I know someone mentioned this film in one of the first classes, however the film, Brick, is the epitome of noir. I actually went back, re-watched it, and was rather floored at how the writer/director Rian Johnson was able able to capture the essence of the noir of the 30s, 40s, and 50s; yet throw it into a high-school environment. It had all the classic elements: the hard-boiled protagonist, snappy dialogue, stylized and suspense-filled situations, the manipulative female, dark themes, and so on. Then I couldn't help but compare the context in which this film was created to those that influenced it. As we spoke before, the noir style came from an audience's desire to not be babied in their entertainment. The majority of studio films, before noir, were light-hearted, simple tales, that spoon-fed you morality. Then noir came along and challenged the viewer, giving them more ominous ideas. Now, there have certainly been dark films that weren't noir in the time before Brick was created; however, you can lower the scale and just look at this film through the frame of a high-school film, not just a studio film. Nowadays, the high-school film sub-genre, for the most part, are fun stories about kids getting drunk and laid or stories about an under-dog sports team managing to win the state championship. Rarely, if ever (I personally can't think of any, but I'm sure there are some), has there been a film liked Brick that darkens the high-school environment and interlaces controversial and traumatic themes. So what the noir genre did to the film industry has a whole back in the day, Brick sort of does the the high-school film genre of today. It is definitely a great film, and any fan of noir should be a fan of Brick.
This is one of my favorite noirs, and I definitely agree it contains all the elements of noir, but it's a more modern neo-noir film depicting high school students. In Brick, the protagonist is not manipulated into committing a crime, but in fact, solves a crime. (Although, from what I can recall, he is haunted by something he did in the past.) The film is a refreshing take on film noir and definitely conformed and expanded on the typical noir genre of the 40s and 50s. The film has a lot of existential motifs because Brendan is lonely and alienated from society. I like your point regarding typical teen films, which tend to focus on cheesy themes, like kids partying and experiencing "typical" high school drama and relationship problems.
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ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite noirs, and I definitely agree it contains all the elements of noir, but it's a more modern neo-noir film depicting high school students. In Brick, the protagonist is not manipulated into committing a crime, but in fact, solves a crime. (Although, from what I can recall, he is haunted by something he did in the past.) The film is a refreshing take on film noir and definitely conformed and expanded on the typical noir genre of the 40s and 50s. The film has a lot of existential motifs because Brendan is lonely and alienated from society. I like your point regarding typical teen films, which tend to focus on cheesy themes, like kids partying and experiencing "typical" high school drama and relationship problems.
ReplyDeleteWow I did not even see this when i made my post about the film! Woops.
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