Often in Film Noir, the protagonist and antagonist are clearly identifiable, but the "good guy" of the movie is often flawed. Nothing in the movie directly indicates Brendan has a crime record, but he conveys a sort of shady character. He is always alone, his family is never shown, and he is quick to anger. Also, many film noirs revolve around a crime, or some sort of corruption. Emily's death and the crime circle responsible fuel the plot of the film and Brendan's actions. Other subtle techniques, like gritty surroundings, bare interiors, and mysterious but sparse dialogue transform a simple murder case into an extremely suspenseful and mysterious story. The most intriguing element of the film that seems to differ most from typical films of this era is the lack of background information and clues. In most films, the exposition gives vital information or foreshadowing to upcoming parts of the film. In Brick, Brendan has no information, and neither does the audience. Each twist and turn and each discovery is completely new to the viewer. I think this is what makes the film Brick stand out. Not many films today refrain from giving any information and just throw the audience into the present moment of the protagonist's life like a film noir did. Looking at the plot of this film on paper is not nearly as intriguing as it was made to be through film noir techniques.
"Brick" is an excellent movie and uses many elements of film noir. While it was not in black and white, it still managed to capture the gloomy and dark tone that is used stylistically in film noir. Brendon, the protagonist in the film, is a typical noir detective. He is pessimistic, and has a "cold, detached view of the world." There is also a "femme fatale," who is "sexually alluring but treacherous," that uses men for her own selfish gains.
While this film did not have a common setting for film noir, which would be a big city, the actors maintained the feeling of film noir by their "cool" demeanor and their fast, sophisticated dialogue. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I thought it was original in that it portrayed adult situations, such as drug dealing, love, and murder, with high school students.
This film had a great conceit, however, there were a few issues regarding the lighting and scenery. In most film noirs, the movie has a tendency to be filmed in dark settings, sometimes in cities, at night, in order to give the feeling of a dark view from which the movie takes place. In this movie though the majority of the scenes take place in broad daylight, around a school which seemed to only have twenty students, and in a seemingly well off suburban community which didn't quite give me a good enough feeling of the "dark" side of the high school drug world.
In contrast to the lighting and setting, the film did portray a classic film noir protagonist. Brenden, the main character, perfectly filled the role of a detective trying to solve a complex mystery. He was in love with a seemingly innocent beautiful girl, who gets in way over her head and then turns to him for help only to be too late. Brenden also follows classic film noir tradition of having to decide whether or not to fall in love with the femme fatale or to turn her into the authorities.
In my opinion, the dialogue was my favorite part about the movie. The ability of the writers to make the high school students use such sophisticated words, but at the same time incorporate moderate use of slang (Tug and Brad's dialogues), played perfectly into the over-the-top acting. Both of these combined to form a perfect impression of the style of the movie. My favorite scene was when The Pin's mother was serving the kids food and was using such simple plain words, which contrasted the dialogue of the high school kids. I thought it was a neat way to show how the parent had no idea about the underground drug network that her child was a leader of.
This film was an interesting independent. It was slightly confusing with all the scenes moving so quickly. One helpful technique through out the movie that helped me keep up were the flashbacks, because it helped piece everything together. This was definitely a violent crime fiction that emphasized cynical attitudes, which is a typical film noir. The crime fiction portion clearly pops up in the beginning when we see that Emily is dead. The main character Brenden encounters quite a couple of characters with cynical attitudes including Pin, Tugger, and Kara .
The protagonist was obviously the main character.He was the typical male protagonist because of his cold and detached view of the world. Laura was the female that was sexually alluring but treacherous, that led Brenden to danger, and used him for her own selfish wants, at least in Brenden's eyes. This movie had a good amount of dark scenery, as well as pavement settings, which is typical for a noir film. This movie was slightly confusing, but it had a good plot with interesting characters. Overall this was a very different type of movie that allows viewers to see a movie that is a little outside of the norm.
Brick is a movie about a teenage loner, Brendan Fry, who investigates the murder of his ex-girlfriend in an underworld drug ring in his high school. Brendan Fry has to navigate through the social network of the school’s different societies from the populars, jocks, thespians, band geeks, and druggies to find the murder, the motive, and the person who caused everything.
The film’s genre is described as crime, drama, and mystery, but the film contains influence from the United States film noir period in the forties and early fifties. The film noir period occured after the Depression and World War II, when the soldiers return home to their families with money to become a consumer. The American moviegoers wanted realism in the films, instead on the up-spirited films of the thirties. As American cinema experienced an creative funk, film noir began to renew the interest among moviegoers and critics.
Film noir is defined as a dark film with low-key lighting and a somber mood usually as a detective and/or thriller. Brick can be described as a film noir due to the fact that the character Brendan Fry acts as an detective to find out who murdered Emily. For a film to classified as film noir is must contain four elements of the German chiaroscuro, the hard-boiled tradition, the style, and the themes. Brick displays all the elements of film noir by the characters standing in the dark with the light shining on their face, the journalism, pulp fiction style script, having a complex chronological order of events, and physical action between characters.
I personal enjoyed Brick. The storyline was engaging and interesting. The best part of the film was the dialogue between the character, because it truly displayed the film noir style of the movie. The dialogue signalled that the film possessed the forties style detective movie.
I agree with what you said about no foreshadowing of upcoming events and that the audience was left in the dark for most of the movie. It didn't show for a while that he did anything with emilys body and we didn't know until the very end of the movie whether that other girl was "good" or "bad". This movie was in a way a suspense thriller. I very much enjoyed it because we as the audience did not know what was really going on throughout much of the movie and it was really neat how all of the events all played out.
I agree with your comments regarding the setting of the film. While Brick has the elements of plot and dialogue that embody the classic film noir, I feel that the setting in which the film took place did not truly capture all the elements typical of film noir. I understand that this film was probably depicted in such a fashion to appeal to a younger/urban audience. However if the film was set in a city at night with more effects such as rain, I feel it would have evoked a stronger dark side to the film.
I agree with you that it was original that the film used real life experiences such as drug dealing, drugs, murder, etc,. I that it makes the story interesting to not try to mask the issues that go on in high schools and other areas of teen interaction. Also your comment about being dark and goomy is acurate but not physically. The movie displayed a constant common depression in high schools; breakups.
I agree "Brick" was a bit confusing at times, and the flashbacks helped somewhat, but in the end the least likely suspect was the one who committed the murder; didn't see that one coming until it was too late.
"Brick" I believe can be considered a neo-film noir, It held true to many of the factors you find in film noirs, such as the protagonist (who did all of his detective work on his own) having a cynical view of the world and a femme fatale who was attractive yet treacherous (and happened to have all of the answers he was looking for).
A factor that could have made this film easier to follow would have been more character development, especially for the Pin and his muscle. They played major parts in the film, but I felt as if they were just thrown in there at some points.
I agree that with Brendan we never are told he has a dark side, but through context we see his ability to do what needs to be done. He gets into fights a lot and he also was in the business but got out. In a way there was a little foreshadowing, maybe it was more subtle, but especially through the cigarette. At the first showing of the cigarette it was made so that the viewer saw the labeling, and other times later in the movie we saw it brought up again, and much attention was given to the arrow on the cigarette.
I also agree that through this film we can see the non elements of film noir, especially in the lighting. Most of the film took place at school in broad daylight, but something else I noticed was a lot of the action/crime took place in a night setting or a darker setting. Emily’s death happened in the dark under a bridge, and the confrontation of the pin, and tugger happened at night. The film does have differences from classic noir, but some important noir elements are seen.
