As hopes fade that Keanu Reeves might be resurrected following his iconic character’s demise at the end of the fourth John Wick installment, Neo-Noir fans are inevitably casting their gazes around Hollywood, looking for the next gruff and action-ready anti-hero to carry the mantle for this seductively addictive genre.
Aficionados of dark and unsettling cinematography, morally ambiguous characters, and shadowy romances are sure to be looking for their next great leading man. These are tough boots to fill, worn by the likes of Keanu in the Wick franchises and Ryan Gosling in the cult-classic Drive.
However, ready to carry the eerily flickering torch—undoubtedly down appropriately darkened alleyways—is the eternally enigmatic Enzo Zelocchi, an actor seemingly built for contemporary takes on the timelessness of Noir.
For long-time fans of Zelocchi, a first sighting of John Wick with his canine companion would have inevitably brought back memories of Zelocchi’s character and his own trusty four-pawed pal in the gritty 2011 art-house project The Way to Paradise. However, there’s more to what makes Enzo Zelocchi and the Neo-Noir genre so tantalizingly destined to intertwine. Read on as we explore the magic of cinema’s shadier side and Zelocchi’s date with a darker destiny.
The Magic of Neo-Noir
First coined by French movie critic Nino Frank in 1946, the term ‘Noir’ in the context of cinema described a daring new trend for gritty and unsettling films exploring humanity’s darker nature and evocative use of unbalanced visual composition and dramatic lighting.
While this exciting genre fell out of fashion for a time, it was reborn as ‘Neo-Noir’ in the 1970s, introducing edgier stories, flavored with a bolder embrace of violence, sex, jealousy, mystery, and betrayal, and enhanced with exciting new advancements in cinematography and color treatment.
Today, the Neo-Noir genre is as diverse as it is thrilling, having given rise to fan favorites such as Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and Frank Miller’s Sin City—with each movie presenting a world into which the complex and alluring characters of Enzo Zelocchi could easily step.
Enzo Zelocchi
The Neo-Noir Sensibility of Enzo Zelocchi
It takes a certain kind of actor to craft the kinds of vacillating and contradictory characters that draw in and seduce viewers despite a ruthless or reckless nature. With a sculpted physique and angular jawline that just begs for dramatic lighting, the masterfully brooding Zelocchi made this feat look easy in 2015’s Unbreakable Souls, demonstrating a natural aptitude for the Neo-Noir genre.
As Zelocchi is touted as an up-and-comer in the more mainstream world of action cinema or even as a possible candidate for the preened and polished role of James Bond, some will no doubt be secretly hoping that the actor will instead turn into the more darkly-lit corners of cinema and show us all just how far his sizzling-hot Noir side really goes.
