Might that be an impediment to finding a readership?
Well, it is in line with the other books in the Pocket Essentials series, that is, titles which have the virtue of succinctly telling the reader exactly what the book is about. But yes, “Neo Noir” would probably have been more marketable, and if a second edition comes out, we’ll probably change the title. My goal was to carve out film soleil as its own distinct genre with roots in film noir. Neo noir is a wised-up hip extension of old noir, parallel to film soleil, but different. So how did the notion of film soleil spring to mind in the first place? The concept came together for me in 1990 with the release of James Foley’s After Dark, My Sweet. What had been up until than a vague impression about recent crime films such as Kill Me Again, The Hit, Breathless and many others coalesced into the idea that something new was happening in the genre – in fact, the birth of a wholly new genre in its own right. I reflected on films such as Red Rock West, The Hot Spot, The Grifters and Delusion,