Often in Film Noir, the protagonist and antagonist are clearly identifiable, but the "good guy" of the movie is often flawed. Nothing in the movie directly indicates Brendan has a crime record, but he conveys a sort of shady character. He is always alone, his family is never shown, and he is quick to anger. Also, many film noirs revolve around a crime, or some sort of corruption. Emily's death and the crime circle responsible fuel the plot of the film and Brendan's actions. Other subtle techniques, like gritty surroundings, bare interiors, and mysterious but sparse dialogue transform a simple murder case into an extremely suspenseful and mysterious story.
ReplyDeleteThe most intriguing element of the film that seems to differ most from typical films of this era is the lack of background information and clues. In most films, the exposition gives vital information or foreshadowing to upcoming parts of the film. In Brick, Brendan has no information, and neither does the audience. Each twist and turn and each discovery is completely new to the viewer. I think this is what makes the film Brick stand out. Not many films today refrain from giving any information and just throw the audience into the present moment of the protagonist's life like a film noir did. Looking at the plot of this film on paper is not nearly as intriguing as it was made to be through film noir techniques.
- Alex Duncan
"Brick" is an excellent movie and uses many elements of film noir. While it was not in black and white, it still managed to capture the gloomy and dark tone that is used stylistically in film noir. Brendon, the protagonist in the film, is a typical noir detective. He is pessimistic, and has a "cold, detached view of the world." There is also a "femme fatale," who is "sexually alluring but treacherous," that uses men for her own selfish gains.
ReplyDeleteWhile this film did not have a common setting for film noir, which would be a big city, the actors maintained the feeling of film noir by their "cool" demeanor and their fast, sophisticated dialogue. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I thought it was original in that it portrayed adult situations, such as drug dealing, love, and murder, with high school students.
Daniel F.
This film had a great conceit, however, there were a few issues regarding the lighting and scenery. In most film noirs, the movie has a tendency to be filmed in dark settings, sometimes in cities, at night, in order to give the feeling of a dark view from which the movie takes place. In this movie though the majority of the scenes take place in broad daylight, around a school which seemed to only have twenty students, and in a seemingly well off suburban community which didn't quite give me a good enough feeling of the "dark" side of the high school drug world.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast to the lighting and setting, the film did portray a classic film noir protagonist. Brenden, the main character, perfectly filled the role of a detective trying to solve a complex mystery. He was in love with a seemingly innocent beautiful girl, who gets in way over her head and then turns to him for help only to be too late. Brenden also follows classic film noir tradition of having to decide whether or not to fall in love with the femme fatale or to turn her into the authorities.
In my opinion, the dialogue was my favorite part about the movie. The ability of the writers to make the high school students use such sophisticated words, but at the same time incorporate moderate use of slang (Tug and Brad's dialogues), played perfectly into the over-the-top acting. Both of these combined to form a perfect impression of the style of the movie. My favorite scene was when The Pin's mother was serving the kids food and was using such simple plain words, which contrasted the dialogue of the high school kids. I thought it was a neat way to show how the parent had no idea about the underground drug network that her child was a leader of.
John F.
This film was an interesting independent. It was slightly confusing with all the scenes moving so quickly. One helpful technique through out the movie that helped me keep up were the flashbacks, because it helped piece everything together. This was definitely a violent crime fiction that emphasized cynical attitudes, which is a typical film noir. The crime fiction portion clearly pops up in the beginning when we see that Emily is dead. The main character Brenden encounters quite a couple of characters with cynical attitudes including Pin, Tugger, and Kara .
ReplyDeleteThe protagonist was obviously the main character.He was the typical male protagonist because of his cold and detached view of the world. Laura was the female that was sexually alluring but treacherous, that led Brenden to danger, and used him for her own selfish wants, at least in Brenden's eyes. This movie had a good amount of dark scenery, as well as pavement settings, which is typical for a noir film. This movie was slightly confusing, but it had a good plot with interesting characters. Overall this was a very different type of movie that allows viewers to see a movie that is a little outside of the norm.
Jennifer E.
