Brick: A Geekcentric Review

As a blog writer (some would shorten that to “blogger” but I like the full “blog writer”), I read other blogs.  I read them as much as possible.  I have my favorites.  There are some blog writers who always seem to be on their game, or at least know how to gut through a post even when they don’t have their best stuff.  At some point in the near future, you’re definitely going to see a Geekcentric Guide to Blogs.  Today isn’t that day.

Today is the day for a movie review.  The author of one of the blogs I read on a regular basis writes a regular post in which he reviews a movie he has recently seen.  His reviews are entertaining and his movie choices are intriguing.  The blog is Blue Ink Alchemy.   The feature is called “It Came From Netflix.”  Each week, Josh Loomis (the Blue Ink Alchemist) chooses a movie to feature… except that’s not completely true anymore.  Now, he lets his readers choose for him via a convenient little poll on the blog.  His most recent offering is a movie that’s on my Netflix queue, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  I just want to read the novel first.

I’d love to be able to do a weekly feature like ICFN, but some weeks, the hours are better spent on writing projects, or are sucked up by less desirable things like working the day job.  So, I do what I can.  Last night, I did have the opportunity to watch something I recently (yesterday afternoon) added to my Netflix (instant) queue.  The movie is called Brick.

I may be a neanderthal who has recently crawled out of my cave when it comes to must-watch movies, especially “indie” films, but I had never heard of this movie from 2005.  It’s a shame.

Brick is a hard-boiled noir film dressed up as a teen drama.  The basic plot is familiar, even if the characters and settings are unusual for the genre.

It goes like this…

“Look, I did what she said with the brick. I didn’t know it was bad, but The Pin’s on it now for poor Frisco, and they’re playing it all on me.” – Emily

Our bespectacled protagonist Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds his ex-girlfriend Emily’s (Emilie de Ravin of Lost fame) body floating in a storm drain.  Two days earlier, he received a cryptic plea for help from his now-deceased former squeeze.  The movie flashes back to the two days before Emily’s death.  Brendan then puts on his detective shoes and sets out to find Emily’s killer.  Not just her killer, but also “who put her in front of the gun.”  Brendan’s investigation takes him through a maze of bizarre characters from his unique Southern California high school’s social framework.  His sidekick, The Brain (Matt O’Leary) serves as his right-hand man, doing the less-than-glamorous research, acquiring an “untraceable cell phone” (it’s his mom’s phone), and tailing suspects.  He is Watson to Brendan’s Holmes.  I won’t go any farther into the synopsis because I recommend this movie and don’t want to spoil it for you, even if the ending feels a little pre-ordained by the time we arrive.

The Cast

“It can be hard to keep track of those things because lunch – lunch is a lot of things, lunch is difficult.” – The Brain

This movie has a splendid cast.  They pull off playing characters that are completely acontextual (is that even a word?) and make it seem natural.  Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas show off their young acting chops five years before their Inception roles.  Both of the Noah’s (Fleiss and Segan) are solid in their roles, and Nora Zehetner is spot-on as mysterious noir femme fatale Laura Dannon.  Meagan Good also steals all her scenes as lustful actress Kara.

The Dialogue

“I gave you Jerr to see him get eaten, not to see you get fed.” – Brendan

The dialogue is the thing that made this movie catch in my brain.  These kids are playing adults in a kids world.  It’s like a dark, noir-flavored version of Big, except that the characters seem to have adult minds trapped in teen bodies.  The film was inspired by Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled detective stories and the Coen brothers’ Miller’s Crossing.  Writer-director Rian Johnson just slid the tropes of noir over into the world of high school intrigue.  The result is reminiscent of a Freaks & Geeks/Godfather mash-up.  The characters talk like 1940′s noir characters.  The teens are smarter than the adults, who are trivialized as dupes and implements in the grand scheme of things.  Haas’ character’s doting mother is an excellent example of how adults are treated in this film.  She is oblivious that the “godfather” of a teen underworld is sitting in her kitchen eating cookies and drinking “homestyle” apple juice.  The kids get all the good lines here, and there are many of them.  Brendan in particular spits out witty repartee like bullets from a tommy gun.

The final verdict…

“There’s a thesaurus in the library. ‘Yeah’ is under ‘Y.’ Go ahead, I’ll wait.” – Brendan

Lately, I’ve been looking for movies that I can use for inspiration for some Fiasco sessions I’m hosting at a local con (more on that in a future post).  This is a great one.  I’m giving serious consideration to developing a Fiasco playset based on noir stereotypes set in a high school environment.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to attempt this if somebody doesn’t beat me to it.

I highly recommend this movie.  If you’re a fan of indie dramas (this one was shot in 20 days with money donated by Johnson’s family and friends and a score written by Johnson’s cousin over Apple iChat), the noir genre, or teen movies, this film will satisfy all of those itches.  It sounds like a bizarre film (and it is) but it works.  This film works on several levels and is well worth the 100 or so minutes of viewing time it takes to watch.  Also, it is available instantly from Netflix, which is extremely convenient for me, as I need only to fire up the ol’ 360 and press play.

“She nearly shook me upside down. Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it…” – The Brain