by Blake Snyder
W Type: Personal Whydunit
W Cousins: The Third Man, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Conversation, Body Double, Final Analysis, Jagged Edge, Kiss the Girls, High Crimes, Disturbia
MYSTIC RIVER
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
Opening Image: 1975. Three boys play ball in a working-class Massachusetts neighborhood. Pausing to etch their names in wet cement, one is stopped mid-task by two men posing as police. They take the boy with them in their car.
Theme Stated: Days later, after being held and sexually abused, the boy escapes. Returned home, he is talked about by neighbors who refer to him as “damaged goods.” Does the “damage” of the past mark us for life? That’s what this movie will explore.
Set-Up: Now in the present, the three boys have grown up, each affected by this past event. Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), the one who was abducted, is now a quiet, overprotective father and husband. Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) has a teen daughter, Katie (Emmy Rossum), a new wife, Annabeth (Laura Linney), and a criminal past. He too is overprotective, not liking that Katie is seeing Brendan (Tom Guiry), son of Just Ray, a man Sean once committed crimes with. We also meet a third man, Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon), now a cop. One night, while at a bar, Tim sees Katie, drunk.
Catalyst: Tim comes home to his wife (Marcia Gay Harden) late. He is bloody, and cryptically tells her about being mugged and beating his attacker so hard he may have killed him. Next day, Katie’s car is found abandoned; she’s missing.
Debate: What happened? Is Katie dead or just a runaway? Brendan and his deaf brother, Silent Ray (Spencer Treat Clark), come into the store Sean owns, and we see Sean dislikes both. As luck would have it, Kevin gets the case, and arrives in his old neighborhood. After church, Sean sees police cars roar by, sirens blaring.
Break into Two: At Minute 23, Kevin works the crime scene, as Sean turns up with his old crew, the Savage Brothers, and yells to be let past the police barricade. Also involved now is Marcia Gay, who doesn’t know what to make of her husband’s wild story. Each “detective” will piece together the clues of the case as it relates to them, as past and present merge. At Minute 31, Katie’s body is found. She has been shot.
B Story: Three B stories are in play in this film; the theme is discussed in each. Sean’s B story is his criminal past, as seen through his involvement with the local thugs, the two Savage Brothers. Tim’s B story concerns his trying to free himself from the pain of what happened to him. Is it enough to have made him kill Katie? Kevin’s B story involves his wife who left him; he is patiently waiting for her to return. But whenever she phones Kevin, she cannot speak.
Fun and Games: As in most Whydunits, the cards in this case are now turned over. Brendan, the boyfriend, was taking Katie to Las Vegas; they were to be married. He loved her. Meanwhile Tim and Marcia Gay comfort Sean and Laura, but no story about Tim’s mugging is in the paper. Kevin, meanwhile, seems to be hitting dead ends and runs afoul of his cop partner, Sgt. Powers (Laurence Fishburne), who doesn’t get the rules of this burg.
Midpoint: Kevin’s missing wife calls a second time and still isn’t speaking. The inability to speak, and being held in place by events, complements the overall theme. But the “stakes are raised” when Tim is identified as a suspect. His own wife is questioning him, and his response to her is so odd she begins to doubt his story. At 1 Hour, Brendan passes a polygraph and at 1 Hour 5 Minutes, Tim is detained as a suspect.
Bad Guys Close In: Sean has been ruminating about Katie’s death while the Savage Brothers interrogate suspects — often ahead of the cops. Now Sean begins to rage: “I’m gonna find him and I’m gonna kill him!” Kevin learns the gun used to kill Katie was also used to rob a liquor store years ago. The suspect: Sean’s pal “Just Ray,” father of the boys Sean hates. Is there a link between this second buried event and Katie?
All Is Lost: Marcia Gay tells Sean she thinks Tim killed Katie, sealing his doom. Kevin questions Brendan about his father’s gun.
Dark Night of the Soul: With no proof, Kevin lets Brendan go. Just like Marcia Gay, he hopes he did the right thing.