Brick is a movie about a teenage loner, Brendan Fry, who investigates the murder of his ex-girlfriend in an underworld drug ring in his high school. Brendan Fry has to navigate through the social network of the school’s different societies from the populars, jocks, thespians, band geeks, and druggies to find the murder, the motive, and the person who caused everything.
ReplyDeleteThe film’s genre is described as crime, drama, and mystery, but the film contains influence from the United States film noir period in the forties and early fifties. The film noir period occured after the Depression and World War II, when the soldiers return home to their families with money to become a consumer. The American moviegoers wanted realism in the films, instead on the up-spirited films of the thirties. As American cinema experienced an creative funk, film noir began to renew the interest among moviegoers and critics.
Film noir is defined as a dark film with low-key lighting and a somber mood usually as a detective and/or thriller. Brick can be described as a film noir due to the fact that the character Brendan Fry acts as an detective to find out who murdered Emily. For a film to classified as film noir is must contain four elements of the German chiaroscuro, the hard-boiled tradition, the style, and the themes. Brick displays all the elements of film noir by the characters standing in the dark with the light shining on their face, the journalism, pulp fiction style script, having a complex chronological order of events, and physical action between characters.
I personal enjoyed Brick. The storyline was engaging and interesting. The best part of the film was the dialogue between the character, because it truly displayed the film noir style of the movie. The dialogue signalled that the film possessed the forties style detective movie.
Torsha D.
In response to ALex Duncan
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about no foreshadowing of upcoming events and that the audience was left in the dark for most of the movie. It didn't show for a while that he did anything with emilys body and we didn't know until the very end of the movie whether that other girl was "good" or "bad". This movie was in a way a suspense thriller. I very much enjoyed it because we as the audience did not know what was really going on throughout much of the movie and it was really neat how all of the events all played out.
--Crystal McCord
In response to John F.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments regarding the setting of the film. While Brick has the elements of plot and dialogue that embody the classic film noir, I feel that the setting in which the film took place did not truly capture all the elements typical of film noir. I understand that this film was probably depicted in such a fashion to appeal to a younger/urban audience. However if the film was set in a city at night with more effects such as rain, I feel it would have evoked a stronger dark side to the film.
--Anwer G.
In response to Daniel F.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it was original that the film used real life experiences such as drug dealing, drugs, murder, etc,. I that it makes the story interesting to not try to mask the issues that go on in high schools and other areas of teen interaction. Also your comment about being dark and goomy is acurate but not physically. The movie displayed a constant common depression in high schools; breakups.
-James C. Vickery
In response to Jennifer E.
ReplyDeleteI agree "Brick" was a bit confusing at times, and the flashbacks helped somewhat, but in the end the least likely suspect was the one who committed the murder; didn't see that one coming until it was too late.
"Brick" I believe can be considered a neo-film noir, It held true to many of the factors you find in film noirs, such as the protagonist (who did all of his detective work on his own) having a cynical view of the world and a femme fatale who was attractive yet treacherous (and happened to have all of the answers he was looking for).
A factor that could have made this film easier to follow would have been more character development, especially for the Pin and his muscle. They played major parts in the film, but I felt as if they were just thrown in there at some points.
-Robyn R.
I agree that with Brendan we never are told he has a dark side, but through context we see his ability to do what needs to be done. He gets into fights a lot and he also was in the business but got out. In a way there was a little foreshadowing, maybe it was more subtle, but especially through the cigarette. At the first showing of the cigarette it was made so that the viewer saw the labeling, and other times later in the movie we saw it brought up again, and much attention was given to the arrow on the cigarette.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that through this film we can see the non elements of film noir, especially in the lighting. Most of the film took place at school in broad daylight, but something else I noticed was a lot of the action/crime took place in a night setting or a darker setting. Emily’s death happened in the dark under a bridge, and the confrontation of the pin, and tugger happened at night. The film does have differences from classic noir, but some important noir elements are seen.
A’Sheana White