With The Kid Detective out and Jack and David Fincher’s Mank lurking, we stumble out of the past into Noirvember in search of the very best, most stylish, noir and neo-noir. French critic Nino Frank wrapped up the hallmarks of the genre with the term ‘film noir’ back in 1946. Movies, generally about a crime, but not really about the crime, that are exceptional for their style, their reflection of the times (the Depression, war, post-war existentialism, present-day fatalism), their spotlight on corruption (of the press, the police, public office, take your pick), and the injustices of the powerful against the powerless. Also: cynical protagonists running from their pasts (cue flashbacks), femmes and hommes-fatale, diabolical mobsters, sadistic violence, innuendo-laden dialogue, shadowy cinematography. Once more into Nightmare Alley, angel heart.