The Case of Collateral: A Neo Noir--Shafrarisi

Shafrarisi Bonner

HONOR 101C FYS: NOIR FILM & NOVEL

Michael Sinowitz

December 7, 2017

                                         The Case of Collateral: A Neo Noir

         Michael Mann’s 2004 film Collateral, plays an important role in neo noir film. It tells the story of a taxi driver in Los Angeles, a hot spot for film noir, who is driving around a notorious hitman. Together they drive around the dangerous and narcotic filled areas of L.A on an unspoken business plan. By far this film shows an excellent example of film noir and the changes it went through over time. While watching Collateral, students will be thrown into a hot seat of real postmodern neo noir. Despite being filmed in the 2005, many years after noir was in its prime, director Michael Mann constantly captures key elements of noir. These elements includes distrust for those around you, suspense, murder, and series of unfortunate events. The plot an great elements that Michael Mann incorporates as a direction makes this Neo-noir sensation a perfect addition to our class syllabus.

         Throughout this course, we have been discussing Raymond Durgnat and many other esteemed noir critics concepts of the “family tree” of film noir. This family tree shed light onto the different branches of noir, which makes them different in plot but still remains similar in the style (Durgnat, 21). In terms of neo-noir films such as, Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, etc. these films gives a contemporary spin. They include characters that are constantly battling interpersonal issues, gruesome murders, or scenes with naked women. Neo-noir also makes the audience more aware of the artistic effort. This can be through style, the combat used in fights, location, and even the cool suave personalities of the characters. Collateral provided a sleek metallic-est view of modern noir. I believe that it also concretes the image of what we know as neo-noir. It does a great job at of displaying 1940s noir in the modern 2000s.

       In Collateral, we are introduced to the dark streets of Los Angeles. During the opening scene, cars are constantly moving back and forth on the dark pavement. It gives the feelings of loneliness, eeriness, and sadness. We soon begin to see through feelings in the main character Max,. Max has been a cab driver for 12 years and has the hopes of creating a limousine company. His cabbie job is just a fill in until he can gain enough money to lease luxury cars and have a great staff. However, Max’s peace is simply staring at a photo of a tropical island, imagining himself on a vacation. This is how he’s able to cope with the challenges of being a nighttime cab driver. This all is disrupted when he’s met by a man by the name of Vincent, whose grey hair and suit immediately make him stand out.

         Vincent, in the viewpoint of Max, is simply another passenger who is in need of a ride. Max doesn’t seem to have any suspicion of Vincent. He brings a cool and mysterious aura to him, similar to Humphrey Bogart’s character, Samuel Spade. However, these two characters are far from similar. Max sooner realizes that Vincent is no ordinary passenger. As Max dropped Vincent off at his first pitstop, moments later a body came crashing onto his burgundy taxicab. Vincent emerges right after the body falls and threats Max with a gun. “Get in the fucking car and don’t move”, he says. It is this scene, that highlights Vincent’s character. He is not an ordinary passenger in an Los Angeles taxi. Vincent is a high profiled gunman.

         As the story unravels, Vincent is a hitman whose job isn’t spoken of. It is until we are dropped in into a police scene and met by Detective Fanning that we learn that Vincent’s a criminal who is targeting men who are involved in an extricate narcotics ring. This ring is intertwined with both gangsters and high profiled lawyers, who have dirtied their hands in criminal work. Vincent and Max drive around to harsh neighbors, jazz bars, and Korean clubs killing suspects and even detectives who are hot on their trail. The relationship that they share is similar to the ‘men in black’ of Pulp Fiction, John Travolta and Samuel Jackson. They are constantly on time for their murders and commit ‘perfect crimes’, an aspect that noir stresses. Each of their cab trips are perfectly timed, taking into consideration traffic and routes. However similar to most noirs, the story has a never- ending puzzle that keeps the audience intrigued.

