The Storyline
The opening of the story begins with a man sitting, staring at a dead girl near a tunnel. There is then a flash back to two days previous. We see someone put a note in a locker and the man from the scene before opening the locker and find the note. It tells him to meet at a phone booth. The phone rings and the man answers it, a girl is on the phone and is when we find out the name of the character, Brendan. The girl on the phone's name is Emily. She calls him to explain that shes in trouble, however she uses words that Brendan doesn't understand. A black car drives passed him and Emily screams. The passenger in the car drops a cigarette with a blue arrow on it.Brendan then meets with his friend Brain, who tells him that Emily was trying to get in with the popular group of kids. Brendan breaks into Emily's locker and takes out a red piece of paper. He talks so his ex-girlfriend but she won't help him get the information he wants so he goes looking around and finds the complete version of the red paper he found, it was an invitation to a party. Brendan calls the number and talks to Laura, she tells him where the party is. While he's there she tells him she's been hanging out at the Coffee and pie, oh my.
He goes to the Coffee and pie and meets with someone called Dode. He won't tell him where she is and so he punches him, he tells him he's with her now. Brendan follows Dode to where he meets Emily, he gives her a piece of paper, hugs her and she leaves. Brendan meets with her, they hug and he takes her notebook. Inside was the paper Dode gave her, it was a symbol. He asks Brain to see if he knew what it meant, he explains that its a symbol for a meeting place but doesn't know where.
He later figures it out, however its 3 hours after she was supposed to meet with him. He arrives at the meeting place to find her dead. This is where the flashback started the film. It the shows a mini-flashback of Brendan and Emily fighting and she slaps him, she says she can't be with him because hes jealous and she's a "a different world now".
Brendan through a car park and sees the mysterious black car from the beginning of the film. He holds a brick to it and the man that knocked him out came over and punched him again. Brendan takes enough of the fight that the man takes him to see the Pin. In the boot of the car, Brendan opens it and sees the Pin's address. He speaks with the Pin, explaining he knows the location of his hideout and to pay him to not rat him out, also providing a service for him by giving him information on the Vice President's movements. The Pin says he will know the answer by the end of the day tomorrow.
Brendan is attacked at school by a man with a knife, it is assumed to be the Pin's. Brendan knocks him out.
He is on the phone to Brain when the Pin pulls up in his van and has decided to pay him. Brain tells him that Emily has gone missing and that Frisco took heroin and is in a coma due to the dose containing traces of chloric tricomin which is found in laundry detergent.
Brendan sneaks into the Pin's house where he discovers one of the bricks. Tug finds him and punches him, Brendan explains he doesn't like the Pin not being honest with him. Tugger feels he is in the same situation. He explains to Brendan that their were 10 bricks, 8 were sold, one in the basement and another stolen. It was that brick that was cut and made bad and Frisco dosed off it.
Dode arranges to meet with the Pin, he says he knows who killed Emily, he reveals that she was pregnant with his baby. Tug shoots him. Tug confesses to Brendan that he killed Emily and that war has broke out between him and the Pin and Brendan is on his side. Brendan arranges a meeting between him and the Pin. Laura comes to speak with Brendan and they have sex. She puts a cigarette like the one from the beginning in the ash tray next to Brendan.
Brendan speaks with Brain and tells him to call the police and tell them there are drugs in the back of Tug's car. At the meeting, the Pin wants to ensure that the last brick hasn't been tampered with and that Tug has had the opportunity to cut it bad and wants him to dose off it. Tug refuses. Brendan agrees to dose it instead as the police are due to come soon. When someone goes to get the brick, it is missing. A shot is fired upstairs and the Pin and Tug begin fighting. Brendan takes the gun Tug is going to kill the Pin with, we hear the Pin calling for his help. Brendan tosses the gun back into the room and escapes while we see that Emily's body is in the back of Tug's car where the police will search for drugs, finding her.
Brendan meets Laura at school, it is there he lies to her, telling her that he never went to the meeting. She explains what happened. 6 were found dead; which includes the Pin, Tug and Emily. Brendan then explains her role in the whole story. Laura was the one that stole the 9th brick, she took half and cut the rest. After Frisco was put into a coma from dosing off it, she need to blame someone. She had Emily. she sent Tug to talk with Emily to find out what happened, however she told Emily to tell Tug that she was carrying his baby. Anyone that knew Tug would know what would happen, he hit her and killed her. It was Laura that took the 10th brick so that a fight would start at the the Pin's. Brendan tells her that he slipped a note to the Vice President so that he would search her locker and find the brick. Laura tells Brendan that the baby was his and that Emily was going to abort it. Messages and Values
The main message of this film is that being involved with the wrong people is a bad idea as in Emily's case it got her killed. However this also has a typical noir message which is, make one wrong move and it will send you spiraling into your own destruction. Brick is an example of this as Brendan made one wrong move, to find his ex girlfriends killer and ends up in a whole lot of trouble.
