Nicholas Ray Notes on Style (2021)

With the release of Nicholas Rays debut They Live by Night in 1948 a new style emerged in American narrative film A style full of risk and confusion based on a deliberately shaky balance of shots cuts scenes gestures events and acting Ray was part of a generation that sought new forms of characterization new forms of acting and behavior new social inputs and a new language in framing miseenscene and montage to capture all those fleeting experiences