason why she would always check about garbage and all . she really cared about you . she was emotional that’s why she didn’t look rational to you . you have always done things your way . whatever you wanted to do you did , you had many broken relationships with which you are ok , but blaming your mother .
my father has alzheimer’s , but still knows who i am and is always happy to see me . she now won’t let me speak to him on the phone or visit him .
i’m tired , just so tired of my mom not letting me do anything . like she won’t even let me use a razor to shave my legs as she so scared i’d cut myself . she won’t let me talk to boys , won’t let me have a license , if i try and make friends she has to make it look obvious that she doesn’t want me to talk to them and she’ll say “we’re busy we need to go” it makes me so frustrated . i remember one time i wanted to sleep over someone’s house , this was farely recent and they called her to say i’m staying over and my mom has the nerve to say “yeah , she won’t want to do that” when i did . this person said i was keen on sleeping over and my mom was shocked . it’s like she expects me to be this anxious person who won’t want to do anything away from her . like i want to do things sometimes away from her and explore things . i don’t know why my mom expects me or thinks i’m an anxious person like she is . she thinks i’m just like her when i’m not . i have my own personality and my own interests . i’m just fed up with it . also she tries to guilt me out of something or make me scared not to do something she afraid of me doing or doesn’t want me to do . it took me so long to realise that and when i did and confronted her on it she denied it obviously and tried to again say all the reasons why we shouldn’t get or do something . i don’t know why she does this and i’m to the point i just want to leave and do what i want to do .
it was the car she gifted you , and you wanted to accuse her of stealing the car after she gave you . she gave it to you for your better grades , for your better future .
i was smart , i knew once she put the car in my name she couldn ' t take it from me . i was 18 , and if she did take it , i could report it stolen . getting the car in my name changed me , although i didn ' t realize it at the time .
hi i need some advice . i currently live with my mom because of some financial issues , but it is a nightmare . i’m 24 years old and a i have a 4 year old son , which my husband and i adore and do everything we can do dor him . i have problems with my mom , because she constanstly tells me i shouldn’t have any more kids , i don’t take care of him right . it hurts me so much , i try so hard sometimes not to say anything back but i get so angry . i don’t want to have a bad relationship with my mom but i hate that i’m always angry and cry in my room like a child because of the horrible things she tells me . she does help me at all when it comes to disciplineing my child she makes it worse . she gets him out of timeout when he is in trouble because she sais she is the grandma and what she goes . i don’t know what to do anymore . i have tries talking to her and she doeant take me seriously , her sisters have talked to her and she dismisses what they say . please help me with some advice .
my mom is so controlling of my life , she has to tell me what i can and can’t say , what i can and can’t do and even who she approves of me to see . she’s also extremely overprotective of me and i absolutely despise it . if she’s not around me and i’m around other people she expects them to care for me as if they were caring for a 2 - 3 year old . she demands them to watch me like a hawk , and is offended when they don’t . “they should care for you properly” she’s acting like i’m a young child , when i’m not . she also portrays me to be this timid crybaby type of person who can’t survive a day without her . whereas i’m an outgoing pretty confident type of person . she has told people that i don’t understand things and portrays me to be this incompetent dumb person , when she knows very well i’m not like that at all . she also has people believing that i can’t go to a place i want to go to and every time i tell her about it or say it would be nice to go there she gets so angry and says “don’t let anyone know about this” it’s like i have to keep this secret and i don’t want to , i shouldn’t have to hide things that make me happy . i’m so tired of this . i feel suffocated almost and tied down . its my life at the end of the day , not hers . but she’s making my life all about her and what she wants for me . she wants to control my entire life and i just really don’t want to be around her anymore .
they have given me grief all my life , they will never ever talk to me again . my sisters and brother refuse to have anything to do with me and my children .
my friend with the difficult father ultimately decided she could only spend an hour or so with him every few months . she realized she could not include him in family events or have him interact with her children . she had to create very strict personal and emotional boundaries with him .
6 ) . it is all about me – always ! my children are just inferior imitations of their mother and me anyways .
mom admitted she mistreated me , but excused herself with ,
i was lucky to survive my childhood .
she still hasn ' t called , hasn ' t visited . it ' s up to her .
azam mirza , 24 , a muslim from manchester , attended the vigil with a homemade placard that read , “hate no one . love everyone . ”
“that’s so much bull , ” davis retorted after hearing what crawford said , according to bette and joan : the divine feud by shaun considine . “when miss crawford wasn’t nominated , she immediately got herself booked on the oscar show to present the best director award . then she flew to new york and deliberately campaigned against me . she told people not to vote for me . she also called up the other nominees and told them she would accept their statue if they couldn’t show up at the ceremonies . ”
hi shola this is how i’ve felt since school and now as an adult i often wonder why i let haters hate me for the person i’m not ( the front i show them ) rather than the real me and my real talents . this post just sums me up and i just can’t push myself enough to do one of the things that makes me happy because i’m to scared of being judged ! baffling !
thank you for sharing ! i thought i was the only one going through this . i still don ' t know what to do as my dad died and my mother is not well anymore . however she is still very controlling . i am divorced and live with her to help take care of her but it seems i can ' t do anything right . she also doesn ' t allow me to have a live of my own . it ' s just work and back home for me . she goes with me to do errands and when ever i am invited somewhere she finds a reason for me not to go . often claiming theres housework to do or just telling me no i cannot go n putting down my friends . even her own family and friends have noticed this and when they tell her i need time for my self she claims they are jealous or trying to lead me astray . i am fed up yet i feel obligated to her because she worked hard to get me through school n provide for me and bc she 3 the only parent i hv left .
at one point , she showed me all the months i had “missed . ” on every one , she wrote something like “please god , don’t let it be so” in large red letters at the bottom of the month .
ditto . took me awhile to accept this fact though . i only have 1 sister so i think that’s why i tolerated her abuse all these years . she’s older than me , but i’m the responsible one . i work , i own my own home , etc . she’s dysfunctional in every aspect of life . she’s an unemployed alcoholic who blames everyone for her problems .
thank you i really needed to hear this . i am 55 and i really hate my mother . she remarried 6 mos after my wonderful father passed away as a kid i was overwhelmed with a step father and 4 step siblings , then they had one together . i am the only child left from her ” love of her life” who was my father , but if he was how could she marry so quickly ? i hate her so much and all her attention goes to ‘their child’ and yet she says outloud she does not love her husband nor loves his kids…she constantly makes desions that include them not me . how do you deal with this , they are 88 and 91 his kids did squat for years until they got sicker and for the last 15 yrs its been me who has been there for both of them whether i like him or not . i do it for my mom . is it wrong for me to not want to see nor talk to her anymore ? she is totally abusive verbally and never wants to talk about anything she just hangs up so talking is not the answer… . he hates me , she hates his kids who have no idea as they all live out of the area .
it seemed to me that she knew that would be hurtful arrangements and assumed that i would participate in the very hurtful arrangements . i said i love her and respect her right to make her own decisions , but that i wasn’t consulted about the plans she announced , and that she should respect my right to not participate in plans that she knows would be painful for me . that was it—a big email from her saying how i was refusing to see her and that her dad is understanding and wouldn’t do that . ( yet she once told me that he’d tell her to come in ( from four hours away ) and not see me - that she could do it the next time she came in . and that she should see only one parent each time she visits — which , by the way , may be a total of twice a year . and that if she insisted on trying to see both parents when she was in town , he wanted it 50 - 50 . ) ex is now also apparently driving to see her once a month - to help her around the house . big change from his own house–there are stories .
the last half of my freshman year , my mom told me if i was good , and brought up my gpa , she ' d put the car in my name and let me drive it my sophomore year .
in a tweet after the concert , she expressed her sorrow for the victims .
iggy azalea has claimed that she is glad she didn ' t win the grammy award for best rap album this year as it would only fuel her haters .
the group of the moment all about she came down to the . . .
ten minutes into she hate me i knew it was a bad film , 20 minutes in i knew it was offensively - - to its audience - - poor , 30 minutes in i began to wonder how it was that the producers hadn ' t pulled the plug on it when they saw the rushes .
i know that this doughter is steeling money & her father s house away from her father just too get the money she wants too divorce her great husbend & fley the state ! i know what she has in mind but her own father s too blind too see what she rely is doing . she did something bad years ago but her own father dosnt care what she dose he thinks she’s the queen of his own house but he can’t see what she rely is . i think she rely is trying too chet her own father too sine pepers over too her soo she can chet him out of his own money but he can’t see that ! his wife say don’t do it pete that’s his name his doughter is ona !
from its early image of a $ 3 bill bearing the smiling visage of george w . bush and an enron watermark , “she hate me , ” which was co - written by lee and actor - playwright michael genet , announces it’s as much a movie of the moment as the political docus presently flooding forth .
it’s hard for me to convey how much i hate jojo moyes’ supposedly romantic novel me before you , and dread the movie that is due out later this year . it is the story of a romance between a wealthy play boy become quadriplegic and his carer , although it’s a romance with a twist .
if i had kids , my kids would hate me ,
winfrey added .
they would have ended up on the equivalent of the ' oprah ' show talking about me ; because something [ in my life ] would have had to suffer and it would ' ve probably been them .
tanya : i’m disabled through severe me and a wheelchair user , and was surprised when people went out of their way to recommend this book to me . i mean , what message is that sending me ? ?
most recently my niece was married and although they were both looking at my social media , really stalking no invitation was extended . this was the final hurt . i confronted my sister - in - law at the end of the conversation via email . she accused me of threatening her family and that she was going to contact a lawyer . i spoke of my grievance that she had never allowed me to develope a relationship with my nieces . and confronted her that she was stalking me on social media and since my brother will not even return my once a year call on his birthday that she is crossing the line .
a scabrous , provocative and often funny social satire about the american dream , spike lee’s flawed but fascinating “she hate me” addresses everything from corporate malfeasance to the african aids epidemic , barely catching its breath in - between . yet the frenetic enterprise , while undeniably overextended , reps a more successful venture into darkly comedic waters than lee’s “bamboozled . ” alas , while lee’s films often spark controversy , that rarely equates to good box office ( his highest - grossing fiction pic of the last decade , 1998’s “he got game , ” topped out at $ 21 million domestically ) and the challenging “she hate me” seems unlikely to reverse the trend .
i am a positive person , but my hater is my sister who my parents and i have helped during her marriage and raising her children . her husband went to jail for white collar crime . she did not go to work and everyone sent her money . she finally did go to work , and i was always there for her even though her husband had affairs . she remained with him . when my father was approaching death , he said , “your sister doesn’t love you . ” it was very difficult for him to tell me this but very important . she took things from me . then she told terrible stories about me . horrible stories – tried to turn her sons against me . she tried to turn my own mother against me , but that worked against her . at the time of both of my parents’ deaths , her relationship with them was very bad . now i have tried to call her but she will usually start yelling at me for no logical reason . the last time i called she called me the devil because although i had forgiven them , i needed to work with them to rebuild trust to have a relationship . her son is still not friendly with me because of something horrible she claimed i did but was supposed to tell him that i didn’t do . i believe in being positive and know that she is my sister , but i am much healthier when i have i no contact with someone who i believe to have problems which have nothing to do with me . the hatred she had for her husband was transferred to her son for several years and then it was transferred to me .
i have tried and tried to speak to them but they refuse , calling me a fantasist , liar . telling me i am fat etc .
i knew i wasn’t pregnant , i didn’t lose my virginity until i was 20 ! but , she didn’t believe me . it was this kind of behavior that made me avoid going to my mother with any type of problem .
scabrous , provocative and often funny social satire about the american dream , spike lee ' s flawed but fascinating
she hate me
addresses everything from corporate malfeasance to the african aids epidemic , barely catching its breath in - between . while lee ' s films often spark controversy , that rarely equates to good box office .
hi thank you for your article it was very helpful . i live with my older sister and she undermines all the things i do to try to make my home nice . she breaks my things without even caring or replacing them . the house is in my name and she told me once that she is upset that i own the home and not her . every once in a while something breaks and she doesn’t tell me . she takes my things and doesn’t ask . i feel like she does these on purpose . i’m upset and angry a lot of the time . i feel stressed out a lot . she takes something for depression and i think she doubles up on the meds by accident , it makes her act weird , like overly good mood . i feel like i have to walk on eggshells around her . if i say one little wrong thing she takes it much worse , very overly sensitive , then she takes it out on me in some way . i know i should try to be more positive but it is difficult . any advice ? i cant talk to her about anything , something i can do for myself ?
my mom has always been so overly protective of me , like she always had to supervise when i made new friends , and was convinced they’ll hurt me , she was awfully paranoid about it . she also has to make things sound so bad when she’s afraid of something happening to me like when i wanted to go to the theme park with a friend of mine . she was hesitant and tried to put fear in me so i wouldn’t go . she’d say things like “people die at theme parks , i don’t want to loose you” or she’d say things like “you won’t handle a theme park” she’s not letting me have fun with anything . i want to have fun with my life , but whenever my mom is around me when i have friends around , i get uncomfortable . . i just want to rebel and do what i want . i remember in school people especially my friends i had would say “your mom doesn’t let you do anything” i lost friends because my mom didn’t let me do things . even parents of the friends i had used to say “your mom never lets you do anything” it hurt deeply . i don’t know why my mom has always been like this . .
my problum was my sister in law way before my brother even got marryed . she tear red my like crap all the time . i told my mother too do something about this she said just love her ! i came too my mother for years before & after but when she says bad things behind my sister s back even my own mother i told my mother what she said . my mother said it dosnt bother me . then i couldn’t stand it i told her off i said she’s being meen then she sent my letter too my mother my mother punished me about the letter then lori fakes crys too my mother on the phone then my mother gets on me . when she should of stood up for her doughters ! sister in law was always doing these things but my mother never cares about us .
most of my life my mother has controlled me , and my life , she did so up until my 21st birthday last year . leading up to me being 21 my mother used to tell me what i can and can’t wear , she wouldn’t allow me to have my own style and had to pick out my clothes for me , it was beyond annoying and many people questioned my mother about that and she’d deny it and say “i allow her to pick out her clothes” when she never did . my mother also never wanted me away from her , she’d guilt me into not leaving her side by either crying or just yelling at me . it was like she was so scared for me to be away from her and when any person , no matter who they were whether that be others or family members would say that she needs to not be so overbearing , my mother would then play the victim and cry saying “everyone’s attacking me” . i also was never really allowed to wear makeup unless my mother did it for me . i remember me and my cousin were doing each other’s makeup and my mother had to be in the room with us , giving me and my cousin no privacy whatsoever and demanded she do my makeup . by 17 i just wanted to get away from her , i couldn’t fully express my feelings outwardly in fear she’d throw a temper tantrum about it , and then guilt me for doing so . after my 18th birthday , i really wanted to go to college and study digital media as i had a huge interest in that topic , well my mother guilted me into not going . i however went against her and enrolled myself in the college at 20 . let’s just say after my mother found that out , she cried and yelled at me for it . now at 21 , i’m in college part time , i go 3 days a week for 5 - 6 hours and i live with my best friend . i’m living the life i want the way i want it now and it feels great .
