Film Review: Brick

Director: Rian Johnson

A 2005 American noir film that helped launch the career of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and also helped Rian Johnson move onto bigger projects such as Looper which was released last year. Johnson also went on to direct three episodes of Breaking Bad as well. The film draws heavily in plot, characterization, and dialogue from hardboiled classics, especially from Dashiell Hammett who created The Maltese Falcon.

Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

High school student Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is slowly becoming more recluse after breaking up with his girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin). She decides to mix with a different crowd which Brendan doesn't think she should be part of but then receives a call from her saying she is in danger, mentioning a "brick", "poor Frisco", "tug", and "the Pin" before abruptly and fearfully hanging up. The next day she is found dead by Brendan near a tunnel after finding the note she received so Brendan delves into the underworld of this small Californian town to uncover the mystery.

This is a modern film that pays homage to some of the classic noirs of the 50's and 60's but is still highly respected in its own regard. In many ways the sparsely populated town in Brick reminds me of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's classic from 1974 especially in the use of colours in the setting sky. We see the houses and the parked cars in the town but very rarely the people who actually live there except for the main characters of the movie, almost as if the film is taking place in its own void. Whilst the plot itself also strikes up similar comparisons as we realise everyone is involved in the underworld of this town and in making their own deals to satisfy their own ends.

The tunnel where Emily was murdered

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an actor I've grown to really like after movies such as 50/50 and Inception but for me this is easily his best performance as the protagonist Brendan. The completely dead pan serious Brendan all of a sudden has just one thing in his life that he is focusing on, with everything else cast aside including his own safety. His grimly determined efforts to find out what happened to his lost love are intriguing to watch whilst the confusing circumstances finally come together. Whilst the plot is difficult to follow at times with the snappy and clever dialogue leaving the audience in the dark at times as to what the characters really mean with coded phrases, its still an absolute joy to watch.

3.5/4 An excellent modern film noir