Brick
By Oggy Bleacher
To qualify for the “noir” genre, a film must realize the following components: A loner detective-type who keeps his friends close and his enemies closer, a femme fatale with a taste for sexy clothes and dangerous men, a doe-eyed girl on the skids, a trusted informant, a thug, an object of wealth, a criminal mastermind and a gritty urban landscape. Most importantly, through his investigation the detective must learn something he wishes he didn’t know. Thus the detective is his own worst enemy. He should leave IT alone, but his nature compels him to keep searching, to keep asking the right questions of the wrong people, until he finally gets the worst answer a man can hear. Sure he solves the case, but he wishes he hadn’t. If he is glad he solved the case then it is just a crime story. If he is sick to his stomach then it is noir. Brick is noir.
Writer/Director Rian Johnson has hit the ground running with his first feature film, Brick, a non-traditional take on the honorable film-noir genre best represented by Chinatown (1974). Surprisingly, Johnson takes the above noir components and explores them in a San Clemente high school setting with jocks, drama queens, loners, nerds, and stoners who have never set foot on the set of “The O.C.” Aside from the obligatory good looks, this high school crowd has nothing in common with their television counterparts. The antics and drama are similar, but Brick turns the heat up with some hot, vulgarity-free dialogue (“I’ve got knives in my eyes. I’m going home sick.”) and authentic sleuthing. Brendan Frye (Levitt) is our tough-skinned young investigator with bigger priorities than gym class and AP Social Studies. He’s got to find out what happened to his ex-girlfriend, Emily. His enemies are The Pin, Dode, Tugger and the assistant Vice Principal. Imagine Humphrey Bogart as a senior in High School = Too cool for words. Levitt is 25 years old now and was probably 23 when the film was made, but he channels the classy super sleuth in his un-classy rolled cuff Levi jeans, fake fur-lined jacket and scuffed leather shoes. No derby hats and trench coats here. He doesn’t even smoke! Brendan eats his bag lunch near the port-o-potties and bangs his hallway locker to open it. His main informant, The Brain, takes the bus to school and studies Algebra in the library when he isn’t solving a Rubik's Cube. The smoky Laura (Zehetner) likes muscle heads, fast cars and vintage clothing. She knows secrets Brendan is better off not knowing. This is the detective show “Veronica Mars” wishes it could be and the pretty face parade “The O.C” will never be. I would watch it again right now just to catch some more of the uber-clever dialogue. It was probably a good thing it took 6 years to make. That was enough time to refine the tricky lingo (“He knows every two-bit toker in the burg.” “Bulls would only gum it.”) found primarily in pulp fiction novels circa 1930. For a movie that credits noir classics like The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Chinatown (1974) for inspiration, Brick still managed to find a unique voice and definitely deserved the Originality of Vision award it was awarded at Sundance this year.
Grade B+
Brick
Cast: Rian Johnson
Director: Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Zora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Noah Fleiss
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 110 Minutes
Release Company: Focus Features
