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Brick

post #1 of 28
1/12/10 at 12:11pm
Thread Starter 
Spoilers within.

I watched this for the first time last night. I had heard quite a few good things about it, but overall I was let down. I'm a huge fan of noir (The Maltese Falcon and Sunset Blvd. are easily in my top ten favorite movies) and at times the whole film seemed to be a huge homage to The Maltese Falcon. Especially the ending and the "long short long short" beeping of the horn. I mean, a teenage neo noir with a Velvet Underground song over the credits? I think I've come up with that movie in my head before. I expected to love this.

I thought that Joseph Gordon Levitt and Emille De Ravin were both great in it and I really liked the first act. By the time he found Ravin's character dead I was fully hooked. After that, however, the whole movie took a turn downward. The rest of the characters in this film are nowhere near as interesting as Levitt and De Ravin are. Nora Zehetner's character seemed to be nothing more than a stereotypical femme fatale. She didn't seem to have any depth to her. For these neo noirs to truly work on their own (and not just work as a cool homage to old movies) they have to explore these characters in new ways. The ending was a great Maltese Falcon homage, but when I got there I realized that's all it was....an homage. The movie had no soul of it's own.

The cinematography is fantastic and Levitt does a great teenage Bogart...but after thirty minutes I thought this had a shot at being a lot more than a well produced homage. What do you guys think of this? I'm curious if I was missing something because everything in the film seemed so well done I had no idea why it wasn't connecting with me on any level. I love noir.
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post #2 of 28
1/12/10 at 2:24pm
Absolutely fantastic movie, and an inventive and blackly funny spin on the old noir tropes. I'm surprised that Levitt's character doesn't connect with you, because he does great work here, and is absolutely the soul of the film. You can't just look at it through the noir lens, it's the interplay of that and the high school stuff that makes it so great, not to mention that the actors make the dialogue sing.
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post #3 of 28
1/12/10 at 2:40pm
"I've got all five senses and I slept last night. That means I'm six up on you."
Classic.

I actually watched this for the second time just last week. Something I noticed this time around is that Brendan is a former drug dealer. I think? That's his "in" to the shady underworld, because he apparently sold his partner (think his name was Jared?) out to the principal/cops?

Brothers Bloom confirms the director is greatness.
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post #4 of 28
1/12/10 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdrianDyka View Post
Absolutely fantastic movie, and an inventive and blackly funny spin on the old noir tropes. I'm surprised that Levitt's character doesn't connect with you, because he does great work here, and is absolutely the soul of the film. You can't just look at it through the noir lens, it's the interplay of that and the high school stuff that makes it so great, not to mention that the actors make the dialogue sing.
I thought Levitt was great, it was really all the other characters that did nothing for me. I obviously don't have to connect with EVERY character, but no one else in the movie really interested me except for De Ravin. And that might've just been cuz I want to take her clothes off.

It could've been my mood. I could tell that it was a quality film but something wasn't clicking and I felt like it should've been. I might have to give it another watch one of these days.
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post #5 of 28
1/15/10 at 1:15pm
Brick succeeds based on how well Johnson knows his film noir, and how capable he is at meshing the clear influence classic noirs have on him into his film without winking at the audience. You have to really love and know noir to create a movie that is an obvious homage to those films without simply turning it into a Greatest Hits montage derived from the classics. Johnson does a great job taking the tropes of those films and making them his own; everything here feels fresh rather than irredeemably derivative. Maybe my favorite part of the entire film is how much of a transformation Joseph Gordon-Levitt underwent to portray Brendan; I never in a million years would have guessed that he had this performance hidden in him, and I'm so glad that he could show us otherwise.
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post #6 of 28
3/30/10 at 5:47pm
I love this film. I fell in love with it pretty much the first time I saw it. It really shouldn't work at all, but somehow all the disparate elements come together perfectly and the result is one of my favorite films of the Aughts.

One time though I took a friend to see it (based upon my recommendation) when the local art house theater brought it back for a single weekend, and he hated it. Go figure
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post #7 of 28
4/3/10 at 12:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
I love this film. I fell in love with it pretty much the first time I saw it. It really shouldn't work at all, but somehow all the disparate elements come together perfectly and the result is one of my favorite films of the Aughts.

One time though I took a friend to see it (based upon my recommendation) when the local art house theater brought it back for a single weekend, and he hated it. Go figure
Wow I agree completely with Kate.
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post #8 of 28
4/6/10 at 2:37am
This is one of my top lesser known plugs. I wish I could wear a ridiculous fansuit for this movie and stand on street corners obnoxiously oppressing people into watching it.
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post #9 of 28
11/12/10 at 6:56am
I watched this again last night and I was taken with the notion that the film is actually about what happens to children with no parental supervision. Left to their own devices they come up with these strange, fantastical speech patterns and fill themselves with mock bravado when all they want is a hug from the parents they hate for ignoring them. Everyone is pretending to be grown up but with no actual role models they can't possibly succeed.

It all clicked into place when Brain asks Brendan what she whispered and he says "She called me a dirty word." I'm guessing that's 'father' right?

Or is it just straight up noir and I'm missing the point?
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post #10 of 28
11/12/10 at 7:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glisten View Post
I watched this again last night and I was taken with the notion that the film is actually about what happens to children with no parental supervision. Left to their own devices they come up with these strange, fantastical speech patterns and fill themselves with mock bravado when all they want is a hug from the parents they hate for ignoring them. Everyone is pretending to be grown up but with no actual role models they can't possibly succeed.

It all clicked into place when Brain asks Brendan what she whispered and he says "She called me a dirty word." I'm guessing that's 'father' right?

Or is it just straight up noir and I'm missing the point?
i haven't seen it in a while but didn't the drugdealer have a mom that offered JGL apple juice?
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post #11 of 28
11/12/10 at 7:31am
Yeah, she's hardly an authority figure though, more like a servant. She is serving drinks to the two gangs at the big meet at the end, unconcerned that her house is full of thugs.
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post #12 of 28
11/12/10 at 8:26am
I assumed the dirty word was "motherfucker".
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post #13 of 28
11/12/10 at 9:12am
The parental connection is still there...
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post #14 of 28
11/12/10 at 10:02am
I quite like the theory that the 'Brain' character doesnt exist. Nobody apart from Brendan speaks to him throughout the film and the closing shot of him walking away is shot close up in front of JGL with 'Brain' out of focus in the background. He then says 'Go to sleep brain' and he walks back off screen disappearing behind JGL like he is walking back into Brendan's brain...
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post #15 of 28
11/12/10 at 11:01am
Lloyd - yeah I can see that, kind of a split personality thing.

I guess you could argue that the whole film is a fantasy which takes place after Brendan finds his girlfriend dead at the start and is about him trying to wrestle control of the emotional situation.

There's definitely a feeling in this film that something is going on under the surface. It's incredibly Lynchian in that respect.
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post #16 of 28
11/12/10 at 8:09pm
First time I saw it I definitely got a Twin Peaks vibe from it
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post #17 of 28
11/12/10 at 8:30pm
The problem with the "Brain doesn't exist" theory, and with most theories like that, is that it doesn't really add anything to the movie. It doesn't really add to the themes, and it's not supported by much of the text.
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post #18 of 28
11/12/10 at 8:56pm
On a personal level these kinds of theories do add to my enjoyment of a film especially on 3rd or 4th viewing. Recent examples being Observe and Report and Minority Report. Now I'm always trying to spot stuff that gives a theory some weight.

With Brick though, that theory is one I read awhile back on imdb and since viewing the film 2 or 3 more times the only evidence to hint at this are what I mention above. Brendan is definitely unhinged though. There is some kind of incident mentioned in flashback and he is obsessed with poor Emily who is just trying to live her young life and not be as angry and bitter as him.
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post #19 of 28
11/12/10 at 10:07pm
But you can fanwank this kind of theory into almost every movie ever multiple times over. Anything can be twisted into "it's all in Character A's head" if you try hard enough and ignore the actual text of the film. If you get a kick out of doing so then more power to you, but, as Patrick said, not very many film's really support it.

The only time this kind of stuff can seriously be considered is in films that actually go out of their way to make you doubt the character's reality. This really isn't the case in Brick. Sure, it's a heightened, noir-fueled reality, but it never feels like it's just Brendan's projection. I don't know if "unhinged" is the best word for him as much as rundown. He's sad, tired, and running on fumes for most of the movie, but nothing really indicates he's losing his mind.

That aside, this really is one of my favorite movies of the past few years and thanks to this thread, I might pop it in tonight.
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post #20 of 28
11/12/10 at 10:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lloyd Dobler View Post
I quite like the theory that the 'Brain' character doesnt exist. Nobody apart from Brendan speaks to him throughout the film and the closing shot of him walking away is shot close up in front of JGL with 'Brain' out of focus in the background. He then says 'Go to sleep brain' and he walks back off screen disappearing behind JGL like he is walking back into Brendan's brain...
Why would a figment of Brendan's imagination say he was grilled for information by Nora? Or that the Brain got information for Brendan while Brendan was busy doing other things? Theory doesn't hold up,
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post #21 of 28
11/13/10 at 5:03pm
This was the movie which put Joseph Gordon-Levitt way up in my actors to sit up and pay attention to list. I always liked him on 3rd Rock and in 10 Things, but I never knew he could to this. It's also the film that made me realise how much he looks like Heath Ledger.

Rian Johnson seems like a pretty fun dude in interviews too.
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post #22 of 28
11/13/10 at 6:23pm
Have you seen Mysterious Skin?
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post #23 of 28
11/13/10 at 6:34pm
Haven't seen that one yet Evi. I've kept an eye out for it on our movie channels (where I seem to catch almost all of what I watch at home lately, such is the economy) which have a good amount of variety, but Mysterious Skin hasn't come up so far.
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post #24 of 28
11/13/10 at 8:05pm
The Lookout is also worth seeing if you're looking for a great JGL performance.
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post #25 of 28
11/17/10 at 11:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evi View Post
Have you seen Mysterious Skin?
AKA The only Gregg Araki movie that's worth a damn? Seen it, loved it - first time I saw JGL as a real actor. He's terrific in The Lookout too, which definitely brought some of the nuances he brought to his role in Brick. He's best when he's subtle.
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post #26 of 28
11/18/10 at 12:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimthemoviefreak View Post
He's best when he's subtle.
Except when he plays Cobra Commander!
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post #27 of 28
11/26/10 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Benenson View Post
Except when he plays Cobra Commander!
TOUCHE, sir
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post #28 of 28
11/26/10 at 6:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lloyd Dobler View Post
Brendan is definitely unhinged though. There is some kind of incident mentioned in flashback and he is obsessed with poor Emily who is just trying to live her young life and not be as angry and bitter as him.
Well he wasn't exactly trying to stop her from living her young life. The incident they mentioned was that Brendan was partners with a guy and they were selling drugs. He saw how Emily was getting and how she just wasn't cut out for it. So he turned on his partner and turned him in because he loved Emily and wanted her out of that life. That is what caused them to break up. When she says he needs to "get with people" she is talking about getting into the drug business. It's then that Brendan gets bitter and seperates himself from everyone. But just as Brendan predicted she got caught up, easily manipulated and ended up getting killed. Im sure on some level he blames himself for that. Perhaps he wishes that he had stayed in and protected her. It's a great lesson in you just can't save a person from themselves.
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