Ol' Mutant Theatre: "Brick" (2005)

- by Ninja Ross, 16 April 2014

Ok, ok! 2005 isn't that old! But it IS 9 years ago, which is a lot longer than I thought.... Back in 2005, we only had two Call of Duty games and “My Name is Earl” was on the air. Those were the days, am I right? But, more importantly, Brick was released and a lot of people seem to have missed it.

It starred some guy named Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I hear has become somewhat popular of late. It was directed by Rian Johnson, who refuses to spell his first name like a normal Ryan should. Johnson was responsible for the better known Looper, also staring Gordon-Levitt, which was released in 2012.

Gordon-Levitt plays a young high school student named Brendan Frye, who has just broken up with his girlfriend Emily Kostich (played by Emile de Ravin) and is feeling pretty down... Time for some heartfelt song and dance!

No. It's never time for a heartfelt song and dance. No. Instead, he receives a panicked call from Emily that seems to make no sense. She mentions a bunch of stuff, most notably the word "brick." All Brendan can make sense of is that she's clearly afraid, and it seems to be linked to a suspicious black car passing by the area.

Brendan later sets up a meeting with Dode (played by Noah Segan, who was also in Looper), the leader of the school's stoners, a group Emily was affiliated with.

The meeting, which results in a bit of a scuffle, has my favourite line of the film: "Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you." It's not so much what's said, though; Gordon-Levitt's delivery is what makes that line. It's sharp and said with confidence.

Brendan.

Brendan later catches up with Emily, where she tells him everything's fine and that he should just let her go. Being a bit of an obsessive ex, Brendan steals her notebook, which leads him to a tunnel. It's in this tunnel that he discovers her dead body. Yeah, no musical number is going to make that all better, really.

This kicks off Brandon's personal murder investigation, filled with paranoia, conspiracy, drugs and witty banter.

This movie clearly isn't your average high school drama. It's actually a neo noire, complete with femme fatale, self destructive detective and organised crime. Gordon-Levitt's performance here is fantastic. He has a knack for delivering dialogue at a quick pace and coming off as confident. The script here was clearly written to be delivered that way; every character seems to have a sharp wit, even when written to be a bit stupid.

Brendan and Brain

While Gordon-Levitt is an overall great actor, the supporting cast is nothing to be sneezed at. The movie doesn't have any big names here; it relies on people who are fairly unknown. Matt O'Leary plays Brendan's sidekick, Brain. Do you know Matt O'Leary? No, you probably don't. He hasn't been in much.

Lukas Haas, who plays The Kingpin, the leader of the local drug dealing crime family? Nope. You’ll kind of recognise his face, because you're sure you've seen him in something. Law and Order, maybe? Something like that.

My point is, this movie is full of talent that never seems to be used anywhere else in the industry. O'Leary plays a very sympathetic, likeable sidekick while Haas plays a "nice" bad guy, which gives us the classic "Sympathy for the Devil" trope.

The Kingpin.

Of course, all the fantastic acting skill in the world won’t help much if the script’s terrible. The script here is not terrible. It’s witty and interesting, if a little predictable at times.

And, of course, the directing is fantastic. For those of you who saw Looper, you probably know what to expect; a tight, well told story with excellent pacing.

Johnson clearly knows how to use genre tropes and it’s especially evident here, with all the noir elements. While you can easily spot most of them they’re used well and in interesting ways, thanks to the setting and characters. It’s pretty cool to see a gritty detective story about murder and heroin set in an American high school.

If you haven’t seen this movie, do yourself a favour and pick it up on DVD. Or Blue-Ray or whatever you young people use now. It’s a fantastic movie and it gets even better with each viewing. But if stylish, fresh neo noir movies with incredible dialogue aren’t your thing, go watch something else. I don’t care what, because we’re not friends.


Seen "Brick"? Liked it? Is Ninja Ross right in praising the movie? Leave us a comment!

Tagged: movies & TV, Ol' Mutant Theatre.

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