"Brick" - spoilers in OP. Some may be unboxed.

Cafe Society
1

I think there was only one previous thread dedicated to this film, and it was from April. I just saw the film last night, and I didn’t want to resurrect a zombie, so here’s my take -

Great movie. Very subtle, in its way. I loved the use of slang and visual cues to establish the feel of a 1930’s noir film in a sunny California high school setting. The plot was tightly woven, and the dialogue was wonderfully rapid-fire. I was also laughing over all the classic noir lighting that they somehow cinematically pulled off, despite the huge differences in setting. The scenes in the party, where Brendan was walking around the huge house, were excellent. All those dramatic, geometric shadows thrown by the candlelight over the sets. Wonderful attention to details.

I was having a great time IDing character archetypes as they appeared: the likeable loser (AKA, The Detective,) the Femme Fatale, the Gun Moll, the Kingpin (the Pin. Ha!,) the Police Chief (an assistant principal,) etc.

Which brings me to The Puppetmaster. Gadarene speculated in the other thread that the Brain was the motive force behind the whole conflict, and that Brendan was his patsy.

I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I had him pegged about a third of the way through the film, and was a little distressed at the end when the plot seemed about to wrap up (during the meeting between Brendan and Cara when Brendan outlined the plot to her) without further mention of the Prime Mover. However, at that moment, [spoiler]Brendan stepped aside, revealing the Brain standing behind him (an extremely symbolic moment in itself, in a movie PACKED with symbols,) and said, “You did real good, Brain.”

Aha! sez I. You sure as hell did do real good, Brain. You guided the entire ugly episode with deft hands, and never revealed yourself.[/spoiler]

I’m now more convinced than ever that he was behind it all, and that Brendan, as smart as he was, was simply overmatched, and would never finally put it together.

What do you think? Any fans?

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Honestly, when I started out watching it I thought it was a bit slow and unusual. Only after I figured out it was supposed to be a film noir things started to make a little more sense. The characters seem to be a bit shallow and cliché in the beginning, but that comes with the film noir territory.
I ended up liking it a lot, also because of the understated humour throughout. that As for your theory about the brain… it kinda makes sense, but I’d have to see it again to come to a definite conclusion.

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I’m still a fan of that theory, Ogre. And I like your additional thought about it. Of course, some people have speculated that that scene could also be taken another way.

Specifically, that Brain was a figment of Brendan’s imagination, or an actualization of his own brain. Brain’s never seen interacting with anyone else and, in the scene you mention, actually comes into frame seemingly from within Brendan’s head.

I don’t like that explanation, though. It’s not nearly as elegant, it’s too gimmicky, and I don’t think it holds up under close scrutiny.

Great movie. I want to watch it again.

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It might be a bit gimmicky, Gadarene, but it’s what I thought of when the last scene played out. The theory of the OP never actually entered into my mind. I guess I was too caught up in giggling over all the film noir nods.

Long, short, long, short.

5

I guess one of the reasons I don’t think that theory holds up is that

there’s simply too much interaction betwen Brendan and Brain in which Brain acts as a go-between between Brendan and (off-screen) other people. Are we supposed to assume, if that theory is true, that Brendan did all that research himself, knew all the things about Pin on his own, gave whatsherface his locker number himself, et cetera? Plus, there’s simply too much physical interaction between Brain and Brendan. Having Brendan actually call Brain’s cell phone from a pay phone – multiple times – is too much of a visual cheat if it turns out that Brain doesn’t actually exist, because then the audience is seeing entire scenes in which Brendan is doing something that makes no sense at all. I’m a big believer in narrative integrity, and I feel like the Brain-as-fiction theory ultimately either falls apart or twists the narrative in a way that does overmuch damage to it. Especially when compared to the Brain-as-mastermind theory, which fits nicely within the interstices of what we’re shown on screen.

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By a remarkable coincidence, I also saw this movie last night. Looooooved it.

Re the Brain theory (heh, get it? brain theory? never mind):[spoiler]Not only does Brain appear from the hero’s head at the end, he disappears into it, also.

However, the significance of this moment is perhaps undermined by another moment of heightened reality: After Brendan and the Pin have their breakfast meeting in the Pin’s kitchen, the Pin walks over to a darkened doorway and says, “We’re done.” He then disappears into the darkness and basically vanishes, because Cara appears out of the gloom in exactly the same place as if the Pin has evaporated.

So whether any of this is supposed to actually mean anything, symbolically, or whether it’s just cool but showoffy stylistic decoration (like the dissolve in the middle of the rack focus that happens about a third of the way into the movie), is arguable.[/spoiler]

Definitely going to buy this for the library. Truly a great movie.

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Cervaise, do I have to tell you again how grievously I miss reading your movie reviews?

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I saw this movie yesterday too. It was really good. I don’t agree with any of the theories people have in this thread since I thought it was a fairly straight forward film, but hey, whatever.

Now, if the theory was

that Brendan had somehow intentionally set everything into motion himself, knowing that their break up would push Emily towards the “right” crowd to screw her over, maybe I’d buy that.

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Here’s something that might support the Op’s theory. At least three times throughout the movie, Brenden is walking in the dark and behind him someone lights up a cigarette. I’m guessin’ this shows that there is someone watching over everything and making sure it goes according to plan.

10

Gadarene makes a point, but

the fact that the mover’s name is Brain really clinched it in my head. Plus, every time Brendan goes somewhere to work something out, he retreats to Brain. It’s said that he always goes out back to eat alone, and out back is also where Brain is. The one conversation he has, where he is listing off the unfamiliar words Emily said to him feel like a single train of thought to me.

Of course, I know that doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny, but I only watched the movie once. Clearly, that is not enough.

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:cool: and :frowning: in equal measure.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to get back to it. Sigh…

12

Hmmm… not really very supporting. Do they show the Brain smoking? Because they do show the person that Brendan accuses at the end of masterminding everything smoking. Why wouldn’t you think it was her smoke?

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I loved the movie.

But what in all hells are you people talking about?

[spoiler]On the OP’s theory: What’s Brain’s motivation for orchestrating everything? What does he get out of it?

On the other theory that’s getting kicked around in this thread: Is there anything within the film or in Noire convention in general which suggests the audience should be on the lookout for the possibility that one of the characters doesn’t actually exist? Alternatively, is there anything in Noire convention in general which suggests its perfectly normal for there to be a sidekick to the hero who rarely if ever interacts with anyone else?[/spoiler]

-FrL-

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Misspelled “Noir” twice. Sorry.

-FrL-

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Well, two of the times, we know where she is. They both happen at her party; #1 happens when he is listening to her poem on the piano, and #2 happens when he ditches her and finds her talking to Tug

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Some noir stories are well-known for “unreliable narrators” who may not realize they’re losing their minds (and the audience may or may not know either, until the twist becomes apparent). It’s not super-common, though. One film immediately comes to mind where the very thing being discussed here turns out to be the major twist (one character exists fully in the head of another): Fight Club, which is not a noir film despite sharing a few elements.