Introduction

Abstract

Film noir has been a problematic category of cinema since its inception. In a form of critical nomenclature, the term was initially coined by a French critic shortly after World War II to describe a group of dark films imported from America. The term, film noir, was not in use in America until the late 1960s. Film noir, however, still remains as a problematic category now. This is due to the fact that film noir has been appropriated worldwide, and its application in other countries usually involves cross-genre and cross-cultural practices. In Hong Kong, the use of noirish hybridic form actually has a longer history then that of film noir and neo-noir. The hybrid may find roots in the ‘50s of the last century. Even if sometimes the local cinema might make films noirs or neo-noir films, the cinematic practices do not necessarily share the American agenda.