What is "Film Noir"...?

"Film Noir" is essentially Dark Movies with Dark concepts particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation...

Film noirs embrace a variety of genres, from the gangster film to the police procedural to the so-called social problem picture, and evidence a variety of visual approaches, from meat-and-potatoes Hollywood mainstream to outré. While many critics refer to film noir as a genre itself, others argue that it can be no such thing. Though noir is often associated with an urban setting, for example, many classic noirs take place mainly in small towns, suburbia, rural areas, or on the open road, so setting can not be its genre determinant, as with the Western.

Hope this helps.

It french for Black Film

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression.

The term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946,

A lot of times in Film Noir (French for black film), it's hard to find characters who are completely pure. In the forties and fifties, they used dark lighting to highlight the darkness within the characters hearts and the often dark and dangerous situations they often found themselves in. In modern Noir, they still use dark, dreadful, mysterious and dangerous setting for the movies. But now Noir seems to focus more on the darkness within the characters than the darkness of their surroundings.

Examples of modern or more recent Film Noir or Noir-ish films:

Gone Baby Gone

Se7en

The Usual Suspects

A History of Violence

Fargo (here is a good example of very dark, characters, in a bleak, but more well lit, setting, as it is set in a snow covered place)

Sin City

Reservoir Dogs

Pulp Fiction (another one. Not so dark from a lighting standpoint, but many self centered, dark, not so nice characters)

No Country for Old Men

Memento

Miller's Crossing

L.A. Confidential

Blade Runner

Basic Instinct

its a cinematic term that describes stylish hollywood crime dramas. my source will explain more.