There are a few days left in the festival but I am done with Noir City DC for 2023 at the AFI Silver Theater. I saw 9 films this year, more that double my count for last year's festival. I saw 5 films the first week and 4 films the second week. I found something nice to say about all of them but I didn't feel the same about all of them.
Week 1
Week 2
The Big Clock and The Velvet Touch were my standout favorites. I also really enjoyed Road House and Sleep, My Love. All the films that were shown on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays were introduced by either Eddie Muller (aka the Tsar of Noir) or film historian Foster Hirsch. Muller introduced movies the first week end and Hirsch introduced movies during the second weekend.
I only saw one film (Call Northside 777) without an introduction by one of the two experts. I saw all but one of the movies (Sorry, Wrong Number) on the theater's biggest screen. The only film that I had seen before was Key Largo. There were a number of actors who showed up in more than one of the films I saw.
- Sydney Greenstreet (Ruthless and The Velvet Touch)
- Rita Johnson (The Big Clock and Sleep, My Love)
- Dan Tobin (The Big Clock and The Velvet Touch)
- Claire Trevor (Key Largo and The Velvet Touch)
- Theresa Harris (The Big Clock and The Velvet Touch)
I plan to return and see more film noir in 2024 at Noir City DC. If I push it I might manage to see 10-12 films next year. It sounds like they are going to be showing double features pairing foreign and American films at next year's film festival but that is speculation on my part based on what I have heard Eddie Muller say on his YouTube show.
The list of films showing at next year's Noir City DC probably won't be released until September but looking at the list of titles showing at Noir City San Francisco in Jan 2024 should provide some indication of the possibilities of what will show several months later at Noir City DC.
