The visual quality of this film is indeed darker than other films that we have watched in the class. Unlike most of the classical hollywood films which tend to use high-key lighting that creates an evenly and softly lit environment, Out of the Past uses a lot of low-key lighting like the German Expressionism films in the 10s and 20s. This lighting creates streak contrast of white and black, without much transitional greys in between. It is visually dramatic. A lot of times, the black areas in the film almost become graphic blocks that diminish information of the environment or the characters and also reduce a clear feeling of how deep is the space. That lack of information, sometimes including the facial expressions of characters, and of spacial orientation put the audience in an unsettling state and elicit heightened emotions.
Though it is a black and white film that could not show…
