Review of Brick (2006) by Johnny L — 10 Jul 2015

Impressive/promising directorial debuts are a hard thing to come by, so when one finally appears lovers of the seventh art start to buzz about it and highlighting their greatness. This was the case in 2006 with the release of Rian Johnson´s directorial debut: "Brick".

Brendan Frye is an antisocial and smart teenager who one day receives a phone call from his ex-girlfriend who desperately ask for his help but two days later Brendan finds her dead. So begins a quest for Brendan to find out who kill her love one and why.

I´ll be honest, this is one of those films that I´ve been wanting to see due to its big cult following and because Johnson surprised me with his third film "Looper" so my expectations for this film were high and thankfully Johnson didn't disappoint me. "Brick" counts with subtle but remarkable acting by most of its cast with the best being Gordon Levitt and Nora Zehetner, it works as both a homage to the noir genre and as a creative experiment of the genre, Johnson´s directing is focused in the details and he manages to do much with this low budget, the story isn't the most realistic one but it is clever and it absolutely executes the noir trademarks marvelously without getting too convoluted , while the characters aren't likeable or memorable they are still interesting, the dialog is excellent (sure at times it gets a little pretentious but it mostly works), the cinematography is gorgeous, an atmosphere that feels like David Lynch´s "Twin Peaks", a score that feels improvised but somehow works well within the narrative, the high school setting provides some actually funny comedy, the few acting scenes it has are used appropriately, and it counts with a well done mystery that may be small due to the setting but it still manages to grab your attention and interest. The only issues this impressive debut has are that the characters constantly speak fast or just whisper that you struggle to understand what they are saying, and the fact that at the end of the day this mystery goes to the "tell don't show" territory.

"Brick" is a fantastic homage/experiment of the noir genre and it truly shows the talent that Rian Johnson has. This is by no means a realistic film but if you are willing to give credit to Johnson´s ambition and execution you won't mind it. A more than noticeable directorial debut that guarantees a good time if you love cult films, want to see ambitious ideas on screen, love the noir genre, or simply love movies in general.