Great adventure cinema and film noir. Oksana Musienko

The book by the famous film critic and teacher, Professor Oksana Stanislavivna Musienko is dedicated to the study of popular genres of screen arts: fantasy, western and film noir.

The author examines the process of formation of these genre formations, their evolution from frank entertainment to acquiring the features of works of high artistic quality. It is noted that fantasy, westerns and film noir, without losing their expressiveness and spectacularity, open up new opportunities for authorial expression and become a platform for bold creative experiments. Special emphasis is placed on the trends that are most significantly manifested in the modern reading of these genres.

The section “Great Adventure Cinema” explores westerns and fantasy, which are deeply rooted in the archetypes of the collective unconscious and use the motif of the “hero’s journey.” The film adaptations of Arthurian, the mythopoetic world of John Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings) and the epic of George Martin (Game of Thrones) are analyzed through the prism of the Middle Ages. The phenomenon of Andrzej Sapkowski (The Witcher) is studied separately, in particular, its Polish and international (Netflix) film adaptations. As for the Western, its origin, evolution, mythological foundations (in particular, the myths of women, horses, weapons), the influence of spaghetti Westerns and the "revisionist" Western in the work of Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers are considered.

The section "Film Noir" is dedicated to the "black film", which arose from the detective, thriller and gangster film, but shifted the focus of attention to the inner world of the characters. The origins of noir, its connection with German expressionism and the American hard-boiled detective are investigated. The image of the "femme fatale" ("black widow") and the archetype of the criminal-intellectual are analyzed. The stylistics of noir (low-key lighting, long diagonal shadows) are highlighted, as well as its French face, including Melville's polarities and the influence on the "new wave". Later forms - neo-noir - are also considered.

The book is addressed both to film professionals and to a wide readership.