“Noir City Boston,” a noir film festival running at The Brattle Theatre, kicked off Friday with a pair of films introduced by noted author, professor at Brooklyn College and film critic Foster Hirsch.
Hirsch has been a fixture at the festival over the years, lending the audience a deeper insight into the genre, drawing upon a wealth of knowledge earned while researching and writing more than a dozen books on the topic, including “The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir,” “Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties” and “Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir.”
Much like the straight-talking characters on the silver screen, Hirsch’s glosses were frank and direct. The first film of the night, “Black Angel” (1946), was praised as an example of the genre par excellence, containing all the classic tropes of noir from gritty toughs to gorgeous dames. Conversely, he described the second film, “Blues in the Night” (1941), as a “deeply flawed” product that nevertheless held interest for the connoisseur on account of its germinal realization of noir as a genre and for its relative obscurity.
Hirsch delivers prescreening introductions throughout the remainder of the festival. “Noir City Boston” is programmed in collaboration with the Film Noir Foundation.
In other news at The Brattle, creative director Ned Hinkle announced the impending arrival of new seating. The new seating will look like the old seating but be placed in staggered formation so guests are not “staring at the head of the person in front of them.” The change will take place this summer.
About The Author
