2005, USA
Crime, Drama, Film Noir, Mystery, Romance
It's hard to keep a good P.I. from digging deep into a curious murder investigation...even when he's late for homeroom. First-time director Rian Johnson walks a tricky line between old school film noir and the high school social scene in his deliciously dark tale, Brick.
Inspired by author Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man), Johnson's script is certainly infused with its share of femme fatales and girl Fridays. However, Brick's Friday is the P.I.'s bookish buddy, The Brain, who is always in the background lending a hand to loner Brendan -- the man seeking answers. Portrayed by the ever-impressive Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin), this film allows him to flex his acting muscles to their full potential. He has always hinted at great possibilities, but much of his previous fare has been light and comedic. Here he is brooding, tough and intelligent as his character scours San Clemente neighborhoods for clues concerning his ex-girlfriend's death. Not merely observing, he physically beats out the truths he seeks.
Brendan is a reject by choice. As everyone else slides in and out of not-so-secret cliques, he prefers to lunch alone. This trait contributed to the breakup between him and his late gal, though he still holds a torch for her when she mysteriously contacts him shortly before her demise. He travels through hell and high water to sniff out the winding trail of who, how and why. His investigations lead to mindless thugs with broken hearts, femme fatales of both the blatant and shifty varieties, and severely flawed masterminds. Johnson employs all the tricks of the noir trade, but his style is fresh in the telling.
The young detective often appears to channel Marlowe, Hammer and Spade as he bullies the toughs and grumbles out confident accusations. He maintains a hunchback slouch that forces him to be enveloped by his jacket with fists tightly clinched in his pockets -- one can almost visualize a trench coat in the rain with a hat shielding his eyes. His school principal attempts to make a snitch out of him, much like the two-timing cops of film noirs past. Girls attempt to seduce and distract him, feigning ignorance in order to double-cross him and thwart his investigation. No one can be trusted, as no one will give him a straight answer. It's up to him alone to muddle through the lies to reach the truth.
The language of the film is mesmerizing. The combination of neo-Shakespearean wit and the quick tongue of gangster films (Hollywood, not East Coast) creates new slang and dialogue not usually heard amongst the MTV crowd. Unlike its teen flick contemporaries, the film allows its audience to acknowledge the absurdity of the mature situations and tragedies by laughing at itself. The school's drug kingpin conducts business in the basement below the kitchen where his mother serves his thugs cookies and Tang, and he is chauffeured about town in a converted minivan. As kids are slyly making arrangements to meet, they often have to check and see if they can get a car from their folks. However, no matter what winks are slipped into the foreground, the background remains ripe for murder and scandal.
Another example of a great flick from a young director fresh out of film school, we can only hope Johnson has more good stuff up his sleeves. Owing much to his cinematic predecessors while putting his own spin on a tale is a great exercise that can only be repeated so many times. That is not to imply the film is not inventive, but merely that the creator has much to live up to with his own future endeavors. In the meantime, we can savor this one.
DVD extras include deleted and extended scenes each with the director's introduction, and audition tapes from Nora Zehetner and Noah Segan. The commentary track is led by Johnson, who brings in various contributors throughout the screening. He purposely avoids scene-specific discussions, but rather focuses on his trials and tribulations as a new director (creating a nice little guide for young filmmakers). His interviewees include Zehetner whom he flirts with, Segan with whom he falls into discussing certain scenes, production designer Jodie Tillen with whom he discusses limited resources which forced them to be creative, costume designer Michele Posch whom discusses how she begged for contributions from up-and-coming designers, and producer Ram Bergman whom he and Segan devolve into teasing about his dining habits.