Break into Three: The Savage Brothers pick up Tim, who gets in their car and drives away in a match shot of his 1975 abduction. Meanwhile, Brendan finds the hiding place of his father’s gun; someone took it and used it. Brendan waits at home.
Finale: The Savage Brothers get Tim drunk at a local bar as Sean walks in. He now begins to question Tim. Staggering outside, Tim feels ill and realizes Sean thinks he killed Katie. At home, Brendan confronts his brother, Silent Ray. Ray didn’t want Brendan to leave him; what’s more, he’s not even really deaf, but using the ploy to bond with Brendan. At the river, Sean pressures Tim to admit he killed Katie and Tim finally does, hoping Sean will take pity. Au contraire. Sean knifes, then shoots Tim. Weak is weak here on Mystic River. Only the tough survive and the breaks are the breaks. Tim dies, just as Kevin arrests Silent Ray for the murder.
Final Image: Turns out Tim was telling the truth: He killed a child molester that night. And Sean had killed Just Ray and has been sending his widow money all these years. Justice is also meted out for Kevin, whose wife comes back to him. By the end of the film, a parade in town shows only Marcia Gay is the loser. She ratted out her husband, and now she is a widow. Kevin and Sean nod to each other at the parade, knowing that justice has been served — maybe — but as we go out, we see the cement where the boys carved their names years ago. Only Tim’s is incomplete, as was his life.
BRICK (2005)
The classic noir gets an update in ’tude when Philip Marlowe is reinvented for high school. Given the conceits of the form — the fast-talking gumshoe, the missing ingenue, the gimlet whore, and the DA bent on yanking our hero’s license, this story is the same … only different. Writer/director Rian Johnson adds to the form begun with The Maltese Falcon, and tweaked in The Long Goodbye and Chinatown, setting his tale in the hardcore underground of San Clemente, California.
And it’s a hoot.
Half-hilarious, half-ingenious, and written with mouthwatering dialogue that never disappoints, this is a story that inventively “steals” from its predecessors, with teens embodying the roles of noirs past. And it follows the rules of the Whydunit all the way — right down to the “dark turn” of the hero. Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) not only has a personal stake in finding his ex-girlfriend’s murderer, he is drawn into her world for the same corrupt reasons that she was.
With the theme concerning whether or not we can possess another, every scene is about some form of control and ownership of someone else. Can our detective let go of his ex? Or did his inability to hang onto their relationship in the first place lead to her death? Brendan will discover he may be more responsible than he could ever imagine.
Who dunit? In his own way … he did.
W Type: Noir Whydunit
W Cousins: Chinatown; The Long Goodbye; Farewell, My Lovely; The Big Sleep; Body Heat; Devil in a Blue Dress; Blue Velvet; Mulholland Falls; Hollywoodland; The Black Dahlia
BRICK
Written by Rian Johnson
Opening Image: A dead girl lying in the spillway on the lip of a sewage pipe. A young man looks at the details of her body: her plastic bracelets, her blonde hair, and ponders … why?
Catalyst: Two days earlier, prompted by a note left in his locker at high school, the young man, Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), goes to a phone booth and fields a call from the girl we know will be dead soon. Emily (Emilie de Ravin) is his ex-girlfriend, now in trouble.
Set-Up: Brendan’s world, and the reflection of every Sam Spade and film noir cliché, is San Clemente High School. Few parents or teachers appear in this world, and those that do are stand-ins for stock characters in detective stories. We learn Brendan dropped out of the social whirl for reasons having to do with Emily. We also see whom Emily got involved with post-Brendan. These are the “cool” kids that include drug-using jock Brad Bramish (Brian White) and hi
s mysterious girlfriend Laura (Nora Zehetner). We also meet Brendan’s other ex, sexy high school theater geek Kara (Meagan Good), who has a string of freshman fans on bended knee.
Debate: What’s going on with Emily? Not yet on the case, Brendan sneaks into a party and sees Laura talking with tough kid Tug (Noah Fleiss), who drives a Mustang just like the one Brendan saw when he last spoke to Emily. Next day at snackshack “Coffee and Pie,” Brendan rousts Dode (Noah Segan), Emily’s new boyfriend, to set up an appointment with her.
