<P> The Coen brothers make reference to the noir tradition again with The Man Who Wasn't There (2001); a black - and - white crime melodrama set in 1949, it features a scene apparently staged to mirror one from Out of the Past . Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001) continued in his characteristic vein, making the classic noir setting of Los Angeles the venue for a noir - inflected psychological jigsaw puzzle . British - born director Christopher Nolan's black - and - white debut, Following (1998), was an overt homage to classic noir . During the new century's first decade, he was one of the leading Hollywood directors of neo-noir with the acclaimed Memento (2000) and the remake of Insomnia (2002). </P> <P> Director Sean Penn's The Pledge (2001), though adapted from a very self - reflexive novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, plays noir comparatively straight, to devastating effect . Screenwriter David Ayer updated the classic noir bad - cop tale, typified by Shield for Murder (1954) and Rogue Cop (1954), with his scripts for Training Day (2001) and, adapting a story by James Ellroy, Dark Blue (2002); he later wrote and directed the even darker Harsh Times (2006). Michael Mann's Collateral (2004) features a performance by Tom Cruise as an assassin in the lineage of Le Samouraï . The torments of The Machinist (2004), directed by Brad Anderson, evoke both Fight Club and Memento . In 2005, Shane Black directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, basing his screenplay in part on a crime novel by Brett Halliday, who published his first stories back in the 1920s . The film plays with an awareness not only of classic noir but also of neo-noir reflexivity itself . </P> <P> With ultra-violent films such as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Thirst (2009), Park Chan - wook of South Korea has been the most prominent director outside of the United States to work regularly in a noir mode in the new millennium . The most commercially successful neo-noir of this period has been Sin City (2005), directed by Robert Rodriguez in extravagantly stylized black and white with splashes of color . The film is based on a series of comic books created by Frank Miller (credited as the film's codirector), which are in turn openly indebted to the works of Spillane and other pulp mystery authors . Similarly, graphic novels provide the basis for Road to Perdition (2002), directed by Sam Mendes, and A History of Violence (2005), directed by David Cronenberg; the latter was voted best film of the year in the annual Village Voice poll . Writer - director Rian Johnson's Brick (2005), featuring present - day high schoolers speaking a version of 1930s hardboiled argot, won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the Sundance Film Festival . The television series Veronica Mars (2004--07) also brought a youth - oriented twist to film noir . Examples of this sort of generic crossover have been dubbed "teen noir". </P> <P> Neo-noir films released in the 2010s include Kim Jee - woon's I Saw the Devil (2010), Fred Cavaye's Point Blank (2010), Na Hong - jin's The Yellow Sea (2010), Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive (2011), and Claire Denis' Bastards (2013). </P>

Which of the following was a characteristic of film noir during and after world war ii