bloody hell . moyes ( when you read that name , say it with venom ) writes a book about quadriplegics and she hasn’t met one . had she done so she would have discovered a community of people that have the courage to choose to live .
rapper lil ' kim turned down the role of
evelyn
in his film . she told spike lee that she thought it would ruin her image . see more »
“i don’t care what she drinks . this is going into her fucking face . ”
i really needed to read this article . so many points , i’ve written down to help remind myself of . i have a few toxic family members . mostly my middle sister , i am the youngest . she has always been jealous of me . and this causes her to say the most horrific and unkind things to me . her game is she calls me every unkind name in the book and then runs her mouth to our mother that i was mean to her . when i was only ever protecting myself from her cruelty . she is the wolf in sheep’s clothing . my mother then attacks me in the same manner as my sister . they don’t speak , they scream and call names and accuse and cause severe distress . it is so dysfunctional . my sister has always been a bully . but , now that she is middle aged and very unhappy in her life , and i am not , she constantly puts me down and insults me to try and make me feel as low as her . she is toxic . i wish she would go away . i have tried to cut contact , but she needs a punching bag . and , i’ve allowed that to go on for long enough .
i am really glad i read this article . my mother thinks i should hate myself and spent my entire life telling me to change my personality and that i am useless . i have worked through a lot of the self esteem issues but she has made me feel so unloved . unfortunately i got into some financial issues and my five year old son and i had to move in with her . she does the same thing to him and calls him a retard if he makes a simple mistake and tells him and myself that there is something wrong with him . any time i tell her not to talk that way she comes at me full force with how i am a horrible parent and no one will want me and it destoys me every time only i don’t do anything because better me then my son . i just don’t know what to do about any of it . everything i have accomplished with my self worth she is destroying all over again .
looking for something to make me feel better and i found this article . thank you ! i’ve always thought i had a great family . as kids we fought but that was normal . 10 years ago we lost my mom . 2 years my dad…4 years my brother . on my brothers birthday me and my remaining siblings ( 1 brother , 1 sister ) head to the oregon coast and celebrate his birthday . . my sister who i have liked to consider my best friend continually attacks me . says mean and evil thongs to me always with a just kidding tag after . now this treatment is not new…she’s always saying mean and disrespectful this to me…about me . i know she is hurting because of the own demons in her life . why does she take it out on me ?
my stepmother is very controlling and has bullied me for 40 years . she also , at times , has been very good to me . i finally had enough of the way she was treating , speaking to and using me , and have walked away from her . trying to reason with her won’t achieve anything as she is never wrong . usually i just apologize even when i have done nothing wrong , to smooth things over and for the sake of my relationship with my dad .
recalling “the lottery” in our conversation , miriam friend was no less disturbed by it than she had been upon her first reading , nor had she changed her mind about it in the last sixty - five years . “such a harsh story , ” she said .
my mum was ( and still is ) very selfish woman . i’m one of eight . she didn’t care about any of us . kicked me out countless times ( and my brother ) when i was still in primary school . graciously allowed me to come back just because i was working so i could provide for her . she never showed emotions , love , gratitude , kindness . . anything . she always took but never gave back . after i left my country , nearly 13 years ago she continued her “mothering” . she would always take other people opinions into consideration but never mine . wasn’t talking to me for years when i was going through domestic violence and abuse . showed up in my life when she needed money and stuff . for ever criticised me , my choices and even my children’s ( normal for kids ) behaviour .
i also helped my older sister when she was 2nd time divorced 12 years ago . she has no place to live , and i let her to live with me . i gave her my clothing and food…in the end , i find out that she go thru all my staff when i was at work . i was really hurt and angry .
i feel i made no demands on her — even now when she is an adult i bite my tongue . ( she pretty much agrees with all that–in fact , i can’t determine the source of this awful treatment–and now we may be broken for ever . what she doesn’t agree to ( ‘my imagination’ ; ‘something is wrong with me’ ) is about how she treats me . i respect her wishes ( no to certain toys for the children and when i can be around , etc . ) –according to her , her dad doesn’t . instead of saying something to him , she says , for example , that she’ll donate the toys just to have them out of the house ( never opened ) .
my childhood and teenage years were horrible and unfortunately she is partly to blame for it .
haters try to stop you by all means , whether by words or by set of dirty deeds and actions . as you have said “doing more of what they hate” kills them .
some great stuff in here shola ! found you through this post . got some negative hurt people trying to tear me and my work down . i love your idea of simply doing more of what they hate . gonna do exactly that ! keep rocking man .
my class reunion was so telling . people were coming up to me saying i’m friends with emily and walking away from me . i was angry . i’m the broke one and they are distancing me because they took my inheritance . i didn’t get it because i’m sure she is saying more . what i may never find out .
myself and the brilliant , altruistic doctor i once worked for . he was like a father to me , and was there for me whenever i needed him .
thanks for this article . it really helped me cheer up . i actually have some haters from my ex school , who won’t stop commenting on my achievements and telling people bad things about me . they even commented untrue things about me on youtube . could you please give me some advice to deal with such situations ?
my mom has left me when i was only 2 weeks old for a guy what i had been told from family and she hasnt raised me at all . i remember up until i was 4 i had no idea who she was and i was shy to ask for things from her even tho my siblings were telling me that she was my mother , anyways when i got into my ' pre teen years ' i moved in with her she always made chore lists everyday while she never cleaned at all . me and my sister would clean up after her and her husband ( my step - father ) and when i would be at school she would always go thru all my stuff every now and then even my diary that one time . i knew i had to move then and i was only living there for 6 months . and when i was moved back to my older siblings place she made a fb and would always get mad at me for not messaging her back . now i ' m an adult and was staying at my sisters house for a bit . we went grocery shopping while my mom was visting and a week later i was drven home without opening one of my bags until i got home and once i opened it she already looked thru it i knew because things werent the way i last put them it got me really mad like i don ' t even know her at all we dont bond or anything nor talk at all . like you have no right to do that and try to act as a parent when you know damn well you have never raised me . yeah sure i stayed at her house for a bit but even then we never talked or bond at all . she only took me into her home when i was old enough to take care of myself which pisses me off so much too . she asked me what the fuck is wrong with me that one time me and my other older sister got into an argument and this sister has lived with her for a few years . once me and my other older sister get into an argument she talks shit about me to her friends and then goes to tell my mom and my mom of course backs her up without even listening to both sides of the story . i ' m just thinking about this all today and it makes me so angry and sad that i don ' t want nothing to do with her anymore . its like she does all this stuff to make me miserable and she treats me like a servant i don ' t even feel like her daughter at all .


sunset heat is a 1992 thriller film starring michael paré , 1980s pop star adam ant , and dennis hopper .

it featured original music by jan hammer , who had written the miami vice theme music .

