After Dark, My Sweet

This is a moody, oblique, adult thriller that seems to bore most of the reviewers so far, making me think that they're all mostly adolescent-type viewers. While not a perfect film noir, AFTER DARK, MY SWEET is a particularly unusual one in that it uses bright atmospherics as opposed to the standard dark ones used to enhance the downward decadence of the material. This picture was made at a time when pulp novelist Thompson was getting a bit of a revival on screen, with a remake of THE GETAWAY and a nifty film version of THE GRIFTERS. The remarkable French film COUP DE TORCHON, also based on a Thompson novel (entitled POP. 1280) uses the same bright noir approach. AFTER DARK, MY SWEET stands admirably along side all these films as a relevant tribute to a writer who often exposed people's dark anxieties with tough, stylish precision! Check out the widescreen Artisan DVD for some nicely done and highly-recommended, adult moviemaking.