Brick

Brick (2005)
Writer and Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, Emilie de Ravin

HDMR Score: 7.25/10
Mitch: 7
Alex: 6
Robert: 8
Adrienne: 8

Rob's Review:

For better and for worse, Brick catapults the film noir genre into the 21^st century. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film is his critically acclaimed directorial debut that took the 2005 Sundance Special Jury Prize.

Fans of noir will immediately recognize the influence of films such as Chinatown or The Maltese Falcon as the movie calls on genre archetypes and we find the nihilistic hard-boiled detective (masterfully played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the femme fatal (Norah Zehetner), and the nervous informant (Matt O’Leary). To do something new however, Johnson places the film in a California high school. There are no dingy bars with low key lighting or rainy alleyways covered in garbage, just perpetual sunshine, football fields, and sprawling suburbia.

The storyline itself is a straightforward transport of any Dashiell Hammet story, a lone wolf detective explores the details into his ex-lover’s death, which revolve around a stolen brick of heroin. Despite being set in a high school, Johnson opts to stay away from the teenage drama and focuses squarely on the detective story. While useful in maintaining the film’s somber tone, oftentimes it felt like a simple overlay of a noir storyline onto a random new setting. The students are unconvincing and speak as if they should be petty thugs in the 1920s. This is not a criticism of the writing or acting however, and the well-paced dialogue and heavy use of slang create a new language that the viewer is expected to follow at break-neck speeds. Rather, it speaks to the unsuitability of Johnson’s choice to make a high school the film’s setting. The cast, led by Gordon-Levitt, do a fantastic job in playing their roles, and the heavy contrast cinematography harkens of a Gus Van Sant film.

The speedy pacing of the film further distances the film from its noir influences. Gone are the slow broody shots, instead replaced with non-stop scene changes, at times just to showcase various sets. The storyline is constantly moving, and for many this may be a welcome change to the genre as it better caters to an audience used to perpetual action or MTV editing. However, this is at the expense of quality character development, and by the end of the movie, one has difficulty remembering the name of any character other than Gordon-Levitt’s lead role.

Overall, Brick does a great job in evoking its predecessors, while adding its own take to the genre. It could easily be improved with relatively small changes (at time the music completely drowned out the dialogue) but as an overall project the film sings. Certainly, the film is not for everybody, and would not be my first choice to a person asking me for a movie suggestion. However, to my cinephine friends and noir junkies this movie is a gem worthy of multiple views.

Adrienne's Review:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (my new JTT obsession) in a film produced by Focus Features (produced gems like Billy Elliot, Eastern Promises and Milk), combined with a plot that’s the anti Christ of High School Musical and a dialogue that’s a throwback to Humphrey Bogart. What’s not to like? First-time director Rian Johnson should be fist bumped for this modern day high school film noir.

The dialogue really should have its own paragraph. The quick, witty banter that bounced back and forth between the characters was surprisingly transposed smoothly. Hearing teens say things like “I got all five senses and I slept last night. That puts me six up on the lot of you” is pretty wicked. This is definitely a classier mixing of styles than Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

I greatly appreciated the moody cinematography filled with multiple contrasts. It reminded me of Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park. In both films the protagonist was a lone wolf where their characters were fully developed, fighting off various fears on his own. The same type of heightened suspense was brought to an otherwise uneventful typical suburban setting.

It was difficult to find flaws in this film, but there are a couple. I would’ve liked to see more character development in other characters. Brendon’s (JGL) go-to friend The Brain (Matt O'Leary) and Laura Dannon (Nora Zehetner) the sultry manipulator could’ve been more thoroughly explored. The music choice for this film was a bit awkward as well.

Nonetheless I admire the fact that Rian Johnson stayed true to the style and still delivered the familiarity of the teenage experience. It opened up a window for a younger audience to appreciate old classics.

Mitch's Review:

I have been looking forward to seeing Brick ever since it was first released in 2005. As a fan of both mysteries and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the descriptions I had read of the film appealed to me on a number of levels. So what do I have to say after finally watching it? While you can see the seed of a great film, Brick unfortunately ends up falling just a little bit short of excellence.

The story is engaging and very quickly sets up real stakes for the characters involved. The dialogue is intelligent, quick moving and, at times, hilarious. One might think that having a group of high schools students speak like characters out of The Big Sleep would seem artificial, yet surprisingly it works. The screenwriter does an excellent job of transferring hardboiled 1930s and 40s noir speech patterns and terminology into the present day high school setting. In particular a scene involving Gordon-Levitt’s character and Vincent Roundtree as the Vice Principal is just fantastic. I also appreciated the interesting, and at times beautiful, camera work and the fine acting, particularly that of Gordon-Levitt as a high school student/private detective.

So what didn’t work? Certain scenes, particularly one involving a spectacularly dull looking high school party, seem tacked on for no apparent reason. This over-padding contributes to a lagging second act that really slows down the pace of the movie. Additionally, I found some music selections jarring and inappropriate for the onscreen action. The soundtrack just did not work for me and kept on pulling me out of the film.

Despite these flaws, Brick is an enjoyable movie with great dialogue. I would recommend it if you are at all a fan of film noir or if you are just in the mood for something different.

Alex's Review:

I had never heard of this movie until it was presented as a suggestion for our movie night. I read the synopsis and decided that it could be good. Plus I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt is pretty easy on the eyes, so even if it was bad there would be something to look at.

Overall I didn’t really like Brick, mostly because it’s just not my type of movie. It was an interesting story, although a little hard to follow at times, and I liked that I never really knew what was going to happen next.

This movie was definitely different from other high school set movies out there, which was a refreshing change. Although, the high school party shown here was completely unbelievable and honestly looked really boring. Where’s a good old kegger when you need one?

Brick had some really good dialogue (although very strange) - watch for the scene with Gordon-Levitt and the Vice Principal.

The high school crime ring idea presented seemed a little unbelievable at times and didn’t really make much sense – doesn’t The Pin’s mom find it a little strange that her son walks around in a cape and has an office in the basement? - which is frequently guarded and visited by lots of young guys.

I found the California setting a good choice for this type of film, the scenes were sunny but what was happening was dark. If it was set almost anywhere else it would just be too dark and depressing to watch.

The music could be a little annoying at times, and sometimes took over too much in the scene.

Brick is borderline one of those movies you say you like if you want to like “cool” movies.

Brick would be best watched by those who either like the genre, or likes Joseph Gordon-Levitt and want to see some of his early serious work. This movie is not something you would want to recommend to everyone.