sunset heat ( film )

there are no critic reviews yet for sunset heat . keep checking rotten tomatoes for updates !
we don ' t have enough data to suggest any movies based on sunset heat . you can help by rating movies you ' ve seen .
the director’s “sunset song , ” starring agyness deyn , explores a single soul’s ecstatic devotion to the scottish landscape .
solar control window films are designed for homes where summer heat reduction is required without compromising the sunlight or the view . many of our solar control films also help retain heat during the colder months saving money on heating and cooling costs year round . our films provide varying degrees of solar heat reduction and glare protection while rejecting harmful uv radiation .
with a title like sunset heat ( and apparently midnight heat ) , i found it pretty difficult to not think of body heat . it doesn ' t help that the film conjures it ' s sexualised spirit in it ' s introduction , presenting ( neo ) noir themes and cheap dated late 80s soft - rock . it ' s soundtrack is one of the more surprising elements , providing for better or for worse a snapshot of it ' s era , in ' style ' . it ' s not a flashy film , presumably limited in budget and forming a b movie impression . acting ' s a little off , lighting ' s cheap and the dialogue ' s doused in both artificiality and exposition .
sorry , conspiracy theorists : al pacino and robert de niro actually did act opposite one another in their iconic diner conversation scene in michael mann ’s 1995 magnum opus heat .
our clients range from residential homes to large commercial companies and shopping malls . we are experts in the latest techniques and products for heat reduction and glare from sun rays , security and privacy windows .
all of our solar control films reject 99 % + of harmful uv rауѕ . if uv protection is required , it is imроrtаnt tо сhооѕе a film thаt will also offer heat reduction as excessive hеаt accounts fоr 25 % of the rеаѕоn fаding оссurѕ оn furniturе , саrреtѕ , hardwood , аnd аrtwоrk .
sunset window tinting’s solar control films are available in a variety of shades and colours from virtually invisible films to films with subtle shades of grey and bronze to reflective silver and bronze films all of which reduce solar heat entering the home or business . thе films саn bе аррliеd to any glass windоw or door , and will improve the solar rejection performance of any glass from single pane twenty - year - old windows to high efficiency dual and even triple раnе lоw - е windоwѕ .
to the increasingly narrow circles of her activity that , as they contract , raise the repressive force on her repressed emotional life and raise the heat on the emotions that she presses into her brief , curt , only seemingly cool verses .
sunset window tinting offers a widе variety оf ѕоlаr control window film products tо help reduce excessive hеаt in уоur hоmе . unwanted hеаt in уоur hоmе will mаkе living соnditiоnѕ unсоmfоrtаblе and with your ever increasing air conditioning bills will also cost you money . solar control windоw films are specially dеѕignеd tо rеduсе thе hеаt trаnѕmittеd intо your hоmе frоm thе sun’s rays , mаking your аir соnditiоnеr work lеѕѕ , and consequently , will help lоwеr уоur сооling billѕ .
and rutger hauer , as well as some of the most emotionally intense action set pieces ever put to film . moreover , a good portion of the film’s appeal lies in its incorporation of film noir aesthetics—shadow - filled , rainy metropolitan exteriors , a brooding yet resourceful investigator hero , retro ’40s fashion—into its dreary , dystopian setting . at one point , the film even boasted a philip marlowe - esque voiceover narration that was thankfully excised from future cuts . once regarded as a failed experiment ,
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
lizzie borden’s 1983 film is a sort of political science fiction , in which new york women plot a revolution within a revolution .
in both quality of filmmaking and cynicism of spirit . this film not only announced hanson as a filmmaker well beyond his previous work (
like a fast - paced burner . it’s not fincher’s most famous film , but it’s absolutely one of the most underrated thrillers since 2000 . —
lawrence kasdan’s directorial debut remains , to this day , one of the sexiest movies ever to grace the big screen—not to mention , the rare occasion where the phrase “erotic thriller” can be appropriately uttered without the slightest hint of a snicker . boasting a star - making performance by kathleen turner , the film takes the standard double indemnity / the postman always rings twice premise ( femme fatale hires lover to kill husband ) and grafts it onto the humid nightmare that is florida in the midst of a heat wave . memorable sex scenes aside , however , the film is also a master class in how to build suspense and escalate tension . — m . r .
aestheticizes violence without fetishizing it . bullet holes and knife wounds help color the film in dark brushstrokes—such is the coens’ wont—and careful attention to shot composition ratchets the film’s morbid elements to almost intoxicating heights . you’ll want to look away , but the coens keep your eyes glued to their somber fatalism . —
treats redemption as a cruel joke , a spell of relief that lasts only long enough for us to view its obsolescence . the film takes jabs at
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
pellington ' s approach can best be described as correct , and the glossy movie looks tidy , if undistinguished . there ' s also nathan matthew david ' s pretty score to underline every mood shift , along with songs , song , songs of every vintage . though it ' s hard to complain about over - reliance on music in a movie that pays homage to the undersung greatness of the kinks and then unleashes
waterloo sunset
at a moment of maximum poignancy .
rather than kill danny , nick merely roughs him up , paving the way for holly to exact a humiliating , though non - lethal vengeance on danny’s most prized possession . for his troubles , nick is paid $ 50 , 000 in hush money from danny’s stash . as holly rides off into an avenged sunset , nick heads for the nearest blackjack table to attempt the final big score that will hasten his exit from sin city . the movie is about 40 minutes old .
that’s been confirmed many times over the years of course . but thanks to the fact that in the film’s final cut , all their scenes are composed of interspersed close up shots , a curious urban legend has persisted holding that the two never actually met on set . tonight however , during a special screening of heat ‘s new 4k remaster at the samuel goldwyn theatre followed by an entertaining q & a with pacino , de niro , and mann themselves , once again the record was set straight about the duo’s interactions in the classic film . make a note , skeptics , that a photo of them sitting together hung for years on the wall of kate mantilini in beverly hills where the scene was shot .
with “wild card , ” screenwriter william goldman takes a third crack at the story of nick the “vegas chaperone . ” goldman wrote the source novel and a 1986 film adaptation starring burt reynolds , both of which were called “heat . ” had the 1986 version starred bruce willis instead of reynolds , “wild card” would be redundant : statham’s take on nick evokes willis in his prime . he’s as quick to cut a villain down with a quip as he is with a sharp object , and a gloomy raincloud of vulnerability seems to perpetually hang over his head .
moderated by intersteller and the dark knight trilogy director christopher nolan ( who himself made several nods to heat in the opening sequence of 2008’s the dark knight ) , the discussion was joined later co - stars amy brenneman , val kilmer , diane venora , and mykelti williamson , along with producers art linson and peter jan brugge , editor william goldenberg , sound mixer andy nelson , and cinematographer dante spinotti .
forty years before the blair witch project popularized the idea of a film being told from the camera’s perspective , actor / director robert montgomery gave this radical idea a spin with lady in the lake , his adaptation of one of raymond chandler’s philip marlowe detective stories . ultimately , the case proves to be minor marlowe and the first - person gimmick does eventually wear thin over the course of the film’s runtime . putting aside these reservations , however , the film is most certainly worth a watch if just to witness montgomery’s sheer audacity and inventiveness . it’s the textbook example of a film being ahead of its time . — m . r .
and los angeles , thus necessitating some creative uses of lighting . this commitment to realism would help perfect the film noir style we all know and love . —
was a rarity in its heyday , though if you didn’t know lupino held the reins , you might not guess the film was directed with a feminine touch .
