Easy Rawlins (Washington) is a jobless ex-GI who sees a chance to make some quick cash when he’s recruited to find the missing lover (Jennifer Beals) of a wealthy mayoral candidate. Alongside his cheerfully trigger-happy friend Mouse (a scene-stealing Don Cheadle), Rawlins finds himself drawn into a world of murder, political intrigue, and scandal.

Directed by Carl Franklin (One False Move) and adapted from Walter Mosley’s novel, Devil in a Blue Dress subverts classic noir tropes and uses a detective story to explore America’s racial injustices.

“Franklin’s film isn’t merely Chinatown painted Black; it’s a taut story about Black people’s ongoing struggle to belong and a gem that shines on noir’s possibilities with race front and centre: the beauty of cinema juxtaposed with the ugliness of the world.” Julian Kimble

Inspired by the 50th anniversary restoration of Francis Ford Coppola’s neo-noir thriller The Conversation (at QFT from Sat 13 July), we are spending July looking at noir detectives, from classic noir’s police investigators to neo-noir’s common people turned amateur sleuths.