Sin City Opening REDRAFT

How Does the Opening of ‘Sin City’ Show Conventions of Film Noir? REDRAFT!



The opening of ‘Sin City’, directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, draw in many elements and conventions of film noir to reinforce its story of corruption, immorality and crime.

It begins in the setting on a penthouse roof of a skyscraper, spanning over the large and dominating city; making the two characters, a male and female, seem lost and insignificant. The costumes of the two also portray common conventions of film noir, the stylish, sophisticated suit of the man and the red dress of the woman; both these outfits exaggerate each gender role, with the close hugging bright red dress tying-in with the role of the femme fatal as the male and the audience eyes are brought straight to the woman’s figure. There is a major contrast between the light of the interior of the building and the dark outside, which hints at the battle of morality taking place throughout the film. As the female is standing outside, the male, narrating, describes his entrance almost romantically and poetically; “She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree,” the dialogue reflecting the bleak, dark mood of the film. Instantly the viewer can tell he is in control when he announces that “I let her hear my footsteps. She only goes stiff for a moment."
The male’s first line of dialogue brings up a classic prop of film noir, “care for a smoke?” to which the female agrees. As each cigarette is lit, the viewer can notice a stark contrast between a clash of light and shadows on their faces, hinting at hidden characteristics of both characters. The extreme close-up of the cigarettes strengthens the role they take in film noir as do the extreme close-up of the female’s eyes, which glow green as the cigarette is lit, suggesting she is an enigmatic character and is hiding her true feelings and emotions. The females strong and independent role is shown with her line “are you as bored by the crowd as I am?” Emphasising the film noir role of a 'Femme Fatale' which is used by the director to arouse suspiscion and gain attention from the audience. he male replies again romantically, gushing that “I didn’t come here for the party. I came here for you.” Though this can be seen as romantic is does connotate the classic film noir theme of bleakness and unease in his dominance as a male character, and once again the audience's suspicion is arroused. His next line confirms this suspicion of a strange stalker and also again establishes the control and power he has when he declares that “I’ve watched you for days,” before returning to the romantic “You’re everything a man could ever want. It’s not just your face, your figure, or your voice, it’s your eyes. All the things I see in your eyes.” Its this constant jump from the cold, calculating stalker role into a romantic, gushing, handsome male that causes unease for the audience, and emphasises classic film noir themes of deception and a moral ambiguity the male seems to hold.

The woman, under the spell of the handsome, stylish and confident male, is intrigued deeply in this statement, asking “what is it you see in my eyes?” The male again states deeply “I see a crazy calm. You’re sick of running. You’re ready to face what you have to face. But you don’t want to face it alone.” “No. I don’t want to face it alone.” The audience is interested and yearning to find out what “it” is, a convention of film noir being a hidden twist or event to the plot which is brought into the scene. It is these enigmas used by the director that show film noir connotations and themes in this modern film.

The film then cuts to a animated clip of the characters embrace, the mis-en-scene is shown in complete stark contrast in black and white, highlighting the battle of morals and good and evil so common in film noir.

As the male narrates once more, the romantic and poetic theme is brought up more with the phrase “the wind rises electric. She’s soft and warm and almost weightless. Her perfume is sweet promise that brings tears to my eyes.” The characters embrace and kiss as the narration moves on, “I tell her that everything will be alright. That I’ll save her from whatever she’s scared of and take her far far away.” The pause between the two blunt phrases “I tell her…I love her,” arouses suspicion of deception which is confirmed when the male shoots the female. In an instant the romantic, poetic male is replaced with the calculating, blunt assassin who narrates the scene coldly, stating “the silencer makes a whisper of the gunshot, I hold her close until she’s gone, I’ll never know what she’s running from.” Before the utter coldness and lack of conscience in his words “I’ll cash her cheque in the morning.”

As the camera zooms out, the characters are shown in-between the light of the inside and the dark of the outside, displaying once again the theme of deception, corruption, a battle between good and evil. The birds-eye view shown sets the audience as almost a god-like figure, allowing them to watch the apperent small and insignificant characters battle the constanst war of moral bleakness in the film, it also establishes the audiences knowledge of what were the enigmas displayed.