I love the After Dark Neo-Noir Cinema collections from Imprint Films. Since 2022, they've been putting out limited release boxes of six titles each, all interesting and often unexpected choices that serve to remind me why I love neo-noir movies so much. The just-released third box contains six more titles, four of which are certified bangers, one a mixed bag, and one flawed effort from one of My Guys, all with new bonus features including commentaries from filmmakers and scholars like Travis Woods and Jim Hemphill, plus new featurettes and video essays in addition to extras ported over from previous releases. Here's my ranking of the latest collection, sure to be one of my favorite releases of the year.
6. Under Suspicion (2000, dir. Stephen Hopkins)
It brings me no pleasure to rank a Stephen Hopkins movie last on this list, but it would probably be dishonest to place it any higher. This barely-released effort comes at the end of Hopkins' great '90s run, though I get why he wanted to make the movie: it was a chance to work with both Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman (plus Monica Belucci and Thomas Jane). He tries to be creative with some of the visuals but can only do so much with what feels a little like a filmed play (it's actually a remake of a 1981 French film) in which lawyer Hackman is interrogated by cops Freeman and Jane about the sexual assault and murder of a young girl. There are many flashbacks. I'm happy to have this one on Blu-ray as it's one of the few Hopkins movies in my collection still trapped on DVD, but it's for sure the weakest movie in this new box.
5. Heaven's Prisoners (1996, dir. Phil Joanou)
There's a lot to like about Heaven's Prisoners, the New Orleans noir in which Alec Baldwin takes on drug runners and the mob. It has an impressive pedigree: in addition to a strong cast (including Eric Roberts, Mary Stuart Masterson, and a memorable femme fatale turn by Teri Hatcher), it's directed by Phil Joanou (who already made the great noir State of Grace), co-written by Scott Frank, and shot by the great Harris Savides, a regular collaborator of both David Fincher and Gus Van Sant. Like a lot of Southern noir, though, it's super sweaty and broad and overcooked. Director Joanou never quite wrangles a consistent tone, swinging wildly from "pretty good" to Tough Guys Don't Dance (I'm thinking specifically of the "She gone" scene). As an undiscriminating fan of '90s noir, I'm weirdly happy to have this on Blu-ray, though part of me wishes it had been replaced with the much better mid-'90s noir starring Alec Baldwin, his remake of The Getaway. Thankfully, that got a separate release from Shout! Factory a few months back so it's a win/win.
4. White Sands (1992, dir. Roger Donaldson).jpg)
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I'd actually love to place this higher because I think it's the overlooked gem of the set, but the three above it are so strong that I can't bring myself to do it. White Sands stars Willem Dafoe as a small-town sheriff who goes undercover and gets involved with an FBI investigation that includes corrupt government agents (Mickey Rourke) and his rich associates (a scorching hot Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who, like Madeleine Stowe, I've only learned to appreciate as a growup). Strong performances, stylish direction from the underrated Roger Donaldson (who directed the excellent Getaway remake mentioned in the previous entry), gorgeous photography, a twisty plot -- isn't this why we love noir? Somehow this movie hasn't been talked about for 30 years, but that's what makes collections like this so valuable and important: they bring forgotten movies back into the popular consciousness and help properly contextualize them for modern audiences.
3. Dirty Pretty Things (2002, dir. Stephen Frears)
Stephen Frears doesn't often get credit for being a great neo-noir director despite having one classic in three different decades: The Hit in the '80s, The Grifters in the '90s, and this one in the 2000s. Dirty Pretty Things stars Chiwetel Ejiofor in the first performance of his I can remember, and it was one of those "Holy shit who is THAT" moments for me that made me want to see him in everything he does. Audrey Tatou co-stars in a story of immigrants living and working in London. The less said about this movie the better, because if you've never seen it and don't know what it's about or where it goes I don't want to give anything away. That's how Erika and I saw it back in 2002 and that's how I want you to be able to see it, too. Adam and I sang this movie's praises on our 9 '02 1 O episode a few years back, so you should go back and listen to that show after you've seen the film. It's one of the sneaky great noirs its decade.
2. The Crossing Guard (1995, dir. Sean Penn)
Among the great undersung Jack Nicholson performances of the 1990s (alongside Bob Rafelson's Blood and Wine, another film that could easily have been slotted in here) comes from this Sean Penn-written and directed noir about a grieving father obsessed with killing the man (David Morse) responsible for his daughter's death. Easily the darkest film in the third After Dark box, The Crossing Guard is a deeply sad film about mistakes and regret and all of the ways we fuck up our own lives and the lives of those around us. It boasts an insane bench of character actors in supporting roles doing good work, but it's really Nicholson's volcanic performance holding it together at the center that makes the movie so memorable. Truth be told, I prefer Penn's second collaboration with Nicholson, 2001's The Pledge, but I'm happy to have this one included in the set because it's still great.
1. Homicide (1991, dir. David Mamet)
One of my favorite things about David Mamet as a writer/director is that he understood the value in making Joe Mantegna a leading man. Though he's one of the great screen actors of the last 40 years, Mantegna is often relegated to character parts -- except, that is, when he's working with Mamet, who rightfully gave the actor the spotlight in movies like Things Change, House of Games, and this one, in which Mantegna plays a cop working a big case (alongside his partner, fellow Mamet regular William H. Macy) when he catches the lead on the murder of an old woman working at a corner store in a rough part of town. Where that takes him, I will not say. What begins as an excellent Mametian procedural slowly evolves into an exploration of religion and identity, a masterful film that's as much cop thriller as it is existential crisis. My love for Mamet the filmmaker and Mantegna the actor color my choice to put this in first place, but I also genuinely believe it to be the best film in the collection, for what is noir if not an exploration of the darkest parts of the soul? Homicide is willing to go there. The movie is a masterpiece.
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