Week 25.47 - Socials Roundup - NOIRVEMBER Pt 3
17 Nov - 23 Nov 2025 A Different World; High and Low; No Country for Old Men; Veronica Mars; Safe in Hell
Week 25.47 posts include Noir-ish shots from A Different World (1987-1993); Veronica Mars (2004-2006); High and Low (1963); No Country for Old Men (2007); and Safe in Hell (1931).
High and Low
We took a good, hard look at how High and Low blocks and frames its devil and angel . . . and how it uses horn-rimmed eyeglasses to great effect.
The film also uses glasses in its climax, in this case reflective sunglasses to make its villain look like an otherworldly creature with small fires burning in his eye sockets.
A Different World
We interrupt our usual Noirvember coverage to celebrate a momentous occasion.
Today marks exactly thirty-six years from this scene in A Different World 3.05 "Forever Hold Your Peace”
That auspicious day in 1989 where Dwayne and Whitley promised they'd marry each other if they were still single in sixty years.
Veronica Mars
Stu and Mel (and Chas!) did a whole Draft Zero episode on Veronica Mars’ voiceover, and 1.12 “Clash of the Tritons” illustrates how the show further plays with the concept.
Veronica’s explanation (from 0:31) “This doesn’t make sense . . . ” feels like Veronica’s typical voiceover, and the visual language is consistent with what often accopanies those voiceovers, IE shots of what Veronica’s looking at.
Then the scene cuts to a split diopter shot of Veronica and Wallace (note the blur on her shoulder showing the ‘split,’ and also this is not the first time the show has used such a shot).
It’s at this cut, when the sound doesn’t shift, we realise Veronica’s been talking to herself, not the audience . . . just as Wallace responds “I’m still here, ya know.”
No Country for Old Men
This whole mini-section of a longer chase sequence relies on Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) using mirrors and reflections to see and avoid his pursuer.
So it’s not merely a beautiful cinematographic touch, it’s on theme, that we can see his reflections in the car’s chrome trim the whole time.
Safe in Hell
Similar to how White Heat used prison bars to make the whole frame look like a spiderweb, this shot from Safe in Hell shows us that even though Gilda thinks she has escaped, she is in fact still trapped . . . she just doesn’t realize it yet.
