Review of Brick (2006) by Macdara C — 10 Aug 2010

Judging a movie is a hard thing to do. There are movies that just plain stump you. Brick, along with many others, stumps me. Something about Brick just makes you confused, nervous, (excuse the pun) but on pins and needles.

Brick starts with a bang. Immeadiatly you're tossed into this world that's been turning, moving, and living for years before you got there. Everyone knows everyone, even if they haven't met. Brendan knows where he's going, he knows who he's talking to. We are alone in our confusion. We alone don't know what happened. The story weaves its way through an underground mass of highschoolers and lowlives. Seeing how much one person can affect the chain of events for an entire school, without anyone knowing it, is spectacular.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is dry, no-nonse, and frankly a little scary. The way he takes a punch... is disturbing. But, I think that's the point. Isn't it once we have nothing to lose that we become hollow and ready to beat anything. Once we lose the only thing we've ever loved, we're ready to be scary, and we don't want to take any shit. Joseph Gordon-Levitt captures everything we want to be in a time like that. He IS someone with nothing to lose. NO ONE to lose.

Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Matt O'leary, Noah Segan, Noah Fleiss, Megan good and Emilie De Ravin all brought a real person to the table. Whether betrayed, loved, hated, or angry they each brought it with a different type of raw energy and passion. Noah Fleiss, Nora Zehetner, and Lukas Haas had the most aggression even if the characters were on different ends of the spectrum.

The plot/story itself was a great idea, and it takes you into places you don't normally get to go. The exacution, in my opinion, was odd, but spot-on. The story unravled as though you were tagging along behind Brendan, maybe to the point where you could see a little into his head. But we never got any information Brendan didn't. We knew, for the most part, what he knew. That made this story original, and gritty.

The direction of Rian Johnson was masterful and stunning. The techiniques used allowed us a first person view of some of the experiances. The fights were done with a sense of rage; our rage. You could feel the rage boiling up. It was something oddly primal. I don't know how to explain what the weird angles, and different zooms did, because it did it without me knowing it was happening.

Overall, an unusual, but perfect indie film. Worth the view, but viewer be warned, it's not just your average movie. It takes some thought. You have to pay attention and you have to invest a little spirit in trying to help Brendan. And it's not an open book: you're part of the story, not an observer.