Characters
The two main types of noir characters can be found in this film: the detective/anti-hero and the femme fetale.
The detectives name is Brendan, he is the modern equivalent of the hard-nosed detectives in the classic film noirs. He is always belittling people through the use of his superior intellect and wit which he uses to his advantage while trying to gain intelligence from others. He is always alone, never trusts anyone but himself, he eats lunch by himself everyday and despises almost everyone around him.
The femme fetale is Laura, she has a different twist on the femme fetale element. She doesn't just talk promiscuously or uses her good looks to use people. Rather, she also uses her cunning and intelligence to manipulate people. For example when she manipulated Emily so that she would take the heat for the brick instead of her, or when she uses Brad to make herself appear to be trustworthy. She is an example of a classic femme fetale because she tries to lead the main character (Brendan) down then wrong path to get herself out of trouble by telling him she loves him and that she wants him.
Mise-en-scene
Similar lighting effects are used in Brick for example the contrasting light and shadow effects such as when he's searching the Pin's house, the lighting is very low key and the only light source is a window and mirrors reflecting the light around the room which is used to create mysterious shadows and silhouettes.
The same sort of acting is also used in this film. A technique often used in film noir is the way they talk, often in very short sentences, intelligent vocabulary and metaphoric speech. As if the audience is assumed to be highly educated and would confuse the viewer which is what film noir tries to do, make the viewing experience quite a disturbing and chilling one. They also uses more flirtatious speech when the femme fetale and main character are talking. This is shown when Brendan and Laura are talking, particularly at the beginning when shes trying to "hook" Brendan in.
In the classic film noirs the detective is usually wearing an overcoat, shoes and appears to be "rough" like they haven't tried to make themselves presentable. The femme fetale is usually wearing quite revealing clothes and is normally made-up. This common dress is used in also used in Brick which makes this a good example of a film noir.
The location of this film always tends to be in dark rooms, alleyways, phone booths, enclosed spaces and street corners, which sticks to the original scene of the film noir thriller. They are all very low-lit which adds to the darkening effect film noir tries to achieve. A good example of this is the dark tunnel where the murder took place and the room in the Pin's house where Brendan is beaten.
Sound
The film is mostly comprised of diegetic sounds in which the characters are also able to hear the sounds, for example the gunshot we hear when Tug pulls the trigger on Dode. This is used so that the audience are aware that the characters know what's going on as well as us. This is used in pretty much all films and not specific to film noir stylistics. A common practice for film noir however, are voice overs in which are non-diegetic. Brick on the other hand, doesn't use this technique or very little of it which could of added to its already neo-noir status. Voice overs are usually used to fill in storylines or to show the character's thoughts, however in Brick Brendan's thoughts are usually shown through visual aids or through action which could be why they weren't needed.
Film noirs normally have quite chilling, suspenseful music. Brick uses this type of music to build tension when scenes are important or to be exciting such as in the intro when we first see the dead body. This is then infused with the use of ambient sounds which lulls the viewer into a false sense of security in that everything is OK for now.
Cinematography
1950's film noirs tend to be shot mostly in close-ups to help the viewer try and merge their feelings with the main characters. Brick is also shot in this way, it makes the viewer feel as though they are also part of the drug and murder investigation and puts them on edge as though they are also the ones getting involved. They also use rule of thirds framing which is used to give the shot an aura of mystery in which anything could come into the space of the shot and also makes it easier to watch when two characters are talking to each other. A good example of this in Brick is at the end of the film when Brendan and Laura are talking with each other where the shots are very nicely framed.
Editing
Noirs usually follow continuity editing in which one event follow another but usually contain flashbacks and is told in a non-linear fashion. Brick uses this in a way as the first half of the story is non-linear, the girl is already dead and we don't know who anyone is. This creates an enigma for the viewer and makes them want to watch more.
There are sometimes shot reverse shots when the characters are talking to show speech ensuring that the eye lines match otherwise it looks strange to the viewer. A typical technique for film noir is when one character is standing or sitting behind the other and talks to them with no eye contact. This is unusual as people would never normally do that which helps add mystery and creates tension and subtle seriousness between characters. An example of this is when Brendan sits behind the Pin on the beach and they talk without looking at each other.
Transitions between shots is usually quite slow during scenes which is used so that the viewer has lots of time to focus on the character and how they feel or take in what's on screen. Then it tends to become quite fast paced and jump cuts are used to build speed and tension creating a more exciting, action-packed scene.
This is used in Brick in the whole film and gets more fast paced in scenes such as the final war scene and when he's getting beaten up by Tug.
Audience
The audience for this film i would say is probably between the ages of 15-30, however some of the dialogue younger viewers may find more difficult to understand and the plot is very complex compared with most films which may make it more difficult for them to follow.
Brick has all the key elements to be a film noir which is why i think it's a good example of a contemporary film noir.
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