Theme Stated: Finally, Brendan meets Emily and she asks him to let her go: “I don’t want to be put away and protected.” And later says: “You don’t love me, you just want to keep me.” Can one person possess another?
Break into Two: At Minute 24, we are back at the sewage pipe where this movie began. Knowing he must hide Emily’s body to buy time until he can find the killer, Brendan decides to “take the case” wherever it leads.
Fun and Games: Brendan meets his Watson, “Brain” (Matt O’Leary), who will help him solve the mystery. He reveals to Brain four clues Emily mentioned when he last spoke to her: “Brick,” “Tug,” “poor Frisco,” and “The Pin.” Brain figures out that The Pin means “The Kingpin,” the rumored town drug dealer. Into the fray, Brendan has a hard-boiled fight in the school parking lot with The Pin’s underling, Brad Bramish. This gets him a meeting with The Pin (Lukas Haas), who lives with his apple juice-serving Mom and does business out of their basement. We also see Brendan get called on the carpet by Gary Trueman (Richard Roundtree), Assistant Vice Principal and a parody of the DA in every detective movie. By turning in a student months earlier, Brendan became a snitch but refuses this time, telling the authority figure: “I’m not your boy!”
B Story: The question of whether Laura can be trusted or not is at the heart of this case, and her interest in Brendan a reflection of the power of possession. Like all tough detectives, Brendan needs love, too. This “love story” is where the theme of this movie will be discussed, and where Brendan will seek solace.
Midpoint: Laura saves Brendan when he’s in a tough spot as A and B stories cross in “false victory.” And the victory is enhanced when Laura tells Brendan what’s at the core of the mystery (and one of the clues): a missing “brick” of heroin. At school, after fending off a knife-wielding thug, Brendan dips into the “dark side” when he joins The Pin, posing as a snitch to gain The Pin’s trust and learn more about Emily’s death.
Bad Guys Close In: Brendan is brought into The Pin’s world, and the “stakes are raised.” Assistant Vice Principal Trueman shows up at Brendan’s class, asking about Emily; Brendan is now a suspect in her disappearance. When he learns “poor Frisco” died by using poisoned heroin, Brendan knows the crime is about more than just drugs. At The Pin’s house, he finds a brick of heroin and learns from Tug that one was stolen and replaced with a tainted substitute. Everyone suspects Emily. Now Brendan does, too. Brendan accepts Dode’s invite to a meeting with The Pin and Tug, then gets the biggest shock yet when Dode reveals Emily was pregnant.
All Is Lost: At the sewage pipe, Dode is about to tell The Pin he thinks Brendan killed Emily. But Brendan is saved when Tug kills Dode before he says a word — because it was Tug who killed Emily, and he thinks Dode was about to turn him over. “Worse off than when this movie started,” and complicit in not just one death but two, Brendan experiences the “whiff of death.”
Dark Night of the Soul: Brendan learns Tug thought Emily’s baby was his; that’s why he killed her. Brendan knows all now, except for one key piece: Who told Tug it was his baby? To find solace, Brendan seeks out Laura who comforts him, but an idle remark makes him realize she played a part in Emily’s death, too.
Break into Three: A and B stories cross as we return to the theme of possession: Laura tries to keep Brendan from going to the final confrontation between Tug and The Pin, but Brendan breaks from her influence and heads to the face-off.
Finale: The showdown turns violent as Tug and The Pin kill each other. Brendan escapes before the police arrive. Emily’s body is found in Tug’s car, and he is blamed. Laura is the only one of the group who’s gotten off scot-free. Or has she?
Final Image: Brendan puts the case together: Laura did it. She manipulated everyone, and told Tug about Emily knowing he would kill her. It was all done to keep control. But we also learn the horrible truth: The baby was Brendan’s. He turns Laura in to the cops, but is in no mood to celebrate. The “dark turn” he needed to take to solve the mystery has tainted him for good.
The “Fool Triumphant” comes in all shapes and sizes. In Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon brings da pink to Harvard Yard — along with values of fidelity, truth, and perms — that will help this “fish out of water” win big.