plays with noir tropes more than he plays to them , deflating film noir’s inherent machismo by revealing the chief heavies of his cast as scrabbling cowards . depending on your mood ,
prior to reinventing filmic language with their playful genre experiments , the members of france’s new wave movement got their start as film critics . in fact , it was through their writings and discussions that the term “film noir” was first christened as a means of describing a certain breed of brooding postwar films . it’s not surprising then that louis malle—though not an official new wave member—would settle on a film noir - influenced project as his first feature film . acting both as an homage to noir as well as a subversion of its structure , elevator to the gallows stars jeanne moreau and maurice ronet as a pair of criminals whose plan to kill moreau’s husband quickly falls apart when the ronet character gets stuck in an elevator . this already absurd concept becomes all the more confounding when paired with the film’s unorthodox , experimental editing and somber , miles davis - performed jazz score . — m . r .
frequently cited as an example of when film noir , to appropriate a tv idiom , “jumped the shark , ” kiss me deadly long ago overcame its initial bad press to become one of the most beloved and influential examples of the subgenre and its ability to tell dark , controversial stories . in that regard , director robert aldrich’s kiss me deadly wears its insanity like a badge . ralph meeker stars as a hard - boiled private eye who ends up bearing witness to the brutal torture and murder of a young hitchhiker ( cloris leachman in one her first film appearances ) . he decides to pursue her case , which results in the discovery of one of film’s all - time great macguffins—a mysterious piece of luggage that emits intense heat and a bright light when opened . ( this visual went on to inspire the glowing briefcase in pulp fiction . ) this all leads to one of the craziest , most jaw - dropping final sequences you’re likely to see in any american movie made during the hays code era . —m . r .
is the coolest melville film of them all ; odds are , it’ll land upright , because that’s an impossible distinction to make . melville films pulse with ineffable cool . in the case of
for example , in the scene in which de niro’s mccauley and brenneman’s eady talk on a balcony overlooking sunset plaza , spinotti explained how the l . a . landscape seen in the shot was filmed on a very low framerate to increase exposure . meanwhile , de niro and brenneman were filmed on location in front of a green screen blocking the actual view , which was added to the background of the shot in post . it’s unnoticeable in previous home video releases but in the new print , it makes l . a . ’s nighttime view look like a surreal dream , or perhaps a nightmare . it adds to the sense , as it was said more than once tonight , of how all the film’s characters are in their own way imprisoned in los angeles .
, alex proyas’ 1998 magnum opus serves up a cerebral sci - fi extravaganza as filtered through the visual tropes of film noir and german expressionism . the result is a staggering achievement in imagination that , like
is a masterpiece . funny to think that american critics looked down their noses at the film at the time of its release . maybe they took offense at the inescapable scent of welles’ passion for rita hayworth , his wife at the time and his ex shortly after production wrapped . he captures her in close - up with a hungry , enraptured eye , the most coherent image in a film that’s built on logical incoherence .
has enormous ambitions that belie its tight running time , the end result of odious studio interference that nonetheless fails to impede the viewing experience . come for hayworth and welles , stay for the film’s dizzying hall of mirrors shootout . —
leave it to the master of suspense to meld docudrama realism with the melodrama of film noir . “ alfred hitchcock ’s powerful portrait of a man … drawn from life ! ” the wrong man ’s original trailer proclaims . it’s to the film’s credit that hitch doesn’t screw around here , telling in full the story of a man falsely convicted for robberies he never committed . unsurprisingly , hitch is every bit as interested in the effects of the outrageous miscarriage of justice that befalls manny balestrero as he is in the lasting trauma his detention inflicts on him and his family . the wrong man puts a high premium on claustrophobic camerawork—we feel like we’re as confined as poor old manny—but the film’s greatest impression is left in its aftermath . — a . c .
if уоu hаvе a room thаt gets tоо hоt from direct sunlight , соnѕidеr hiring sunѕеt windоw tinting lосаtеd in kеlоwnа bc tо inѕtаll a solar control film tо keep your home or business сооlеr and more comfortable . thеѕе filmѕ rеduce the ѕun’ѕ hеаt , ultraviolet rауѕ , аnd glare without оbѕсuring or obstructing the viеw . thе more dirесt sunlight is coming thrоugh thе windоw , thе mоrе a solar control film can improve the comfort of your home and saving you money by decreasing the need for costly air conditioning .
tinting уоur home with our proven technologically advanced films iѕ arguably оnе оf thе mоѕt соѕt еffесtivе ways to rеduсе оr reject hеаt frоm the sun bеing trаnѕmittеd into you hоmе . whеn ѕоlаr energy соmеѕ in соntасt with уоur glass three thingѕ happen tо that еnеrgу . a роrtiоn will bе rеflесtеd оutwаrd аwау frоm уоur hоmе , ѕоmе will bе absorbed within the window glass and windоw frаmе , аnd some will be trаnѕmittеd into уоur home . we оffеr a widе range of windоw films frоm films that reject up to 82 % of the sun’s heat ( mirrоrеd ) to virtuаllу clear sресtrаllу - sеlесtivе рrоduсtѕ that are designed for the least possible visual impact .
, however , lynch took his fascination with the subgenre to a whole other level , depicting a world where a character’s interior life influences not only the film’s visual style but its narrative structure as well . in the first great performance of her illustrious career ,
also under discussion , the detailed backstories mann devised for all of his characters – “michael is the king of backstory” said williamson tonight – as well as the intense work that went into creating the film’s intense realism . for instance , to prepare for the film’s climactic bank heist , de niro and co - stars val kimer and tom sizemore cased a bank in century city ( with , it was made clear , permission of bank security ) , then were made to recount from memory the layout once they left .
“a beautiful femme fatale saunters into an unsuspecting man’s life and entices him into committing murder for her . ” this logline could be used to describe any number of classic film noirs . most of this can be traced back to author james m . cain , who wrote two books—
film noir or horror—which category does charles laughton’s night of the hunter belong in ? frankly , all such quibbles are needless . the film fits snugly beneath either appellation , for one thing : it’s a hybridized version of both . ( let’s call it “film noirror . ” ) for another , it’s a masterwork , so fie upon labels . night of the hunter lurks in shadows and revels in misogyny . whether you’ve seen it or not , you probably have the image of robert mitchum’s tattooed knuckles imprinted upon your brain thanks to pop culture osmosis . reverend harry powell is quite the villain , a man as quick to distort the truth with honey - coated lies as laughton is to distort reality through oblique perspective , unnerving use of shadows and light , and a dizzying array of camera compositions that make small - town west virginia feel altogether otherworldly . — a . c .
