BRICK (R) ***1/2
Directed by Rian Johnson. 117 minutes.
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, Nora Zehetner, Noah Segan, Noah Fleiss, Emilie da Ravin, Meagan Good, Richard Roundtree and Matt O’Leary. Released by Focus Features.
High school can be four years of double crosses, heart breaks and thinking you are tough, so why not take all these elements and milk them for a tough-talkin’ Dashiell Hammett-style film noir set in the world of high school students? That is what debut director Rian Johnson has done in Brick, a wholly original film noir set amongst the world of teenagers, in which characters say, in complete earnestness, “If you have a problem with me, write me up or suspend me. Otherwise, I’ll send you at the parent teacher conference.” The film borrows the language of old Bogart films and adds its own vocabulary – little Brickionaries were available in the theater lobby to clue you in on the dialogue’s meaning – and it completely works. This is the type of film where the story’s peculiar world becomes our reality for two hours, much like a David Lynch or Jim Jarmusch film, and we either completely accept the rules of this universe or refuse to buy into it just minutes into the film.
The story, much like the film noirs of old, is very simple. Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, now with back to back knockout performances, establishing him as a definite name to watch) gets a desperate call from former girlfriend Emily (Emilie da Ravin), asking for his help. Like the old Bogey characters, Brendan still keeps a candle lit for Emily and decides to assist, regardless of what her problem is. Soon afterward, Emily pops up dead. Brendan follows clues – some preposterous like a cigarette on a road pointing to a phone booth, while others are more subtle – and is lead to a drug ring led by The Pin (short for kingpin), played with menace up to a point by Lukas Haas. I say up to a point because he still lives with his mother, who serves him apple juice in “a country glass.”
Every character in the book is here: the femme fatale (Nora Zehetner) who may be steering in the right direction, or is she?; the nasty thug (Noah Fleiss); the smart sidekick (Matt O’Leary); the old flame (Meagan Good); and the principal (Richard Roundtree), who is a stand-in for the chief of police. The film leads to obvious double crosses and characters get bumped off, as we expect them to. The story itself is less interesting here than the style, which is virtually impeccable. Not only does Johnson show a flair for snappy dialogue (“yeah” can be found in the dictionary under ‘Y’”), but he also displays visual promise. Much like the noir of old, Brick is shot mostly in dark corridors and tunnels, its characters often silhouetted in shadow. There is a really cool scene in which Gordon-Levitt searches a room by using a mirror as a conduit of light.
Every few years, a movie plays cleverly with film style. In
the past decade, good examples have been Pulp
Fiction, Being John Malkovich and
Memento. Add Brick to that respected bunch. The film does not, perhaps, go deep
as some of those other films do, but, in a sense, it goes deep into its own
world, as much as many of the great classic noirs did. Johnson follows the
rules of the genre, while consistently extending and bending them. It is a rare
and exciting thing when a filmmaker surprises you with an out-of-the-box
display of audacity like Brick does. The
film was apparently made for less than a million dollars, which proves that you
don’t need a lot of money to make a great movie. So,