The Cinematheque

“The most American film genre, because no society could have created a world so filled with doom, fate, fear, and betrayal, unless it were essentially naïve and optimistic.”

Roger Ebert

Summer brings its usual dose of darkness to The Cinematheque courtesy of film noir, that irresistibly unsavoury school of mid-century American moviemaking defined by its emblematic aesthetics and obsession with bad behaviour.

This season, we’re drawing from the postwar catalogue to assemble a murderers’ row of eight gripping crime thrillers, each haunted in its own way by the tremors of WWII. Half of the films arrive in brand-new restorations, with perhaps Robert Siodmak’s unassailable 1946 classic The Killers the showpiece of the restored lineup. Of those noirs receiving premiere status in our series, none cast a shadow longer than They Live by Night, Nicholas Ray’s landmark debut and historically unbookable film this side of the border. To celebrate its overdue anointment, we’re juxtaposing it with New Hollywood heavyweight Robert Altman’s Thieves Like Us, a dissimilarly great adaptation of the same source material. We also pay tribute to Marilyn Monroe, born a century ago this year, with screenings of her Technicolor noir Niagara, famous for elevating MM to Hollywood’s A‑list.

Our sidebar, meanwhile, detours to ​’90s Japan for a trilogy of postmodern neo-noirs by Hayashi Kaizo. Each stars screen idol Nagase Masatoshi (Mystery Train) as private eye Maiku Hama, an ironic homage to the Mickey Spillane pulp antihero of, among others, Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (also screening).

Join us on opening night for a ​’50s-themed courtyard shindig before Niagara, featuring vinyl jazz, boozy beverages, and the latest drop of noir merchandise.

Opening Night July 30 (Thursday)
6:00 pm — Courtyard Shindig
6:45 pm — Niagara
8:45 pm — The Killers