, which centers on two treasury agents who must go undercover to infiltrate a notorious counterfeiting ring . while not boasting any big - name actors or even a particularly novel story , the film is noted for its inventive cinematography , with mann and cinematographer john alton deciding to shoot several scenes on location in
the goldwyn theater might not be the best equipped to demonstrate the full beauty of a 4k presentation ( no shade intended – it was great but i had no basis to compare ) , but the new print looked fantastic , with eye popping detail that shines a bright light on the work of cinematographer spinotti . a particular stand out is how the new print makes clear some of the technical achievements mann and spinotti employed to make the city of los angeles itself as much a character as the actors moving inside it . “l . a . is a weigh station on the way to somewhere else , ” said mann tonight about the way the city looks throughout heat . one way that was achieved was to combine then - new computer effects to heighten the city’s iconic cityscape .
park chan - wook’s oldboy makes the smart choice most genre homages don’t : the film relegates reference to the soundtrack titles , some of which crop up elsewhere on this very list . it takes more than a few hat tips to tourneur , hawks and ray to make a noir , but oldboy boasts the lion’s share of noir’s best trappings in its story of long - term revenge and dirty family secrets . the film is probably best revered for a single fight scene , one of only a handful to occur throughout its two - hour running time . admittedly , that hallway scrap is pretty glorious , but park boils his protagonist hard , and spoken from beneath star choi min - sik’s grizzled mane , the film’s dialogue crackles with beefy , unhinged ennui . years from now when the next big international neo - noir import arrives stateside , don’t be surprised if you see oldboy ’s moniker on its ost . — a . c .
we’ll start with the following 100 titles . some 70 years after the term “film noir” was first uttered , take a trip through the screwed - up terrain of the mid - century psyche , with all its sex , lies , and crime scene tape . let’s get going—don’t say we didn’t warn you . — amanda schurr
, an adaptation of novelist / screenwriter scott b . smith’s 1993 thriller about three working - class men who end up stumbling upon a crashed plane filled with millions of dollars in cash . seeing this as the answer to their financial woes , the men divvy up the money only to quickly find their close - knit group torn apart by greed and paranoia . while not ostensibly film noir in its construction , the story nevertheless touches upon classic noir themes—namely , the corruptive power of greed and the folly of man in attempting to control life’s chaos . whatever its designation , the film presents an absorbing , if unmistakably devastating , modern - day morality tale . —
carl franklin’s excellent early ’90s neo - noir walks a razor - thin tightrope of suspense : you get the sense from one minute to the next that any step out of place could send the entire narrative into violent anarchy . franklin’s film has great aspirations , delving into the complexities of modern american race relations just a few years after
, flopped at the box office only to be revived later as a beloved cult classic . the film casts rufus swell as an amnesiac who wakes up one night to discover that his city is ( quite literally ) being manipulated by a band of mysteriously pale men in jet - black trench coats and fedoras . along for the ride is
to brilliantly deconstruct traditional cinematic storytelling , toggling between chronological black - and - white vignettes and full - color five - minute segments that unfold in reverse order while shelby frantically searches for his wife’s killer . the film is jarring , inventive and adventurous , and the payoff is every bit worth the mind - bending descent into madness . —
plays a wide - eyed actress newly arrived in hollywood who stumbles upon a beautiful young woman who can’t remember who she is . that pithy logline only touches the tip of the iceberg , as the film delights in throwing numerous other subplots and mysteries at its audience only to violently pull the rug out from under them in its latter half .
a favorite of martin scorsese , force of evil centers on a lawyer who finds himself involved with an influential gangster looking to take over all smaller rackets in town . the problem ? one of those desirable rackets is run by the lawyer’s older brother . like t - men , the film makes great use of shooting on location . moreover , at times , the film’s familial themes and stylized writing help elevate the conflict to near shakespearean levels ( or biblical levels , considering how frequently it alludes to the story of cain and abel ) . though relatively small in scale , force of evil finds greatness in its aim to convey grandiose , large - scale ideas . — m . r .
. ) kubrick’s work here is no - frills and elegantly straightforward : sterling hayden plans one final holdup before retiring and settling down with coleen gray . no twists and turns , just good old - fashioned theft at the racetrack . the film revels in the gray morality of hayden’s good intentions . crime pays , at least until it doesn’t . —
does any psychopath in film noir’s rogues gallery strike quite as much immediate , stomach - churning terror as tommy udo ? the man’s got a leering , sunken visage only a mother could love , provided she keeps her eyes closed tightly and doesn’t give him reason to shove her down the stairs . richard widmark’s wolf grin might be the only thing about kiss of death that matters . bereft of him , of course , henry hathaway’s film remains solid , but widmark’s oscar - nominated performance makes the entire enterprise feel vital . he’s a villain for the ages , perhaps robbed of his due by hathaway’s need to architect a happy ending . such is life working with production codes . — a . c .
: at first confused , then maybe a little angry , but then ultimately delighted by how fooled they’d just been . perfectly paced , brilliantly scored by director bryan singer and editor / composer john ottman—the film never lets the marks know they’re being conned by the irresistible ensemble or christopher mcquarrie’s dark , mischievous script . and then like that … it’s gone… —
get carter director mike hodges’s last great film was budding star clive owen’s first . in fact , even now more than 15 years after its release , croupier may be the best thing owen has ever done , playing a struggling novelist who takes a job at a casino , looking for inspiration but finding mostly trouble . watch this film now to be reminded where the actor first prompted speculation that he’d make a great james bond : his character jack manfred isn’t a super - spy , but he’s got the jet - black suaveness , lady - killing panache and dry wit we associate with 007 . croupier is a movie attracted to the sleazier side of life , and owen’s antihero was the perfect tour guide . — tim grierson
now , if you’ve been on imdb , watched the home video special edition or caught the stray interview with pacino , de niro , or mann , chances are you’ve already heard most of what was discussed tonight . but who cares , because for the first time in two decades , the three shared a stage to talk about the beloved film , shed some light on how it was made , and laugh together about the experience . the packed theater – beforehand , bent around a nearby parking lot , there was a long line of people hoping to get in – laughed right along with them . when , that is , they weren’t breaking out into spontaneous applause and more than one standing ovation for the film and its cast and crew .
since its coining in 1946 by french critic nino frank , who observed from afar something dark , quite literally , going on at the american cinema , the term “film noir” has been debated and debated and debated some more . is it a genre ? a subgenre ? a movement ? a trend ? a commentary ? a style ? for the purposes of this introduction , let’s call it a response .
unlike so many of its peers on this listing , edward dmytryk’s obsession doesn’t lean on violence in its plotting and scheming . but the film isn’t gentle by any stretch . in fact , obsession is one of the more gruesome classic noirs , a slow - burning bit of nastiness that could give breaking bad a run for its money in the body disposal department . dmytryk rides on the strength of great work by robert newton , here playing a psychiatrist who determines to kill his wife’s lover , an american diplomat played by phil brown . ( obviously , because everybody knows that all psychiatrists secretly harbor homicidal urges . ) newton’s a creepy hoot , and dmytryk has such a good handle on his suspense that even the tonal dissonance of unwelcome comedy doesn’t break the film’s insidious spell . — a . c .
maybe falling in love with dead people is just an occupational hazard of being an investigative detective in new york city . then again , maybe a shotgun blast to the face couldn’t keep anybody from developing a crush on gene tierney , which is pretty much how the plot of otto preminger’s laura goes . the film tracks the trajectory of nypd detective mark mcpherson’s growing obsession with the eponymous young lady as he cobbles together the bits and pieces of her life and death . poring over her diary and her letters , he comes to moon over her , and why not ? she’s every bit as delightful as preminger’s movie . laura doesn’t waste time and stacks contrivance on top of unlikelihood , but such is the strength of preminger’s craft and the performances of his cast that the film’s convolution doesn’t matter . — a . c .