         Similar to classic film noir, the important key scenes of this movie take place in dark rooms, alleys, motel rooms, and offices. An example of this is when Vincent goes into a greasy dark motel room and kills a Hispanic drug lord, Ramone. However, this neo noir film shows a power dynamic that transforms into a power struggle, which we have scene through films such as Out of the Past between Kathie and Bailey. Constantly Vincent has dominance over Max. To get him to comply to his wishes, Vincent holds Max at gunpoint several times. However, the power struggle begins when Max has reached his breaking point. Vincent has targeted the women whom Max has feelings for, Annie Farrell, a high-profiled lawyer who represents the Department of Justice. Max and Annie only shared a business relationship, she has been a customer of his cab services, however they share an instant connection. Both of them are individuals who aren’t happy with what they’re doing with their lives. Some might argue that Annie could be a femme fatale, however I don’t believe so. She is the last victim on Vincent’s list and holds all the key evidence to imprison his employer. Although Annie holds the most power in that sense, her character is not ‘a danger to herself and to others’. She is simply just a prosecutor who isn’t very happy with her job, however she still does great work on her cases.

Annie is revealed to have a major role in the case of the intricate drug ring. She is a day away from an important trial in her career. It isn’t until Max discovers Vincent targeting Annie, the truth of the story unravels. Vincent’s employer goes by the name of Felix, the man whose case Annie is in charge of. All the men that has been on his radar is the witnesses who will put Felix behind bars. By killing off all witnesses and the prosecutor of the case, Vincent’s employer will be a free man. After struggling and running for their lives, Annie and Max finally have the courage to defeat Vincent. During the time of his death, Vincent tells a story about a man who dies on a metro train and goes unnoticed. This story was introduced at the beginning of the film and became Vincent’s fate. Most critics would argue that due to Collateral seemingly happy ending that it should not be considered as a neo-noir. However, despite a key target being killed, Vincent still cause trauma and terror to many people (mostly Max). From this, Max might have the same distrust in authority that Vincent had or might be mentally triggered by doing a job he had plans of expanding. Vincent placed a hold of the lives of many, which I would say is the most darkest thing that a noir and neo-noir film can have. He had broken the spirits of people who were just getting by. From this and the evidence I had unloaded, such as the killings and power Vincent had, Collateral is definitely a neo-noir!

         I believe that the film Collateral does a great job at shedding light upon the views of current films that we have been analyzing. The term neo-noir and the context behind it is something that we as a class have been trying to figure out. Esteemed noir critics such as, Fredric Jameson have labeled this branch of noir as ‘postmodern pastiche’. This term means that the films we currently label as thrillers and crime thrillers are contemporary styles that mock the original style. Jameson claims that "Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language”. However, I feel that this film sheds light on neo-noir being a branch of noir with family characteristics.

         Through analyzing and adding Collateral to the syllabus, we can interpret the new trends we see in noir. Film noir has changed throughout time depending on the shifts of society’s subculture and values. In the 1930s through the 1950s, a time period where noir was at its prime, films were constantly released that resonated with the values of society. We’ve seen women be housewives, examples of vanity, and the transition into the rebel to good girl. This is what we have been seeing in noir! Directors have been taking up a more contemporary rather than classical style. Neo noir films show women in positions to where they empower themselves or aren’t depending on men for emotional or physical support. They also show a lot of crime, drugs, and a heavy influence on the “good” guy saving the day. Neo noirs are just reflecting the values that the millennial generation has.

            By adding Michael Mann’s film Collateral, the class would be able to further dive into the definition of neo noir and note the changes that they have seen from Out of the Past (1947) to neo noir films from 1970s to 2000s. It will provide a great insight on whether or not students agree with James Naremore and Fredric Jameson on their views of generic transformation and postmodern pastiche. They can either take the stance of whether it is a subgenre of noir sharing family qualities or a parody. I strongly believe that the introduction of the movie will highlight key terms, such as pastiche and generic transformation, that students possibly have a hard time understanding. The only examples of pastiche highlighted by noir critics that the class has been introduced to was Chinatown (1974). I strongly believe that Collateral will be a great example of neo noir and should be added to our syllabus!