With its imitating noir style, sharp dialogue, and good use of camera angles and color tones, Brick is a film that draws you in slowly with a mysterious plot, and holds your attention until the credits roll.
The film stars a young cast of up and coming actors including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Noah Fleiss, Matt O'Leary, and Emilie de Ravin. It was written and directed by Rian Johnson.
Brick borrows its sense of dialogue from some of the great Bogart noir crime films (like Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep) and blends it into a high school setting that just helps the film have a great edge (sort of how the dialogue in Sin City helped set the atmosphere for the film).
The film is filled with fast delivered lines like: “I am just letting you know now so you don’t go kicking in my Home Room door when trouble starts” and “I got knives in my eyes and I am going home sick.”
The film revolves around a high school loner named Brendan (Gordon-Levitt) who begins a quest to make his way through a mysterious web of deceit, drugs, and violence to find out who is responsible for the death of his former love. Brendan (think Bogart in his teens) knows all the angles of the teenage underworld, and is quick with his fist and with his wit (some of his lines sound like they belong in a Mike Hammer novel).
As he journeys through this mystery, Brendan begins to interject himself into the criminal doings of a teenage crime boss known only as the Pin (Lukas Hass). Of course, to get to Pin, Brendan has to go through the henchmen Tugger (Fleiss), the mysterious Laura (Zehetner) – who may be helping Brednan or pulling him further down.
As the mystery continues, Brick’s pace picks up speed, and Brendan’s world gets more chaotic and violent. He maneuvers his way through the other characters with his raw nerve, fist, his manipulations, and his understanding of high school politics. Even when he is on the losing end of a beating, he seems to be in total control.
Brick features a great cast, but it is Gordon-Levitt’s movie.
Although the film is filled with great performances from its entire cast, Brick is clearly Gordon-Levitt’s movie. The young actor pulls off the part of Brendan with ease, and you can clearly see shades of Bogart in his performance. Following strong performances in past films like Mysterious Skin and Manic, it is clear that his days as the goofy kid on TV’s “3rd Rock from the Sun” are behind him.
The film also benefits from an eerie and evil performance by Lukas Haas. His character shows little emotion or qualms about violence, and also helps further provide the film with its hard-boiled crime noir feeling. The character is a bit of an arch-type for this kind of movie, but still works so great in the film.
You have to love the conversation between Pin and Brendan in his mother’s kitchen while she makes them some breakfast and orange juice. Remember this is set in the teenage high school world - which is further illustrated when Tug threatens to bash a ceramic chicken pitcher on Brendan’s head.
While Brick is an extremely good film and one that noir fans will love, the movie may be a little too much for viewers not familiar with the style or not knowing what to expect. The dialogue takes a bit to get into, and the plot is somewhat hard to follow at first. The film also starts slowly and takes its time building momentum. Both of these aspects actually work very well for the movie, but might be a bit of a turn off for some viewers. However, I highly recommend you give the movie a chance.
The DVD comes loaded with special features including more than 20 minutes of deleted scenes which take you further into the world of the characters. Each clip includes an introduction from Johnson with an explanation of why it didn’t make it into the final product.
The Inside Track: Casting the Roles of Laura and Dode is an interesting look into the casting process and includes clips from the auditions of Zehetner and Segen. The film’s commentary is really interesting and mostly features Johnson discussing how the whole project was brought together, and how the film was made on a tight budget.
Haas provides the classic villain in the Pin
Brick is a movie that will not disappoint, and has everything needed to live up to the classic noir genre films that it imitates. The movie is filled with sharp dialogue, great performances from its cast and lots of moody filming. If you are a fan of crime noir films, I would highly recommend taking the time to watch Brick. If you are not a fan of the genre, the movie might take a bit for you to get into it, but is still worth giving a try.
Brick is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Sept. 18th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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