puts male toughness on trial and makes it look ridiculous , but the study of manliness might be a smokescreen for kurosawa’s veiled jabs at the board of censors installed by the u . s . government in post - world war ii japan . note the western clothing . observe the recurring image of the bubbling muck that serves as one of the film’s central locations . the american occupation whitewashes and corrupts japanese culture in equal measure , and
and guy pearce to american audiences by giving them their first signature roles . this tabloid version of the city of angels celebrates all the sex , corruption and other seedy circumstances the superficial city can provide . it offers a string of unforgettable sequences , from bud white’s yuletide raid to exley’s interrogations to the final shootout where the film’s utterly ellroy perspective on police morality is ( quite literally ) executed with masterful precision . at the time of its release ,
some noirs get their hooks into you within their first few minutes and don’t let go even after the credits roll . angel face isn’t one of those . it’s a deliberate , considerate film , one that has a destination in mind and makes no bones about taking its time getting there . whether you ride with it is up to you , but come on : this is otto preminger—lesser otto preminger , perhaps , certainly not one of his better celebrated films . even lesser preminger is worth your time , though , particularly when he’s as laser - focused as he is here . angel face builds . it’s a movie that constantly sets itself up and points toward its shocker of a climax . preminger’s direction renders this story of crazy love , shared between robert mitchum and jean simmons , unpredictable if slow . don’t let the apparent languidness get in your way . the unhurried pace adds to the film’s grimmer pleasures . — andy crump
like double indemnity , michael curtiz’ mildred pierce succeeds on the strength of its leading lady ; in this case that’s the immortal joan crawford , who plays the film’s central character , not to mention all of its heart and soul . ( arguably , it’s the most definitive crawford performance of all time , at least next to what ever happened to baby jane ? . ) mildred pierce is a strong woman driven by an inexhaustible love for her children , veda ( ann blyth ) and kay ( jo ann marlowe ) , but she’s also stymied by the restricting grasp of a patriarchal society . even veda is contemptuous of mildred for daring to have the moxie to have it all . the film is about more than prickly mother - daughter relationships , of course , specifically the murder of mildred’s second husband . but sandwiched in between curtiz’ probing whodunit lies one of noir’s most sympathetic and purely humanist tales . — a . c .
social consciousness , a recurring theme throughout noir’s history , meets with the grisly side of mob politics in cy endfield’s lesser - known yarn , ripped straight from the headlines . like the wrong man , the sound of fury purports to be based on actual events . how well the film plays that out depends on your knowledge of the case that inspired it . in endfield’s hands , the story becomes a discomfiting exploration of american inclinations toward taking matters into one’s own hands . unlike so many legit bad guys on this list , frank lovejoy’s howard tyler does bad things for good reasons . he’s a family man fallen on hard times . endfield makes the case for his guilt , but through the complex worldview of noir he’s able to critique the lack of cultural empathy ( alongside socially irresponsible journalism ) that ushers him toward a downfall disproportionate to his crime . what the film lacks in stylishness , it makes up for in raw emotion . — a . c .
as for the small number of scenes shared by the film’s two stars , mann explained how the two playing off one another increased the subtlety of their performances . “if bob is shifting his weight , ” mann said , “al is doing something to counter , ” almost , he explained , as if afraid de niro might go for a gun . the diner scene in particular was also fairly raw , done at de niro’s suggestion without any rehearsal before they set about filming it .
as it was a change of pace for lupino , who , after directing four features that each revolved around the struggles and victimization of women , decided to try her hand with decidedly more masculine fare . decades later , her film is still generally considered the first noir directed by a woman , but it should really be thought of first as a slim , unsparing , suspenseful slice of true crime . she puts her foot on the gas and doesn’t let up until the very end . —
one of film noir’s more under - loved minor works , tension showcases great work by audrey totter while fiddling with gender roles and postwar disenchantment . there are few saps as sappy as richard basehart’s cuckolded warren quimby , and even in the realm of femme fatales , few are even half as downright mean as claire quimby ( phyllis dietrichson , lily carver and brigid o’shaughnessy notwithstanding ) . forget the fact she habitually cheats on poor borin’ warren : check the scene where he drives her to the house he scrimped and saved for , a gesture she can only respond to with contempt . totter is such a hoot you almost forget to feel bad for basehart , but even his gentle male ego can only endure so much abuse before he decides to remake himself in the image of claire’s “type , ” all the better to get even with her and her lover . tension might not have the iconography of john berry’s peers , but the film makes a worthy study of masculine american identity . — a . c .
last week’s trip to berlin , i had never attended a major international film festival . ( new york doesn’t count—it’s a self - described “festival of festivals , ” featuring many movies that have already premièred . ) for good reason , these festivals are not part of my regular rounds : i usually write about movies that are available to many readers , because there’s a tease built into festival reviews—let me tell you about some wonderful movies that i’ve seen and that you can’t , or , at least , not yet .
, a movie that hits with quick percussive impact and spares no time from one bout of action to the next . the film strikes a comparison between youthful and experienced viewpoints : james edwards’ boxer on the rise is brimming with self - assurance , while david clarke’s battle - scarred ring veteran speaks aloud to pugilists’ inevitable decline . is robert ryan’s last attempt at glory worth suffering for ? is it worth the mental trauma it inflicts on his wife ( audrey totter , showing off a different side of herself ahead of 1950’s
it’s kind of a shame that the film feels compelled to interrupt this feeling with violence . there’s less than you might be expecting , and i’d be remiss if i didn’t say those scenes are fun in the most gratuitously brutal ways ( one guy gets gruesomely slashed with a credit card ) . but you’ve seen statham do all that before , and it clashes with the novel - like vibe goldman successfully creates . perhaps that’s why movies give statham little to say : his gift of gab overshadows his penchant for mayhem .
after the tautly spirited dialectic of dickinson’s creative days , the scenes of her illness have a terrifying emotional splendor . nixon plays dickinson’s death like a childbirth scene in which the body is wrenched apart to yield up the soul , which then doesn’t ascend to heaven but remains on earth to inhabit the world more fully after death than dickinson ever managed to do in life—the wicked metaphysical irony of posthumous renown . davies does more than film dickinson’s life ; he creates a world that is , above all , her inner world , confined
a criminally underrated gem of ’70s cinema , night moves stars gene hackman as a retired football player - turned - private investigator who is hired by an aging starlet to track down her wayward daughter . naturally , this seemingly simple assignment leads our hero down a convoluted path littered with illicit relationships and rampant corruption . released a year after francis ford coppola’s much celebrated the conversation , night moves very much serves as that film’s spiritual sibling—a complex , somewhat opaque treatise on american cynicism in a post - watergate world . — m . r .
mann also recounted his inspiration for the film , the real life experiences of his friend , chicago police detective charlie adamson , who in 1963 ended up killing criminal neal mccauley ( for whom de niro’s character was named ) . mccauley and adamson actually met before their later fatal encounter , having dinner together with a conversation that was reportedly very similar to the one pacino and de niro have in the famous scene . as mann put it , “they had the kind of intimacy only strangers can have , ” and just as easily were torn apart .
and so noir cast its misfits—gun - toting , hard - drinking , lipstick and stiletto - wearing human chimneys of neuroses—into a seductive , violent postwar labyrinth , in which the terror was internal and external . fear of the next world conflict , fear of each other , fear of never getting back to a pure time , the fear in realizing there never really was one . a study in extremes that dealt in innuendo ( thanks again , censors ! ) as it departed from accepted cultural norms and , sometimes , basic humanity—film doesn’t get more perverse , or more unapologetic about it , than the noir environment .
