Noir Nights With Josh Fadem
Circle Cinema
April 15, 2024
Considering what he does for a living, it’s no surprise that actor and comedian Josh Fadem (Better Call Saul, Twin Peaks, Reservation Dogs) is fascinated by film history. During COVID lockdowns, like many of us, Fadem passed the time watching movies, drawn especially to the Criterion Channel’s film noir series and the TCM app’s “Noir Alley” nights. (“Noir Alley” is hosted by Eddie Muller, author of the essential Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir.) Fadem’s period of late-night isolation eventually led to one of Tulsa’s most beloved new community gatherings: Noir Nights at Circle Cinema.
Fadem calls film noir “an expressionistic document of its time.” Noir features a signature visual palette and expressive, emotional performances that mark its early twentieth century genesis, but Fadem hopes contemporary audiences will also recognize the form’s modern ideas. In his deep engagement with noir during the pandemic, Fadem noticed themes and techniques, such as melodrama and the intricacies of tension and mood, that he knew would be interesting to a live audience in Tulsa given our city’s unique architecture, cinematic landscapes and histories of violence.
Once the world began opening back up to public gatherings, Fadem found himself back home in Tulsa, where he now splits his time with Oklahoma City. His first Noir Night screening was in March of last year, and it soon became a mainstay on Circle Cinema’s calendar. (A parallel series also now runs at OKC’s Rodeo Cinema.) Fadem regularly chooses films that are a surprise to attendees until the screening begins.
I went to April’s Noir Night with my 78-year-old mother, who has attended nearly every screening since the series kickoff. We raced over to the theater after shepherding my kiddo back and forth to swim practice, and I really should have planned better. We arrived with about ten minutes to showtime, and nearly every seat was taken. Word to the wise: the theater manager mentioned that ticketholders begin arriving an hour early for the best seats.
Fadem begins Noir Nights with a few lighthearted words of welcome followed by a short video introduction to the evening’s selection, in which he provides notes about the director, actors, key scenes, settings, etc. (delivered with a dose of hilarity). This video seems key to the audience experience, and Fadem says he’s not exactly sure why, since he could just as easily share this same information in live remarks.