To become the best, we have to learn from the best.
Brick is the story of a young man going about his business outside of high school to solve the murder of his ex girlfriend but ends up being caught up in the cities drug circulation.
Fantastic acting from Joseph Gordon-Levitt as he fights his way to the truth.
Let's begin breaking down some of my favourite frames from the film which encapsulate what I think are some of the pivotal points of importance in the story.
Let's begin!
This is one of the first shots we see of the film and it is one of those shots that is just so perfect that it says more than a thousand words. The tunnel of despair and darkness, the inner most cave of death has spat her out. She was close to entering but didn't make it. Now he is sitting in the entrance, about to make a leap into the blackness to see why.
A friend in this mist of enemies? She's wearing red, the colour of passion, love, anger and blood. She is framed next to a fire. Does she look like a friend? She looks like the devil to me. She will betray our hero but he is too smart for that and manages to escape before she can. It sets up up nicely.
He is sitting at the end of his journey, the end of his relationship with the dead girl and this is shown by his sitting at the end of a wall. A long road stands before him and he has to make the decision to travel down the unknown path into a new beginning and new journey.
The girl in the frame is represented not necessarily how she actually was but how he remembers her. This isn't a simple flash back, it is how he remembers it. It is hit point of view we are watching and here she has the sun behind her and an endless field. Almost as if she's and angel, representing light, warmth and endless possibilities.
The king-pin. The big drug runner who he has been searching for this whole time. Let's examine his room. It's very brown/golden, the colour of many things majestic and magnificent. He is sitting next to an eagle, the symbol for freedom. This tells us a lot about him from his lust for freedom, his high profile statue and his power and authority.
The king-pin here is sitting on the beach, watching the sun go down as the night turns to twilight. He is symbolic for his love for freedom in his own right. He is staring at the horizon, he is dreaming for a world where things would be better. Why is our hero not sitting with him? He doesn't share that same idea of a future would be my first guess.
One of the main antagonistic figures of the film but soon becoming a sort of half ally of the hero is seen sitting on the floor, thinking about the world around him. He is trapped in his own internal conflicts. The door is squeezing the frame and him. It's a very claustrophobic shot and reflects his state of mind well.
Our angelic ally character shape-shifter who has provided information has had her illusion blown wide open. The angel persona she has been trying to impose onto herself has backfired and the fake reality she tried to pass off has shattered. The broken mirror is a symbol for this breaking of the fake reality. She has been exposed and her mask broken, showing who she really is.
Brick is one of those films that you probably haven't heard of but it definitely should be. It's such a cool movie and even though you can tell that they had a tiny budget to film this, they made every penny count. They had a good cast, a great writer, a great director and a great cinematographer as well as a great production designer. It shows what you can do with a great vision and the means to make it happen.
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