Brick re-imagines classic hard-boiled film noir in a modern high school setting. While I'm sure this sounds awful, the final results are impressive, mostly because of just how perfect a fit the two genres ended up being for one another. The hard-boiled detective is a teenage loner (who excels in his advanced English class) . The criminal underworld in which he delves is the drug traffickers of the school, and the career opportunist police chief is the assistant principle.
For what it is, Brick succeeds on every level. The dialog is crisp, fresh and inventive, while still being reminiscent of classic noir. The acting is fantastic, and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is just phenomenal. The plot and story are tight and well structured, with only one minor hole (which I may mention in the comments).
The atmosphere and setting of the movie are also great with that foggy blue color permeating the film and at just the right moments. The use of silhouette and lighting is spot on. The music of the film is haunting and perfect.
Like I said, I love this movie, and if it has any flaws, they are very hard for me to see.
My love for the film stems from a couple things: first off, as I gushed about above, I feel it is amazingly well made. Second, I love the whole idea and approach of the movie: reinvent something old, taking the best from then and now. I think Brick succeeded in this more than any other movie in recent years trying the same thing (anyone seen DiCaprio's Romeo & Juliet?).
As a fan noir, I think the film captures the moods and the tones of noir, without them feeling tired and rehashed, or overdone.
The thing I love about noir, especially hard-boiled noir, is the idea of a normal man going out and actively facing his problems, trying to stubbornly bring justice to the situation. It's compelling to see these rock hard men face things that bring them to their knees... and yet they don't give up. They persevere, even when their victories are often bittersweet.
Brick is such a story; and even more impressive, it tells this story about a young man making these choices and facing these hardships far earlier than he should have to. For me, it's plain incredible to watch.
Kate says if you want to understand Brick think Joseph Gordan-Levitt as Humphrey Bogart in Maltese Falcon.
Okay, there you are. 'Nuff said.
It does work, believe it or not. We're talking dreamy empty high school landscape rather than a black & white gritty city, but the atmosphere is the same.
I will state, up-front, that drugs bore me, but, as in the Maltese Falcon, the focus is not on the crime but on the power politics and power-politicking characters that surround the crime. There's also a startling Heathers' quality regarding the language where nouns are used as verbs and verbs as adjectives. The language is less aggressive than in Heathers but quite effective.
The teen angst is also surprisingly bearable, mostly due to Brendan's characterization as a savvy and ruthlessness operator (again, think Bogart). As in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the kids are really adults who keep the trappings of childhood but behave as if their actions have terrible consequences--and they do.
This makes it film noir, of course, but every now and again, the film noir is cut by some truly funny stuff, such as Mom serving orange juice and the table lamp in the van (I really love the table lamp in the van) plus the postcard snap of all the Outsider-type boys in their white t-shirts. In fact, if there had been more of these tidbits--which are pretty subtle--the film would have coasted from film noir to film spoof: less Bogart and more, well, Heathers.
Part of me wished this had happened, but the other part of me thinks the director was right to rein himself in (it must have been tempting; he obviously knows his genres!). He had a choice, and he went with Bogart. (I'm very thankful he avoided Outsiders). This creates a very different film from most teen-oriented remakes.
By the way, I want to give Gordon-Levitt kudos not just for Brick but for this quote:
My favorite kinds of actors are the chameleons, like Daniel Day-Lewis or Peter Sellers, people like that. To me, the highest compliment you can pay to an actor is, "Man, I didn't recognize you."I agree; chameleon actors are some of my favorites as well. (Can I just tell you have much I love David Marchiano?) I'm not sure Gordon-Levitt will ever be completely unrecognizable, but I think he has that chameleon factor. I wouldn't have slated him for Bogart in a million years (but then, who would have pinpointed Bogart for Bogart?). Without a convincing Bogart, Brick wouldn't work. Gordon-Levitt is so convincing, you forget that he's supposed to be convincing you. That doesn't happen very often.
6 comments:
When I re-watched the movie, I realized that the director does something very clever- Shoes are used as a basic method of character development- the shows of the character really fit the character and describe them.
Brendon's shoes are sophisticated and mature. They're also well made and durable.
Emily's are used, tired, but cute and dainty. but ultimately weak and fragile looking.
The Kingpin's shoes are out of sync. One is far larger than the other- almost as if he is trying to be larger than life, but he's still bound by reality- hence one big and one little shoe.
The imagery in the movie is also quite good- My favorite is the end- the Kingpin in black on one side of the room, Tug on the other in white, and Brendon in the middle wearing gray.... very awesome.
Anyway, Kate, I really hoped you liked it! I love the language... I really need to give Heathers another watch.
The funny thing is I was considering rewriting my review from another angle, but I totally lost track of the days!
I agree about the shoes! I was impressed by how well his shoes characterize Brendan. You learn as much about him from the solid, brown, classic Oxfords as from his actions.
In terms of shoes, I also really liked the part where Brendan is running from the thug. His shoes make a rapid staccato sound while the thug's shoes make a solid, thudding sound. His use of the shoes to escape the thug tells us that Brendan is both ruthless and clever: "quick on his feet" (ha ha).
I forgot to mention my absolutely favorite line from the movie:
"I got all five senses, and I slept all night. That puts me six up on the lot of you."
That's up there with good old Sam Spade:
Joel Cairo: You always have a very smooth explanation...
Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?
Sam Spade: If you kill me, how are you gonna get the bird? And if I know you can't afford to kill me, how are you gonna scare me into giving it to you?
Joel Cairo: I certainly wish you would have invented a more reasonable story. I felt distinctly like an idiot repeating it.
Sam Spade: Don't worry about the story's goofiness. A sensible one would have had us all in the cooler.
Julie: I know everyone and have all the time in the world
Brendon- ah, the folly of youth.
My dad and I just watched Brick on Netflix last night. It was certainly different, but still recognisably film noir, and I liked all the small details included by the director, such as the shoes characterisation Mike discusses. However, my favourite scene was the juxtaposition between the dangerous, tense atmosphere in The Pin's basement and the nice, homey upstairs with his mother serving Brendan cornflakes and juice. Funny stuff. It reminded me of Joss Whedon's method of belying expectations in an amusing way, such as when Spike shows up at Buffy's house and, instead of attacking Buffy's mom or using her to hurt Buffy, ends up sharing hot chocolate with her while complaining about his relationship woes.
Kate mentions that the teenagers here act more like adults, which wasn't something I had expected and I think I enjoyed the film less for it. The high school was wonderfully filmed, but I never felt they utilised the high school setting as much as they could have.
My dad thought the presentation of the plot was too convoluted. This is the kind of film I could have loved as both it and a number of Christopher Nolan's films deal a lot in neo-noir, non-lineral storytelling, and psychological factors, but Brick just didn't click with me in the same way.
On a complete tangent, this past week, my folklore class discussed vampires and what qualifies as the "classic" vampire image and what doesn't.
There are basically three images: Stoker's book Dracula, Stoker's film Dracula, and Twilight. Stoker's book Dracula is evil-in-the-darkness. Film Dracula (Bela Lugosi) is evil-with-an-everyday-face. Twilight is not-so-evil-plus-rather-charming-not-to-mention-having-a-heart.
In general, my folklore students tend to be pro-Stoker/anti-Twilight. They also tend to be pro-Whedon. Whedon's vampires are much closer to Bela Lugosi than to Twilight. They are evil (except for Angel) and suave a la Lugosi. They also (including Angel) do not go to high school if they are adults (thank goodness).
Finally, Whedon's main vampires, especially Spike, juxtapose the homey with the supernatural and dangerous.
My personal feeling is that once Dracula moved from the book to the stage (took a central role), he (and all vampires) HAD to gain this type of double-world persona. So the film has Dracula attending the opera with his victims and then drinking their blood at night (this doesn't happen in the book). The evil is set squarely against the everyday.
Without this type of tension, vampires get kind of boring. (Edward is still more interesting than Bella, however.)
Speaking of high school (little less of a tangent), Whedon's high-schoolers are rather extraordinary in that they behave like high-schoolers while tackling larger life issues. Most teens on television seem to be so inward-looking and angst-ridden you want to shake them ("LOOK AROUND YOU!") or proto-adults in a high school setting. Whedon managed to create high-schoolers with angsty high school issues who still rise to the occasion and beat the bad guys out there in the big-bad-world. I think this is unusual enough to earn Whedon an entry under "directors who made a mark on their generation" in Hollywood's memory book.
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