The tale of the Village Idiot is a tradition going back to ancient times. Whether an actual knuckle-dragging dimwit or a savant whose skills are disguised, being disregarded is the power of this character — and the secret of his success.
Crafty Greek protags like Ulysses often play the fool. Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream delights us with hijinks and wisdom. And the “jester” is a stock character in the King’s court. These are heroes famous for come-from-behind victories, for while those around them don’t know a wise man or woman when they see one, we do!
And that’s what makes the “Fool Triumphant.”
The key ingredient in setting up the “fool as hero” story is giving him an establishment to stand against. And while he does not set out to do anything but live his life, it’s usually the establishment that’s exposed as the real fool in the equation. Have no fear, our unlikely hero won’t become a part of the system — or want to! The fool will lead no revolution, upend no government, nor promote himself or even a cause, but his presence reminds us that an individual can still make a difference. The fool is that side of us that knows the truth of what we speak, but may be unable to convince others. He represents our fondest hope: That even on our most idiotic day, we’re making sense …
…and maybe everybody should cut us a damn break!
The latitude of the FT tale can be found in many such circumstances. The “Undercover Fool” purposely assumes the identity of someone else, often disguised as the opposite sex (Tootsie, Mrs. Doubtfire); the “Political Fool” is a clown in the king’s court who others mistake as a sage (Being There, Dave); and the “Sex Fool” (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Guru) is one who seems to be a lothario — but who actually needs help. This genre also includes the “fish out of water” tale where an unappreciated piscis ex aqua crawls up to dry land where she will find her true place (Legally Blonde), and where her skills suddenly have new impact. These “fresh start” stories reveal that back home the locals we grew up with are unsure what we’re capable of, but with a bit of luck — and a bus ticket out of town — we can finally show how great we are. Such is the curse and the blessing of being considered a fool, the out-of-the-blue, didn’t-expect-it, not-paid-attention-to person we all love and root for.
The rule of the fool is simple, and the Fool Triumphant template has three very definite conventions: (1) a “fool,” the overlooked man or woman who is often naive about his own powers; (2) an “establishment” that the fool either rises to challenge or is sent in to engage, as in most “fish out of water” stories; and (3) a “transmutation” that is offered the fool by circumstances that seem divine. Often this includes a “name change” — a beat seen in quite a few of these tales.
So let’s examine these elements. I mean, you’re here, why not?
The most important feature of the “fool” in literature is that he must be disregarded at first — and his being unaware of what he’s missing is the preposterous starting point for all: Reese Wither-spoon in Legally Blonde, Peter Sellers in Being There, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Geoffrey Rush in Shine, and even Tom Hulce in Amadeus all share this underdog quality — and being overlooked is both their disadvantage and their greatest power. For whatever reason, these sad sacks ar
e deemed less-than or discounted entirely. And even though they know they have what it takes, or at least have the pure chutzpah not to care, no one else takes them seriously or considers them a threat at first. Well … almost no one.
For every fool there is often a character described as the Insider, and he and the fool are a matched set in many an FT tale. This is the “jealous brother” who “gets it,” who knows the fool has magic powers, sometimes ones that — in the beginning — threaten him. These are the “smart guys” who often pay for their insight by getting the karmic backlash from trying to compete with the fool: Salieri in Amadeus, Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, and Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) in the old Pink Panther movies. This is also the difference between a Fool Triumphant story and a “Superhero” tale (Chapter 10); in the latter, the hero knows he’s special and also knows the cost that being “special” will entail — that is, in fact, what makes him a Superhero. But in a Fool Triumphant story, only the Insider really knows, and that information both gnaws at and inspires him to thwart the fool wherever he can.
The “establishment” we send the fool to confront, or one that he finds himself opposing, makes the fool stand out. Yet when they finally square off face-to-face, it’s usually the establishment that blinks. This is why so many “fish out of water” tales — the “fish,” meaning the fool, and “out of water,” meaning where he lands — present such a scary predicament. We fear for the FT hero, and assume he will flail and die. Often these stories are of the “Country Mouse Goes to the City” variety, where the bumpkin finds himself amid city slickers who berate him.