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The Yards (James Gray, 2000): neo-noir as generic hybrid

2012; Klincksieck; Volume: Vol. 64; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3917/etan.644.0455

1965-0159

Christophe Gelly,

Cinema and Media Studies

Résumé The Yards (James Gray, 2000) is a thriller whose connection to the genre of film noir or to its more recent neo-noir variation is problematic, since it apparently fails to evince the features attached to each form clearly. This study attempts to analyse the thematic and narrative structure of the film in order to identify both the influence of classical devices from American cinema and the presence of subtle reworkings of the noir and neo-noir tradition. Eventually, the focus of the film on the characters’ distorted representation of reality and of their relationships to other protagonists suggests it should be realigned within the subjectivist perspective typical of postmodernist neo-noir.