This was the 10th anniversary of Noirvember this year! It was really amazing to see just how wide spread the celebration has grown over the last decade. I’m grateful for everyone who participates, and am so happy that so many people are able to discover new favorites every year. As always, you can see all the films I watched in November, plus a few highlighted favorites, after the cut.

1. The King (2019)
2. Holiday In The Wild
3. Please Murder Me!
4. Lady in the Death House
5. Nocturne
6. The Lodger (1944)
7. Inner Sanctum
8. Fear (1946)
9. Accomplice
10. Anon
11. The Lighthouse
12. The Crimson Kimono
13. Mute (2018)
14. Time Table
15. Let It Snow
16. Bob le Flambeur
17. Cry of the City
18. Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate)
19. Medium Cool
20. The Don Is Dead
21. Earthquake Bird
22. Hell Bound
23. Last Christmas
24. Whistle Stop
25. The Limping Man
26. The Pretender (1947)
27. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
28. Behind Green Lights
29. The Knight Before Christmas
30. Small Town Crime
31. Conflict
32. Brittany Runs a Marathon
33. The Lineup
34. The Sleeping Tiger
35. Banyon
36. The Burglar
37. The Irishman
38. Another Man’s Poison
39. Photograph
40. Port of New York
41. Atlantique (Atlantics)
42. J’ai perdu mon corps (I Lost My Body)
43. The Edge of Democracy
44. Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator
45. Knives Out
46. Jojo Rabbit
47. Serenity (2019)
48. Shoot To Kill
49. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

1880s: 0
1890s: 0
1900s: 0
1910s: 0
1920s: 0
1930s: 0
1940s: 13
1950s: 11
1960s: 1
1970s: 2
1980s: 0
1990s: 1
2000s: 0
2010s: 21

Just a note: most of the films that are Netflix films I have watched way before when I post about them (because it’s my job!), so I wait until they are available on the service to include them in my round up.

This year for Noirvember I watched a lot of lower budget films (and some neo-noir), and there were three films that really stuck with me through the month. I also want to highlight two 2019 films that I loved, and one new-to-me celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.

Nocturne, 1946 (dir. Edwin L. Marin)

I never would have thought that George Raft could be so charming! This film follows an LA police detective (Raft) investigating the possible suicide (but probable homicide) of a famous musician. As I said, Raft is incredibly charming (maybe even a little sexy???) in this film, while Lynn Bari almost steals the show. Glad I finally caught up with this film.

Cry of the City, 1948 (dir. Robert Siodmak)

You really can’t go wrong with Robert Siodmak. He is one of the undisputed masters of this era. Shot on location throughout NYC, this film follows two police detectives (Victor Mature and Fred Clark) as they haunt for a fugitive (Richard Conte). You also get bonus early appearances by Debra Paget and Shelley Winters. This is everything you want from Fox during this period.

The Pretender, 1947 (dir. W. Lee Wilder)

This was a true low-budget b-noir and I loved every 70 minutes of it. It follows a man (Albert Dekker) who puts a hit on a woman’s fiancée – without telling the person who hired the hit the name of the fiancée – but when she decides to marry him instead, the man who is hiring the hit dies before it can be called off. Dekker spends the rest of the film paranoid that someone is going to kill him. It’s delightful.

Medium Cool, 1969 (dir. Haskell Wexler)

I saw this at the New Bev as part of their month-long tribute to the late Robert Forster and it really knocked me out. It’s the kind of movie that when it’s over you wonder why any one else makes movies if they aren’t like this. I would suggest going in not knowing much about the plot or the filmmaking story and just let it wash over you.

The Irishman, 2019 (dir. Martin Scorsese)

All I’m gonna say is this is the perfect culmination of many careers. The ultimate “late” film.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, 2019 (dir. Marielle Heller)

I wasn’t sure if I would like this movie as I didn’t grow up with a lot of Mister Rogers and I wasn’t a big fan of the doc from last year. But Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? from last year was one of my favorites, so I gave it a chance. And boy am I glad I did. It hit from a very deep, emotional place that I was not expecting. I felt some parallels with the protagonist (the journalist played by Matthew Rhys, not Roger – though Tom Hanks is excellent in his role) and it almost felt like I was getting therapy from Fred Rogers from beyond the grave.

Now we are in December, which means the rush to cram in all the end-of-the-year movies. I’m traveling one more time for work this year, so I don’t know how much I’ll actually be able to cram. Surreal that not only is this the end of the year, but it’s the end of a decade. And what a decade it’s been.