Hot File Action

[Incandenza]

Was watching Zodiac for the 100th time the other day, it's definitely one of my favourite films from the last few years. I think it's incredibly well constructed and gripping, and it falls into a category of film that I like to term 'File Films'. These are films that feature people running about and throwing files at each other, realising things, going to interview people, then realising more things, then probably finding some new files.

They're most often police procedurals, like Zodiac, Memories of Murder (Fantastic if you haven't seen it), Manhunter/Red Dragon, LA Confidential (only loosely file related), things like that.
But they can also be a bit different like All the President's Men or JFK.
TV versions exist like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

My favourites are the serial killer chases, followed by OMG IT'S A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY.

It's not as simple as a good detective story. If it was there'd be no shortage of that. It's films that make very few concessions to the audience and don't simplify the information. Obviously, cracking dialogue is essential to keep the ball rolling. Most detective films and shows just don't offer this.

Typical features include lots of information thrown at you very fast, treating the audience like intelligent people, an obsessive and frazzled leading character, generally grotty surroundings (lots of cigarettes, coffee and filing cabinets), someone walking into a room with a file and saying "You've got to read this", and a moment where you go OH SHIT IT'S THAT GUY HE DID IT.

Just wondering if anyone shares my love for file films, and whether there are any I've missed?

[ThickAndCreamy]

This isn't a film, but I presume you've seen The Wire?

It seems pretty much exactly what you want, and is one of the greatest and most complex dramas I've ever seen on television.

[Incandenza]

Indeed I have seen The Wire, but it's a good shout. Some good file action going on in that.
I'd also recommend Edge of Darkness for more thrilling, complex tv.

[vrailaine]

All The Presidents Men?

[Famous Mortimer]

Now, I only saw it once and I was kinda in a bad mood, but I was wondering about Zodiac. Much like the real story (I read the book it was based on, years ago) it just peters out a bit at the end. It's a bold move, making a film like that with no real ending to it, and I think Ruffalo is outstanding in it, but it just felt a bit odd to me. Or is that the reason people like it?

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

Three Days of the Condor.
The Parallax View.

[Incandenza]

Three Days of the Condor.
The Parallax View.

Cheers for these, I'll give them a watch.

With regards to Zodiac's ending, it does peter out in a sense, but as a film it's not really about the killer and catching him, it's about what the effect of an investigation of that length has on people's lives. I love the attention to detail in regards to time- When they go back to visit witnesses they've spoken to years before, they all have different haircuts, different wallpaper and furniture, and maybe a few kids. It's the perfect vehicle for Fincher, as he's a true obsessive on the level of the characters in the film.

But yes, it does sort of just...stop, rather than 'end', and that's sort of an unavoidable problem with making a film about an unsolved case.

And yes to the Gruffalo. He's one of the best actors working today, for my money.

[buntyman]

Julia Roberts is clearly a fan of the genre with her 2 file-heavy films Erin Brokovich and The Pelican Brief.
Whenever anyone asks on this forum to give examples of a film containing x, y & z, I always gaze at my dvd shelf for inspiration. Hasn't helped me much on this occasion but I do own Zodiac on HD DVD - ironically, the best quality picture of any HD DVD or Blu Ray I have! The Fugitive has a reasonable bit of file foraging i suppose.

[Rev]

Zodiac (...)  it just peters out a bit at the end. It's a bold move, making a film like that with no real ending to it, and I think Ruffalo is outstanding in it, but it just felt a bit odd to me.

Weird.  It does become thinner as it goes along, because the case became less important as time passed, but If I have one criticism of Zodiac it's that it ends too definitively.  My concern going in was that it's surely impossible to make a satisfying film out of an unsolved case, but it turned out to be done in the style of that Michael Caine Jack the Ripper mini-series.  Which isn't a criticism, really.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

(Now being remade as a movie with Gary Oldman.)

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I found Zodiac overlong, short on humour, short on intrigue and uninteresting. It's supposed to be that way but it doesn't make it a good film, it just means someones deliberately structured a piece of entertainment in an unentertaining way. Which doesn't make any sense to me. You could make the same point about a case going nowhere in half the time.