Brick

**for picture information see below

Everyone in class already knows that I absolutely loved the film Brick. I’ve been really enjoying the film noir style and Brick was a modern interpretation of what this style is. What I liked about Brick was the storyline, the fighting, use of water, and the mise en scene.

The storyline kept me intrigued the entire time. It was basically a mystery about a girl who was involved in a high school drug ring and was murdered. The main character, Brendan, was trying to figure out who murdered her. The spoken words were very crisp and not exactly high school-like. This also brings up another factor—the characters were all high schoolers, but everything seemed a little big, crisp and complicated beyond the high school I know. I liked that part of it.

There was a fair amount of fighting in the film, but it was effective. One particular sequence sticks out in my mind where Brendan was being chased by somebody who worked for Pin (I think). I really enjoyed the foot chase because normally films include car chases, but a genuine foot chase is equally as exciting. In the sequence, Brendan took his shoes off to not make as much noise, and then he waited around a corner, tripped the guy chasing him and the guy went flying in into a pole head first. It was very graphic, but very intriguing as well.

The use of water was another aspect that I enjoyed. Of course everyone in class knows that I’m obsessed with the water part of film noir and that I think it is extremely important to the style. Emily, the teen who was murdered was first found face down in a stream of water. There are several times when we are taken back to that same spot and the water is flowing there every time. I think it is an important part of the film because all of the action is based around this murder that took place by water.

The mise en scene was another portion of the film that caught my attention. The following will list the parts of mise en scene that I found to be really important to the film experience over all. There was a good use of props. For example, the cigarettes (the ones with the small green arrow) that Laura smoked were contextualized props that changed meaning throughout the film. First the cigarette was just a cigarette on the ground, but then it became more significant when Brendan realized they belonged to Laura. Blocking was very important for this film and a part where it was highly prevalent was the sequence that took place when Pin, Tug, Brendan and Tode were by the stream where Emily was murdered. Blocking was used in the beginning of the sequence to show Tode and Pin on opposite sides, then Brendan and Tug away from them a bit to sort of make a triangle, showing the connection between all of them. And at the end of the sequence after Tug shot Dode, blocking was used as the stood looking at the body. That particular sequence is also a good example for the use of lighting and shadowing in the whole film. The lighting was dull (as if the sky were cloudy) and seemingly natural in most scenes. In that sequence, Tug, Pin, Brendan and Tode were outside in the light, with the contrasting dark of the tunnel. When Tug shot Tode, we suddenly had the view from inside the tunnel and Tug, Pin and Brendan were silhouettes from that view. The entire film worked with the use of light and dark, which was very enjoyable to watch.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Brick especially the storyline, the fighting, use of water, and the mise en scene. All of these aspects worked together to produce an excellent film.

Note: The day after I watched Brick I went running outside—the sky was cloudy gray (just like the film), I was in a city setting with lots of concrete, but not a lot of people (like the film) and I went running past a tunnel thing that had water flowing through it (just like the film). It was pretty neat, but a little creepy too.

**www.tinyways.com/2006/10/05/post-fix-brick/
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