© FAKESHEMP.NET
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Podcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Good Movie Monday
    • WTF was that?
  • MEDIA
    • Videos >
      • Photos
  • GLG
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • About

BRICK

17/12/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
2005 | DIR. RIAN JOHNSON | REVIEW BY ALEX MAYNARD.

I would argue that filmmakers have often resisted completely embracing the noir genre for the past several decades. Perhaps due to fears that doing so would feel too familiar, or outdated. Modern mysteries instead concern themselves with adding ‘twists’ or ‘fresh takes’ to conventions. There’s nothing wrong with this; Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid was an ingenious parody that skewered the prototypical detective yarn as often as it followed similar beats. However, it’s a refreshing change of pace to find a film that feels effortless in its attempts to stand out.
​BRICK, Rian Johnson’s feature length debut as writer and director, is brazenly old-fashioned in its storytelling, but first garnered my interest by exploring noir in the unfamiliar setting of a typical American high school.
​
Student and would-be gumshoe Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) regularly spouts the cynical, dense dialogue you might expect from a grizzled P.I. played by Humphrey Bogart. Brendan is a walking contradiction and fascinating to watch, at times seeming to willingly cast himself as an outsider, while later using his connections with peers to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend (Emilie de Ravin). Likewise, at first Gordon-Levitt appears weedy behind a mop of hair, glasses, and oversized shirts, but Brendan is surprisingly capable in a fight. Literally and figuratively, the kid is a mess. We glean that his confused emotional state is likely due to the relatively fresh breakup, yet Johnson subverts expectations by not using this hardship to parody the troubled pasts that haunted the hard-boiled antiheroes of Dashiell Hammett novels. Rather, Brendan’s pain is treated as legitimate and informs his desire to pursue the truth regardless of the consequences, earnestly channelling touchstones like Sam Spade. Further uses of noir conventions, from the femme fatale to the double-cross, build on this parallel and present an astute observation; that is, teenagers treat every situation with a healthy dose of melodrama. 

Picture

​Brendan’s complex characterisation exemplifies BRICK’s obsession with style and tone; even if you 
haven’t necessarily followed the plot in every scene, the attention to detail in Johnson’s evocations of old-school noir makes it easy to understand his intentions. The film is brimming with curiosity, from its quirky score, to bare locations that beg viewers to speculatively fill in details. Indeed, the opening minutes alone feel littered with places and names that you should recognise, and propel a desire to uncover secrets and context. As a result, it can perhaps be expected that the specific plot developments are less of a priority, given that their familiarity allows so much exploration of how to convey genre. Anyone who prefers stories with constant and fresh surprises might struggle at first, but Johnson’s script ultimately succeeds at providing just enough information while leaving room for interpretation. 

​
BRICK is above all a film about how it feels to solve a mystery, and its ambitions are impressively well realised despite its miniscule budget. It’s easy to see how the premise could’ve led to a parody, or twist on a high school movie, but thankfully the film resists employing what would arguably be easier methods of forming a distinct identity. By instead delivering an affectionate homage to noir films twice his age, Johnson demonstrates that familiar ideas can be given a renewed purpose and impact with a few simple changes to their presentation. As an exercise in style and genre, and an important breakthrough in the career of a brilliant 21 st century filmmaker, it’s undeniably worth revisiting.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    OUR WRITERS
    GLENN COCHRANE
    JARRET GAHAN
    SHAUN CRAWFORD
    ALEX MAYNARD
    CHRIS THOMPSON​
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    September 2010
    April 2010

    RSS Feed

© 2018 FakeShemp.Net    All rights reserved.  FakeShemp.Net Illustrations by MJ Barros. 
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Podcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Good Movie Monday
    • WTF was that?
  • MEDIA
    • Videos >
      • Photos
  • GLG
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • About