Brick (2005)There are few like Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who are willing to descend into the seedy underbelly beneath the placid veneer of his high school world to see innocence avenged. Brick (2005) is a neo-noir thriller about Brendan's calculated quest to discover the meaning behind a cryptic and worried message left for him by Emily Kostich (Emilie de Ravin), an ex-girlfriend who has fallen in with a crooked clique of drug dealers and insidious backstabbers. Brendan must juggle tenuous alliances and instigate conflicts, plumbing the depths of Emily's dark past as he roots out the truth.
|
|
Brick begins as a mystery, but is fundamentally a detective story; it opens with Brendan discovering Emily's body in the shadow of a drain tunnel, and he considers it his responsibility--and a form of penance--to get justice for her death. The first act of Brick is colored by this dramatic irony, and Brendan tries to understand what panicked Emily--the ominous phone call she made to him had all the earmarks of a cry for help. Brendan begins by consulting with his sole confidant--a fellow student he calls "Brain" (Matt O'Leary)--who suggests he probe for clues from another ex-girlfriend, a manipulative "drama vamp" named Kara (Meagan Good); she just so happens to have a copy of the invitation for an exclusive party that Brendan found in Emily's locker. Brendan maneuvers his way into this "upper crust" shindig, encounters the hostess and femme fatale-in-training, Laura Dannon (Nora Zehetner), crooning away at the piano in her striking Chinese dress. Subsequent clues bring Brendan to a greasy stoner named Dode (Noah Segan)--he inadvertently leads him back to Emily, who has been in hiding; she urges Brendan to forget about her. Brendan fails to interpret the meaning of a coded message for a secret rendezvous he lifts off of her until an unsettling dream makes him recall the drain tunnel--but he arrives too late to save her. Brendan restructures his mission and becomes increasingly driven--even reckless--to see whoever killed Emily suffer for it. He punishes himself for his perceived mistakes--avoiding sleep because of the what happened to Emily the last time he closed his eyes. Brendan begins instigating fights--first with a drug-using football player named Brad Bramish (Brian White), who is linked to the school's secretive supplier of drugs known only as "The Pin" (Lukas Haas), and through repeated bouts with the Pin's rageaholic enforcer, Tugger (Noah Fleiss), a.k.a. "Tug".
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Brick remixes film noir tropes and the detective novels by the likes of Dashiell Hammett, subsequently adapted into some of cinema's most stylish films. It deliberately substitutes the smoky alleys and trench coats that defined the 1940s era gumshoes with a high school setting, keeping the punchy dialogue from its precursors. Brick suggests that the appeal of these stories has less to do with the era than the alchemy of sharp, quick-witted characters employing abstract turns of phrase while navigating through layers of deception. Brendan fills the role of a "shamus" in Brick--Dode accuses him of this, because he has partnered with the "office" of the Assistant Vice Principal Trueman (Richard Roundtree) before, namely when he betrayed his friend, Jerr, whose drug abuse is implied to have started Emily down her path of destruction. (This is an inversion of the film noir trope where the detective has to avenge his partner after being betrayed by a woman, like in The Maltese Falcon.) Like Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade, Brendan places himself in the proverbial lion's den, playing sides against one another, and remaining vigilant of pretty girls accustomed to wrapping men around their little fingers. Laura desperately tries to convince Brendan to trust her with a pleading facade of vulnerability recalling Mary Astor from The Maltese Falcon; the physically disabled Pin and hot-headed Tug also evoke Sydney Greenstreet and Elisha Cook Jr.'s characters. Brick also shares similarities with Chinatown, like the doomed relationship between Brendan and Emily--who vaguely resembles Faye Dunaway when Brendan finds her with Dode--and the fateful encounters in the drain tunnel, recalling the reservoir from that film. Brick even references films that have themselves been inspired by noir masterpieces; consider when Pin lectures Brendan in the darkness with only his face illuminated--an obvious nod to Marlon Brando's performance as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Brick is aware of its roots, and uses this to riff on the tropes of the genre. There are a few scenes of brutal violence, but Brick is devoid of coarse language, underscoring that clever dialogue becomes richer without swearing. (This is lampshaded at the end of the film.) After Brendan is knocked out by Tug--then cleaned up to negotiate a trade of services--it is at the Pin's kitchen table, where his mother politely offers Brenda apple juice and cereal, taking the characters out of their hard-boiled facade in a rare moment of comedy. Brick also embraces the labyrinthine complexity of the plot in The Big Sleep, as Brendan pieces together the puzzle of Emily's fate, and outfoxes the foxiest villains. But Brendan doesn't really do this to make the world a "better place"; it comes from a fundamental need to prove that his love for Emily meant something, and make amends for his perceived failures.
Recommended for: Fans of a sharp and self-aware neo-noir thriller that merges the style of film noir with a modern backdrop. Because Brick avoids offensive language and suggestive content--and is set in high school--it is a rare story that can be appreciated by teenagers as well as adults without coming across as patronizing or condescending.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Brick remixes film noir tropes and the detective novels by the likes of Dashiell Hammett, subsequently adapted into some of cinema's most stylish films. It deliberately substitutes the smoky alleys and trench coats that defined the 1940s era gumshoes with a high school setting, keeping the punchy dialogue from its precursors. Brick suggests that the appeal of these stories has less to do with the era than the alchemy of sharp, quick-witted characters employing abstract turns of phrase while navigating through layers of deception. Brendan fills the role of a "shamus" in Brick--Dode accuses him of this, because he has partnered with the "office" of the Assistant Vice Principal Trueman (Richard Roundtree) before, namely when he betrayed his friend, Jerr, whose drug abuse is implied to have started Emily down her path of destruction. (This is an inversion of the film noir trope where the detective has to avenge his partner after being betrayed by a woman, like in The Maltese Falcon.) Like Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade, Brendan places himself in the proverbial lion's den, playing sides against one another, and remaining vigilant of pretty girls accustomed to wrapping men around their little fingers. Laura desperately tries to convince Brendan to trust her with a pleading facade of vulnerability recalling Mary Astor from The Maltese Falcon; the physically disabled Pin and hot-headed Tug also evoke Sydney Greenstreet and Elisha Cook Jr.'s characters. Brick also shares similarities with Chinatown, like the doomed relationship between Brendan and Emily--who vaguely resembles Faye Dunaway when Brendan finds her with Dode--and the fateful encounters in the drain tunnel, recalling the reservoir from that film. Brick even references films that have themselves been inspired by noir masterpieces; consider when Pin lectures Brendan in the darkness with only his face illuminated--an obvious nod to Marlon Brando's performance as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Brick is aware of its roots, and uses this to riff on the tropes of the genre. There are a few scenes of brutal violence, but Brick is devoid of coarse language, underscoring that clever dialogue becomes richer without swearing. (This is lampshaded at the end of the film.) After Brendan is knocked out by Tug--then cleaned up to negotiate a trade of services--it is at the Pin's kitchen table, where his mother politely offers Brenda apple juice and cereal, taking the characters out of their hard-boiled facade in a rare moment of comedy. Brick also embraces the labyrinthine complexity of the plot in The Big Sleep, as Brendan pieces together the puzzle of Emily's fate, and outfoxes the foxiest villains. But Brendan doesn't really do this to make the world a "better place"; it comes from a fundamental need to prove that his love for Emily meant something, and make amends for his perceived failures.
Recommended for: Fans of a sharp and self-aware neo-noir thriller that merges the style of film noir with a modern backdrop. Because Brick avoids offensive language and suggestive content--and is set in high school--it is a rare story that can be appreciated by teenagers as well as adults without coming across as patronizing or condescending.