Don't Forget: Brick

If you haven’t seen Brick yet, stop reading this article and go see it.

Good, now that you’ve seen the movie, I’m going to tell you a story, I’ll spin it for you quick.  It’s about an avid movie lover who constantly checks out their local multiplex watching themselves full on all the terrible characters, remakes, and over used plots.  They cry to the sky “Why can’t Hollywood do anything original anymore”?  Well sister, truth is that every now and again we get satiated by a movie that actually does push boundaries or even dares to pose us with new questions.  It may even give us a fresh and new perspective on a genre we all know and love.  After this film has broken out of the fresh ground to critical praise, it somehow gets largely forgotten.  The box didn’t look cool enough on the DVD shelf while at the same time the star of the film is noticeably not Brad Pitt.  The same people who cry for originality are wasting their time complaining and not renting films from their local video store that at the very least, sound interesting.  Sometimes people have to wait until people like me (a jerk) pulls the cover over their eyes, locks them in a trunk, drives them to a half way house, and puts on an amazing film in front of their medically sewn open eyes.  The film in question today, is simply titled “Brick”.

Released in 2005, Brick is the story of a teenage loner who sets out on a mission to find out what happened to his missing ex-girlfriend (and why).  Taking place in a present day High School, we get thrown a tale of death, drugs, and even rivalries that by way of some crafty story telling that is amazingly not laughably ridiculous.  Think about past High School-centric films that dealt with any kind of similar themes or ideas.  I can think of two films off of the top of my head (I know there are more, just not researching something that doesn’t matter that much), Disturbing Behavior and Heathers.  Both now come up as little bits of excited camp which have their place in the world, but are incapable of crossing over to the realm of critical acclaim or even believability.  Brick, on the other hand takes the setting of so much shared nostalgia (and of course camp and terrible films) and turns it on its head by presenting us with an entirely new interpretation of the American Film Noir.

One of the main strengths that Brick has going for it is the ability to identify with the viewer’s specific past while at the same time setting up a convincing and solid story.  Before Emily (Emilie de Ravin) goes missing for good, she makes it a point to call her ex-boyfriend Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to inform him that she is involved in a situation that she can’t get out of.  She doesn’t go into detail (because that would be too easy) in order to keep Brendan away from her problems.  Brendan is forced to use gumshoe tactics to eventually find her and set up a brief meeting through her present day acquaintances.  After Brendan finds her body the next day, he hides it in order to conduct his own investigation without interference by the police.  Brendan is our protagonist, but like many classic noir figures, he is on the morality fence because he can afford to be.

Brendan isn’t a cop and he isn’t the best person suited for this task of finding out who killed his ex-girlfriend and of course why they did it.  Like any other private eye with questionable morals, Brendan is most concerned with the bottom line – getting the answers to his questions.  Brendan goes as far to beat up people (and definitely get beaten himself) to gather information, but only if he knows it will lead to a positive result.  It’s a calculated game of risk vs. reward and Brendan knows how to play it better than anyone else.  Even in scene where we want to believe in our hearts that Brendan is manipulating someone (cracking into the pins operation) we aren’t 100% sure if Brendan may just call of his little investigation and start working for the pin.  We as the viewers know that he cared and loved Emily, which should immediately tell us that he will reach his goal or die trying, but still there is enough animosity towards him to not fully believe that he would do the right thing.  Brendan is conflicted, complicated, and smart.  Then again, it should be noted that so are the other people who are trying to throw cogs in the wheels.

 What kind of noir would it be if we didn’t see a few femme fatales on the big silver?  The first comes by way of ex-girlfriend of Brendan (which he clearly isn’t proud of) named Kara (Meagan Goode) who is obviously a manipulator.  She gets others to do her dirty work while filling their heads with information that may very well be their downfall.  It becomes very clear to us that Brendan knows all of this and is not falling for her tricks.  Another femme fatale Laura (Nora Zehetner), is much more difficult to pin down that Kara.  Laura constantly reveals herself in locations and situations that we normally wouldn’t think this well-to-do high school girl would ever get herself into.  She seems to be all knowing in this social circle and even beyond it.  Laura is everywhere and nowhere while trying to convey genuine feelings of sympathy to Brendan and his investigation.  She is absolutely dangerous and at no point do we have any idea whose side she is going to fall on.  I guess that’s kinda the point of the femme fatale.

 Brick is a hidden gem, waiting to be discovered and enjoyed by millions of fans of cinema.  It’s a fresh and interesting look at a precisely placed genre that strikes a chord with viewers as being smart, genuine, and extremely nostalgic.  Brendan could easily go round for round with Sam Spade and maybe even pass him in the language department (it’s really written that well).  This film could have easily fallen into the absolute joke category had it been done by a less talented director than Rian Johnson.  It could have gone through the studio system and gotten watered down to a drama laden “10 things I hate about You”, but it wasn’t.  If you haven’t seen the film in a while, check it out again and make at least one friend watch it with you.  Don’t let this film be forgotten.