‘Brick’ is neo-noir greatness from Rian Johnson

There’s no other way to classify Brick, Rian Johnson’s unbelievably satisfying neo-noir tale, as anything but a dream fully realized. The story follows a group of high school students as they attempt to solve a local murder mystery. They speak in the quick-paced dialogue popularized by James Ellroy, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. This isn’t a John Hughes movie where the nerds stand over here while the jocks stand over there. Brick is an intelligent film where substance and style are given equal weight, and the experience of being an American teenager is given a fair treatment.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Brendan, our leading man and private detective. He’s a lonesome romantic who wants to find out what happened to his missing girlfriend. As he begins asking questions, always in that noir-ish, pulp-y way, Brendan realizes that his high school is hiding many secrets. There appears to be a network of underground crime bubbling beneath the surface. Lukas Haas plays The Pin, the ringleader of the adolescent shenanigans, while Nora Zehetner is Laura, the strange girl who decides to help Brendan with his quest.

The most memorable aspects of Brick are the dialogue written by Johnson and the movie’s grainy, washed-out look. There are parallels between Brick and the several movies that have tried updating William Shakespeare’s plays (10 Things I Hate About You, for example). At first, it’s jarring to see modern-day teenagers speaking like characters from the 1950s, but after one accepts this new reality, the dialogue becomes vital for the movie’s progression. Brendan is a double-edged creation: a 21st-century high school student and a cliche gumshoe detective. Johnson never stops the script and explains why these two sides exist; he simply accepts the new world as the way things are going to be.

The graininess of the lens makes for some beautiful and arresting imagery. When the hunt for the missing girl takes the characters into dark corners and around the local landscape, Johnson as a director is able to find novelty in the drab surroundings. Some camera shots are from harsh angles, focusing on clues and claustrophobic rooms. Noir fans will be giddy with delight.

Brick, although a serious work, also has a wonderful sense of humor. There are times when the characters seem to shed their Raymond-Chandler-influenced dialogue and act like teenagers of today. Some of the funniest moments come from The Pin and his secret lair (which he happens to share with his mother).

Johnson, who has gone on to some exquisite films (Looper, in particular), shows an excellence and assuredness in Brick that is startling and refreshing. The movie, although small in scope and  a product of the independent scene, has gargantuan ambitions and somehow easily pulls them off. The movie, dare I say, is a generational milestone, a flick to be remembered as a director and his cast deciding to break all the rules and succeeding with so many risky decisions.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Brick

• 2005

• Written and directed by Rian Johnson

• Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas and Nora Zehetner

• Running time: 110 minutes

• Rated R for violent and drug content

• Rating: