Adapted from a novel by Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet (1990) is an underrated neo-noir that is set in the outskirts of Palm Springs, California. Wandering out of the desert is a drifter, Kid Collins (Jason Patric), an ex-boxer who tells us over voice over narration that he’s escaped from a mental ward. In flashbacks, we see that Collins was responsible for a death in the ring, the reason for his hospitalisation. While Collins nurses a cold beer in a dead beat bar, Fay (Rachel Ward) is drinking wine a few seats over. And in the spark of attraction is a dark destiny where Collins is seen as a potential partner in a kidnapping plot presided over by the sinister smile of Fay’s Uncle Bud (Bruce Dern). I’m a lover of neo-noir because of its style, and the iteration of that style over the different decades, how it evolves with the era. Yet I believe the best examples often add something more, pushing beyond superficial archetypes to give a human quality to the characters, a sense that they have dimension and intrigue even if their ends are prescribed as fatalistic due to the genre. This is the case with After Dark, My Sweet, which might seem like a lot of 1990s neo-noir cliches on the surface, but gives you believable, rounded characters and never leaves them on solid footing with each other. The trio of performances are all great, each actor is firing on all cylinders, particularly Patric who – in contrast to his weary, measured line readings of Thompson’s prose in voice over – is a nervy, twitchy presence. A loser taken advantage by Fay and Bud yet completely underestimated. Directed by James Foley who had also previously made the true crime neo-noir, At Close Range, and there’s a similar care for the visual aesthetic. It’s a good looking, stylish movie with framing and flourishes that feel tied to the characters’ perspective and emotion. Maurice Jarre provides a throwback orchestral score of swooning, melancholic flourishes. Available to rent on iTunes. Recommended.
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