actually marks one of the filmmaker’s more accessible works . indeed , the opening set - up feels akin to the sort of “wrong man” scenarios favored by hitchcock—a new york thief ends up pickpocketing a young woman’s wallet , only to discover it contains top - secret government intel . the man quickly realizes he has become an unwitting player in some serious cold war - era espionage . though undeniably dated in certain places , the film’s take on politics and sex as well as its willingness to position an unrepentant thief in its main character slot represented the kind of daring mentality that would have been celebrated years later in the new
jason statham movies aren’t known for their dialogue . people attend his films for their action sequences , which is why so few filmmakers give statham much to say . that’s a shame , because when given the rare chance to be chatty , statham becomes more than just a lethal weapon . “wild card” gives him more opportunities to converse than to clobber , and as odd as this may sound , i really enjoyed listening to statham talk . his fight scenes have their predictable , violent payoffs , but his rambling monologues are unexpectedly , gloriously entertaining . this film’s tagline should be “come for the stabbing , stay for the gabbing ! ”
criss cross marks the screen debut of future movie star tony curtis ( here billed as “james curtis” ) . fortunately , the film—which reunites burt lancaster with killers director / noir auteur robert siodmak—works as much more than merely a footnote in curtis’ career . lancaster stars as an armored truck guard who hatches a plan with his ex - wife to fake a vehicle robbing so they can make off with the loot . per the title , the plotline soon transforms into a tangled web of double - ( and triple - ) crosses that concludes with an ending that , even by noir standards , is pretty damn bleak . — m . r .
throughout , statham expertly handles goldman’s sometimes absurd dialogue . the film is at its best when nick chats with people . “wild card” wisely casts its supporting characters with actors who leave an impression , including davis’ dealer , anne heche ’s diner waitress , davenia mcfadden ’s information - gathering maid , jason alexander ’s office mate and tucci’s head honcho , baby . the folks in nick’s orbit form a self - contained society with its own set of rules and regulations . “wild card” has a finely tuned sense of the vegas working - class , of people who are off the beaten path , hustling in the harsh light of day that most tourists sleep through .
in one of the most intriguing opening scenes in film history , d . o . a . commences with a lengthy tracking shot of a man as he stumbles into the police office to make an unusual request—he wants to report his own murder . this opening image just about sums up d . o . a . , a brisk yet exhilarating noir thriller with one hell of a high - concept . after being administered a deadly poison , the main character has only a few days to discover who dosed him and why . what follows is a glorious mix of high - stakes melodrama and entertaining sleaze all compacted into a concise hour - and - twenty minute running time . — m . r .
jules dassin’s impact on film noir is widely documented—if you need proof , just consider the fact a handful of his best contributions to the genre have landed on this very list—and among them , thieves’ highway is perhaps the most economical . at the same time , it’s superficially the least noirish : it’s a revenge movie , sure , but that revenge is sought by a good man driven to right wrongs done to his father . this is a movie built on a pure search for retribution , though of course it’s dassin , so nothing is ever that simple , and in point of fact everything that can go wrong for nick garcos does . who knew the world of fruit trucking could be so damn cutthroat ? — a . c .
long before the boomers came to know fred macmurray as the kindly father on my three sons , the actor essayed his best performance in double indemnity as the deplorable , hard - boiled walter neff , who falls for a married temptress ( barbara stanwyck ) who talks him into killing her husband . whether in film or on television , macmurray normally played the nice guy , but for double indemnity he turned his everyman decency into a mask—perfect for a character who can barely conceal what a lustful , conniving bastard he is . one of the great noirs , this early effort from billy wilder revealed the filmmaker’s talent for wonderfully thorny , unapologetically rotten characters—and it doubles as one of the definitive mid - century los angeles movies . — t . g .
it’s hard to think of a movie that did more short - term damage to the length of your fingernails in the ’90s than david fincher ’s se7en . the film follows detectives david mills ( brad pitt ) and almost - retired william somerset ( morgan freeman ) on the trail of john doe , a murderer who plans his kills around the seven deadly sins . we see somerset teach a still - naive mills valuable life lessons around the case , which has morally charged outcomes aimed at victims that include a gluttonous man and a greedy attorney . but with all the disturbing crime scenes considered , se7en ’s never as unpredictable or emotionally draining as when mills and somerset make the final discovery of “what’s in the box” after capturing their man . — tyler kane
a story of unintended connections and one woman’s spiraling descent into paranoia and terror , sorry , wrong number gets sort of a bum rap next to double indemnity in barbara stanwyck’s catalogue of awesome performances . the film alternates between flashbacks and the present , and so too does stanwyck’s spoiled , shiftless heiress to a drug - store empire go from lethargy to hysteria . turns out she’s the center of a murder plot , though she doesn’t quite realize it at first and must piece together the architecture of her own demise as she lies bedridden and alone in her opulent manhattan digs . stanwyck gives sorry , wrong number a pulse , while anatole litvak’s direction soaks her growing terror in shadows so deep , the intruder sneaking through her house can’t help but bump into the furniture . — a . c .
don siegel’s debut picture , the verdict rests between two axes : peter lorre and sydney greenstreet . siegel could have shot the film and styled his misé en scene any way he wanted , and none of it would have mattered so long as he kept his two leading men on the cast . the verdict is all about them , both from the perspective of narrative and in terms of the viewing experience . lorre has a habit of stealing our attention while hanging out at the edges of the frame , while greenstreet uses his imposing bulk to command from the center of the camera . they make a fun pair as antiheroes trying to redeem greenstreet’s disgraced scotland yard superintendent when an innocent man is sent to the gallows thanks to his botched investigation , while siegel soaks their mission in noir’s dark - washed style and black humor . — a . c .
a pioneering work in the film noir movement , detour was initially conceived as little more than yet another quickie product straight from hollywood ’s poverty row . the story concerns a piano player who , while hitchhiking from new york to hollywood , ends up getting a ride from a pill - popping bookie who later turns up dead . thus begins a series of bad decisions that provides the template for any good noir yarn . filmed in less than a month with a miniscule budget , the eventual theatrical cut barely clocked in over an hour . it was from these severe limitations , however , that the vocabulary of down - and - dirty noir films began to take shape . indeed , detour ’s ragged edges and technical hiccups helped inadvertently create the kind of grimy , hard - boiled atmosphere that served as the perfect reflection of its equally gritty content . — m . r .
françois truffaut’s shoot the piano player feels like the tragicomic reverse of melville’s le doulos ( no . 53 ) . instead of adapting french literature through an american lens , truffaut does the reverse , turning david goodis’ crime yarn down there into an altogether unpredictable story about commercialism , artistic purity , and the ways our pasts catch up with us . shoot the piano player keeps its tongue firmly in cheek as truffaut oscillates between absurd slapstick and heartbreak . a man swears to his honesty on his mother’s soul , and the camera cuts away to dear old mom as she falls down dead in her kitchen ; truffaut’s protagonist , charlie ( charles aznavour ) , plays a ditty in the dive bar where he works , haunted by the death of his wife as well as his rising career as a concert pianist . the film is a romp until it’s a downer . — a . c .
at the start of jean - pierre melville’s le doulos , a handy dandy intertitle card kindly lets us know that the film’s name refers either to a style of hat or a police informant . once the picture commences , we get plenty of both plus the oozing - cool style of melville , whose tendency to play down everything in his frame makes even his use of shadow and light seem aloof . le doulos is the most - least french contribution to this list ; it’s melville’s adaptation of a novel by pierre lesou , but he blends lesou’s words with twists on symbols and staples of american noir . a purist might argue that combining a french novel with american sensibilities is an implicit rejection of the filmmaking model he and his fellow rive gauche comrades established in the 1950s . in truth , that synthesis produces a celluloid slurry that’s uniquely melville , minimalist and slick . — a . c .