This realism gives the spectator a privileged if not deceiving access into the fictional mind of the narrator.
In the words of Robert Porfirio “It is almost if the narrator takes a perverse pleasure in relating the events leading up to his current crisis.
Indeed this is something our antihero and narrational character Verbal Kint in Bryan Singers ‘Usual Suspects’ seems to revel in.
At the very birth of the opening sequence Singers groundbreaking Technicolor Noir masterpiece, we the audience are thrown not only into the films introduction of main denoted and visual connoted conflicts and enigmas, but also into easily recognisable indicators that this tale is, indeed of the Noir genre.
A haunting orchestral melody against a juxtapositioning of murky, dark yet calm waters - the only light being blurred reflections within them, is metaphorically and as aesthetically consistent to the Noir themes of Good and Evil, blurred reality and deception of truth.
Typically we the audience engage, through familiarisation with the codes of this genre – that right from the very start of this piece (like the reflection of light in water) we too will experience tensions between perspective and reality.
This in itself is a dark foretelling of what is to come as the layers of the film unravel before our eyes. It is through this early visualisation of enigma and moral conflict that Singer demonstrates not only a superb usage of Noir genre conventions but a skilled stretching of there boundaries.
A further usage of conventions of this genre can be witnessed in the naturalistic settings of water and light. Singer again expands these conventions to create conflict between these ‘pure’ settings and the man made ‘evil’ to come, as is suggested by the connotations of an imposing credit sequence and sinister soundtrack over this scene of uneasy tranquillity.
Written codes are then simplistically used in an “old school” filmatic style to establish the time and location of ‘San Pedro, last night’ this technique by Singer places the audience into a false security with the ‘truth’ of the narration throughout the film – and again within genre conventions ultimately misleads them, but in a more sophisticated style then previously seen in other films such as Hitchcock’s ‘Stage fright’ (1950). This early use of flashback noir technique becomes the first intricate stitching in the structural narrative of the film.
Our introduction to the character of ‘Keaton’ (his charactorial identity at this point unknown to us) comes in the form of an incandescent light against the nebulous dark which surrounds him as he lights a match. Again in this we see the convention of light contrasting dark shadows and a furthering metaphorical reference through recognisable symbolism to Kujons later misled belief that he is ‘The Devil’-Kaiser Soze. Keatons erratic introduction to us moments before his death reveals Noir conventional use of nightmarish, erotically abstract and perverse cruelty. Moments later we witness his execution following the introduction of his name through charactorial dialogue by a shadowed narrational character. We later learn through dialogue in the film that this is the infamous ‘Kaiser Soze’.
The common placed Noir “personal savagery” upon the audience is formed in the perverse image of a fire trail catalysed by a near dead Keaton, being quenched by the urine of his shadowed assailant. This however, sophisticatedly demonstrates through camera tracking of the running liquid – an investigative framework used throughout the narration but more commonly utilised in the form of flashbacks. This bitterness and inhumanity between the power-holder and the seemingly helpless is later demonstrated in the relationship between Detective Kujon and Verbal Kint, only to be abstracted again upon conclusion.
We see a clever technique by Singer of using the simplistic prop of the shadowed (yet
familiar to Keaton) character’s watch during his final dialogue with his victim to later determine who infact he is.
Throughout the film clues are provided to the audience not only about ‘Kaiser Sozes’ real identity but that this indeed a Noir film, this doubled meaning ambiguity in itself is an expansion and highly capable usage by singer of convention.
We the audience experience the theme of alienation with the characters as constant shadowing in the key sequences of plotline and cropped midshot images unenable us to easily determine who is talking to whom. It is through this we can feel a representation of Detective Kujons ‘blindness’ in the case.
We experience this confusion most solidly in the initial interrogation scenes between Kint, Macmanus, and other key ‘dark/bad’ characters and the ‘light/good’ character of who we can only recognise later through familiarity his colloquial diction to be Detective Kujon.
The film is littered with enigmas not only the primary ‘who killed Keaton?’ but the subsequent search for the identity of ‘Kaiser Soze’. As with Michael Curtiz’s ‘Mildred Pierce’ we are denied instantaneous resolution of key enigmas within the opening sequence. Yet Singer expands this through code layering and cryptic clue never really giving his audience definitive answers to their questions the realisation of Detective Kujons character near the end of the film. Again with this we are being thrown into the perspective of ‘The Detective’ and Singer is enforcing as much upon his audience, “role” as the actors within the film.
One of the many ironies within the film is Verbal’s initial interrogation with his composition against the backdrop of a statue of justice. This pessimistic outlook for moral justice is again traditional Noir. This play with the audience’s perspective is also shown through the featuring of Kujon in low angle shots – giving the audience a false impression of his characters overall power dynamic in the plot, and conflicting themes of Good and Evil.This convention is also used in ‘Mildred Pierce’but not arguably as effectively so as Singers encorporation of it into his audience’s confusion.
In conclusion, from the opening sequence alone it is not only clear Singer utilises nearly all of the aforementioned recognisable characteristics, narrational techniques, genres and recognisable signatures of Film Noir,but that he twists these complexly in order to create layering of meaning and a deconstructionalist plot line for his audience.
We are given implausible and inconsistent clues and narration throughout the piece, alongside edgy performances which create a near religious intensity throughout film.
