after dark and my sweet be a great and modern noir and fill with seedy character and dirt road and and and of course and sweaty character . it seem that most of the truly great noirs of the last two or three decade have take place in the south and where the men glisten and the lady and um and glisten too . why . because it hooooottttttttttt . and because everyone look well wet ( at least the men do sweaty woman leave me clammy ) . anyway there might be some spoiler in here . this film be a wonderful example of everything a noir should be steady pacing ( though some with attention disorder refer to it a low ) and clearly and broadly draw ( though not simple ) character and and ton of atmosphere . noir and if anything and be about mood and attitude . that why the great one be not mark by your traditional definition of great acting ( look at bogart and mitchum and hurt and and nicholson they ( and their character ) be anything but real but they have style and sas and in a crime movie that exactly what you want ) . or quickly pace adventure ( again all great noirs seem to be on slow burn like a cigarette ) . great noirs create an environment and you just inhabit it with the character for a couple hour . after dark my sweet let you do that and it let you enjoy the company of some very interesting and complex character . uncle bud and collie be intrigue never allow the audience to know what really make them tick and patric and dern ( i love bruce dern and by the way ) be pitch perfect and dern especially ( see previous comment ) . they take the basic outline of a character and give them depth and elicit our sympathy . the story itself be also interesting . therere good plot in the world of noir ( hardly any mystery here mostly it suspense ) and but this one be solid . if anything and the simply okay plot have more to do with jim thompson write than anything else . with thompson and plot be almost secondary while he eschew the labyrinthine tale of hammett and chandler for simpler story with strong and more confusing character . look at a novel like the killer inside me and and you will see right away ( from the title ) what it all about . when it come to thompson and it not what it about and it how it about it ( to quote roger ebert ) . so and really and the relatively simple plot of a kidnapping be not the point and and if you do not like it and well the joke on you . why this be an 8star movie rather than a 10star one be because of the female lead . she not bad and per se and but she not angelica huston or anette benning ( see the adaptation of jim thompson the grifter if you do not know what i be talk about besides it a good movie and you should start there for contemporary noir it the best of the 1990s and challenge blood simple for the title of best since chinatown ) . she simply doesn not have the chop ( or the look for that matter ) and though she and patric have some chemistry and i do not have it with her . so there .