Mean Streets and Meaner Women

They’re pictures that hit you in the gut like a shot of warm whiskey and are as compellingly watchable as a dame in a kimono. The inky, nihilistic atmospherics of film noir grew out of postwar malaise and, through the ‘50s, these claustrophobic flicks were more inseparable from theaters than a gumshoe from his roscoe.

When color became the film stock of choice, noir virtually died off, but occasionally an aspirant auteur like John Dahl or Quentin Tarantino revisits the form--and we can still appreciate the color of the films’ posters and the covers of the books on which they were based.

For two weeks--Jan. 27 to Feb. 9--the Nuart will present “Pulp Noir,” a two-fisted film festival featuring both classic noir films and more recent efforts, including works by directors such as John Huston (“The Maltese Falcon,” Feb. 4), Howard Hawks (“The Big Sleep,” Jan. 27), Robert Aldrich (“Kiss Me Deadly,” Jan. 31) and Billy Wilder (“Double Indemnity,” Feb 9).

Also included are takes on the genre by such unlikely filmmakers as Stanley Kubrick (“The Killing,” Jan. 30), Robert Altman (“The Long Goodbye,” Feb. 8) and Jean-Luc Godard (“Band of Outsiders,” Feb. 6). And Dahl and Tarantino will be featured, as well. Information: (310) 478-6379.