Brick: a color picspam
For picspammy's color focus challenge:
The way a director chooses to use color in a film has always been one of the main attractions for me to watch and pay attention to a movie. And considering that Rian Johnson had talked endlessly about how the colors of the sun = the character of Penelope in The Brother's Bloom commentary- it was pretty clear that Brick's beautiful cinematography was not just a "happy accident."
Gray is often associated with sorrow, wisdom and indifference- an aura that can be easily found in the main character, Brenden Frye, who hunches and shrugs his way through the film in a grey jacket. More importantly, Brenden's attachment to this neutral color (a mix of black and white) allows him to manipulate the "good" (the principal, police) and the "evil" (Laura and the Pin) for his own purposes.
Red signals danger, anger and passion- the one character that provokes these reactions is the femme fatale, Laura Dannon. In her introduction to us and to Brenden, the red imagery is the first thing you see and it dominates most of the frame. There are also many little details that link her to the color- the halloween invite, the small candles scattered at the party, the red purse she carries, etc.
Blue holds alot of meanings but in this case, it's linked to confidence, loyalty and depression. Blue is the main theme of the movie and is mostly attuned to every characters' suffering and grief when secrets are kept and Emily is murdered. It is also another color that resembles Brenden's personality- faced with a threat; he acts with a calm composure and stands defiantly (ex. his first confrontation with Tug). He even becomes a loyal avenger for Emily, 'the only thing he ever loved,' and puts himself at risk to find her killer.
As a neo-noir, black and white are two important elements which pay homage to film noir's long shadows and gritty feel. Black emulates power, rebellion and death- all of which can be seen through the drug lord Pin, his sidekick, Tug and Laura. While, the white representing the good, is only worn by Emily and Brenden.
Even though, black swallows most of the film- there are two white items that hold special meanings. First, Tug's white cap and wifebeater can be seen as a show of hypocrisy when it is revealed that he killed Emily but it also reveals an attempt to cleanse and distance this crime from himself during the rest of the story. Second, the awol brick of cocaine represents both white (good) and black (evil) when it used to bring both pleasure and death at once.
The way a director chooses to use color in a film has always been one of the main attractions for me to watch and pay attention to a movie. And considering that Rian Johnson had talked endlessly about how the colors of the sun = the character of Penelope in The Brother's Bloom commentary- it was pretty clear that Brick's beautiful cinematography was not just a "happy accident."
Gray is often associated with sorrow, wisdom and indifference- an aura that can be easily found in the main character, Brenden Frye, who hunches and shrugs his way through the film in a grey jacket. More importantly, Brenden's attachment to this neutral color (a mix of black and white) allows him to manipulate the "good" (the principal, police) and the "evil" (Laura and the Pin) for his own purposes.
Red signals danger, anger and passion- the one character that provokes these reactions is the femme fatale, Laura Dannon. In her introduction to us and to Brenden, the red imagery is the first thing you see and it dominates most of the frame. There are also many little details that link her to the color- the halloween invite, the small candles scattered at the party, the red purse she carries, etc.
Blue holds alot of meanings but in this case, it's linked to confidence, loyalty and depression. Blue is the main theme of the movie and is mostly attuned to every characters' suffering and grief when secrets are kept and Emily is murdered. It is also another color that resembles Brenden's personality- faced with a threat; he acts with a calm composure and stands defiantly (ex. his first confrontation with Tug). He even becomes a loyal avenger for Emily, 'the only thing he ever loved,' and puts himself at risk to find her killer.
As a neo-noir, black and white are two important elements which pay homage to film noir's long shadows and gritty feel. Black emulates power, rebellion and death- all of which can be seen through the drug lord Pin, his sidekick, Tug and Laura. While, the white representing the good, is only worn by Emily and Brenden.
Even though, black swallows most of the film- there are two white items that hold special meanings. First, Tug's white cap and wifebeater can be seen as a show of hypocrisy when it is revealed that he killed Emily but it also reveals an attempt to cleanse and distance this crime from himself during the rest of the story. Second, the awol brick of cocaine represents both white (good) and black (evil) when it used to bring both pleasure and death at once.