'Brick' - Rian Johnson Scene - First meeting with The Pin
I have chosen to analyse a scene from the neo noir 'Brick' by Rian Johnson. The scene I'll be analysing is where Brendan has his first meeting with The Pin, who until now has remained anonymous. The Pin plays a dominant role in the film, which is clearly illustrated through the use of editing, mise-en-scene, cinematography and sound.
The camera is seen to follow Brendan walking slowly along a dark corridor, past many other gang members. The gang members are represented as tough, powerful and 'not to mess with' characters by their hard gold jewellery, their muscular appearance and their serious expressions. Against them, Brendan looks inferior and weak with his geeky glasses, and cuts over his face (that show defencelessness). As Brendan is guided into a room by the violent character,Tug, an establishing shot reveals the location. The room is empty and the image is de-saturated to show a lack in natural light. The mise-en-scene is one large extravagant desk at the far end of the room, where a man in a dark coat is sitting on a chair. His identity isn't revealed until the last moment when Brendan begins to speak, and it seems a shock to the audience that the character who (by the mise-en-scene) leads the audience to believe is a strong, powerful person, yet by his young appearance he goes against the ' gang leader drug dealer' stereotype. The fact that The Pin also carries a walking stick also shows power, though can stereotypically be used to show age or injury. In the image above, the characters are seen to be standing underneath a bright skylight in the ceiling. This shows importance as it acts like a spotlight, highlighting the key characters involved in this particular scene.
As Brendan begins to question The Pin, Tug turns violent and begins to attack Brendan out of annoyance. This is where The Pin shows his maturity and leadership as he doesn't move to restrain Tug, though he keeps calm under the pressure Brendan is implying to the situation. The black-out part where Brendan gets knocked unconscious by Tug is shown through a point-of-view shot. Basically, the audience see everything and feel everything that Brendan goes through, as if we are the playing the character. The steadicam shot also invites us (the audience) into the shot and makes us feel a part of the scene. A low angle shot up from the ground to The Pin (from Brendan's point of view) shows Brendan is weak and inferior compared to the power of The Pin. It also reinforces who's boss in the situation.
In conclusion, the entire scene is full of violence and individual characters using the cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en-scene to portray their importance and power as a role within the scene. I found this scene particularly follows the noir codes and conventions because of the darkness, the use of a powerful villain wearing a dark long coat, and the use of violence and blood shown between characters. The loneliness aspect found within the room is also a common aspect in many film noirs, and is used to show isolation and fear/anxiety.
‘Detour’ - Edgar G UlmarScene - Al accidentally strangles Vera
The scene I’ll be analysing takes place inside an apartment that Al and Vera are renting for a short while, whilst hiding from the police and waiting to sell Haskell’s car. The scene contains many aspects found in traditional and contemporary noirs. The relationship between Al and Vera has been dominated by Vera as she plays a feisty fem-fatale whilst Al plays an innocent, confused, guilty man that wishes no trouble for anyone, though he has a habit of causing it.
Vera is drunk as she threatens to call the police and confess about Al hiding Haskell’s body, if Al doesn’t conform to Vera’s plan of stealing inheritance money from Haskell’s father. Vera runs into the bedroom carrying the phone, and locks the door behind her. The phone cord trails under the bedroom door out into the hallway, where Al decides to pull the cord tightly away from Vera at the other end. Vera however is lying on the bed, drunkenly oblivious to the phone cord wrapped round her. With Al tugging at the phone cord, he accidentally strangles Vera, which he discovers after hearing a thud, and breaking down the bedroom door to find Vera lying dead on her bed. Murder and blackmail are key conventions of film noir, and are both present in this scene. After Al discovers Vera dead, his devastated and confused mind is illustrated through a series of blurry shots. Each blurry shot pans/tracks and focuses on key objects (mise-en-scene) in the room. This includes a Venetian blind in the window (common in many noirs), Vera’s make-up on her dressing table (a common element of fem-fatale costume) and the telephone that Vera was strangled by. These blurry shots also show how basic the effects were for a B-grade movie to afford. The high angle shots down on Vera give a sense of vulnerability and weakness, whereas the close-ups on Al’s face show his emotions to be guilty, worried and sad. A voice-over from Al reinforces his importance as a character, and introduces his thoughts to the audience. The point-of-view shots (blurry ones) make the audience feel they are in Al’s position, and feel his emotions.
In conclusion, this sequence uses mise-en-scene, cinematography and voice-over sound to point out certain things that Al is thinking about. The lighting is low, a typical with all film noirs, yet it is light enough for the audience to understand what’s going on.
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