Brick: Adoration and Evolution

Anyone ingratiated into the pretentious world of cinema is going to have heard of 'Film Noir'. It's a term as celebrated as it is vague, but what exactly is it? Moreover, why has it become a template for smart and ambitious filmmakers like Rian Johnson to make art in its esteem? You can read an excerpt and listen to the full episode below.

Michi: What is about Noir that critics like?

Patrick: Honestly I'm not too sure.

Michi: Yeah, its hard to explain. The best analogy I can come up with is when some art critic likes a piece of art, and then you look at the art and its some splodge of red next to some splodge of blue, and it's just sitting up there in the Louvre, and its worth a million bucks and they're like, "aww this is the best sh*t ever". This is kind of what these movies feel like to me. Only the people that are truly critiquing them and are really into that stuff, like it, but I don't know if what's really going through their head is that they really do like it, because how do they like splodges of red and blue on a canvas? Some people do.

Patrick: Yeah it's appealing on an intellectual level

Michi: Yea, but it's really snobbish. It's almost like "I know sh*t about film, so I like this film, but you wouldn't get it". And then you're shut down by that.

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