Point of View in Brick

If you’ve ever taken an English class (which I’m pretty sure most of you are enrolled in one, or have taken one at some point), then you will have most likely come across the words ‘point of view.’ Point of view is a form of narration, it’s a way that the rhetor (speaker) conveys the plot to the audience. In most film and novel noirs, the storyline is often told in a 1^st person point of view, in the eyes of the main protagonist and sometimes accompanied by voiceovers to give insight on the characters thoughts and exerperiences.  In the novel, “The Red Winds” by Raymond Chandler, the story is told through the eyes of main protagonist Phillip Marlowe. We hear his thoughts, we see what he sees, and we trust that his experiences are credible. That’s the thing about 1^stperson point of views… although the character whos eyes were viewing through may not be credible (as in we can’t really trust if what he’s saying is actually true or not) the audience has no choice but to believe what he says since there isn’t an omniscient point of view to confirm that these actions are true.

In Brick, it is clear that the film is told in a first person point of view, through the experiences and eyes of Brendan Fyre. Although, the audience doesn’t get to hear the thoughts that run through Brendan’s head, it is still very evident that we as an audience are right there with him in ever scene. Brendan is almost never out of the cameras sight. The camera is in fact so close to Brendan, that everything we see is at his eye level and everything he experiences, we experience it too. When Brendan blacks out from getting punched the lights out of him by Tug, the camera blacks out also. When Brendan isn’t wearing his glasses, the camera is has an unfocused effect, giving the impression that we are in the eyes of Brendan. Once Brendan puts his glasses on, the camera is focused and we are able to see clearly. Another component that further supports the subjective point of view, is the flashbacks that we see in the movie. Many of the flashbacks are limited solely to the mind of Brendans. The flashback that Brendan experiences when he is on the lot of his highschool field having an argument with Emily is something that the audience can see only through Brendan. No one else was present in the scene other than Emily, and it is clear that we are viewing this flashback with Brendan as he walks on that lot.