Cinema in Conversation: Brick
With an introduction and presentation from Steve Wurtzler!
Gritty neo-noir meets high school social cliques in Brick, Rian Johnson's (American Fiction) directorial debut. After the smart but troubled loner Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) receives a cryptic phone call from his ex-girlfriend Emily, he is shocked to find a note that leads him to her dead body. Investigating the cause of Emily's death and determined to find her killer, Brendan must infiltrate the rougher groups at his school and figure out the connection between Emily and a local drug ring. But danger lurks around every corner, and Brendan soon realizes that people are willing to kill to keep their secrets buried. A terrific cult classic and filled with references to iconic films, Brick is "a Maltese Falcon where the stuff that dreams are made of rests in the lockers of a well-worn high school"—Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun.
Before the film, Steve Wurtzler, Associate Professor and Chair of Cinema Studies at Colby College, will introduce Brick in terms of its relationship to the film noir, a cycle of post-World War II crime films notable for their disillusioned world view, their characters' apparent moral ambiguity, and the films' dark visual style, and discuss how Brick relocates common conventions of the genre to the unconventional setting of a California high school.
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Gritty neo-noir meets high school social cliques in Brick, Rian Johnson's (American Fiction) directorial debut. After the smart but troubled loner Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) receives a cryptic phone call from his ex-girlfriend Emily, he is shocked to find a note that leads him to her dead body. Investigating the cause of Emily's death and determined to find her killer, Brendan must infiltrate the rougher groups at his school and figure out the connection between Emily and a local drug ring. But danger lurks around every corner, and Brendan soon realizes that people are willing to kill to keep their secrets buried. A terrific cult classic and filled with references to iconic films, Brick is "a Maltese Falcon where the stuff that dreams are made of rests in the lockers of a well-worn high school"—Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun.
Before the film, Steve Wurtzler, Associate Professor and Chair of Cinema Studies at Colby College, will introduce Brick in terms of its relationship to the film noir, a cycle of post-World War II crime films notable for their disillusioned world view, their characters' apparent moral ambiguity, and the films' dark visual style, and discuss how Brick relocates common conventions of the genre to the unconventional setting of a California high school.
WATCH TRAILER >