Brick Review

So if you haven't heard Rian Johnson is directing Star Wars Episode VIII. Personally I like Johnson more then the other directors Disney have chosen for their Star Wars films (Abrams, Edwards, Trevorrow and Miller & Lord). You may or may not know who Johnson is but he did three episodes of Breaking Bad (one of which is considered to be the best episode the series) and Looper. Before he did either of those movies he did a little indie film called Brick.

How to describe Brick? Well it's simple but the premise may seem a bit goofy but it's anything but. The IMDb synopsis is "A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend". However the story, characters and dialogue plays out like a hard-boiled detective story from the 1920s/30s. A hard-boiled detective story in high school may seem like putting bananas and peas together but the movie is self aware in this manner.

The first thing you will notice about this movie is the directing. The framing and presentation isn't normally what you would see in a film but here it works for the narrative. The next thing that makes Brick unique is the dialogue. It's as if it was taken out of a story from the 1920s/30s with lines like "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" and "I've got knives in my eyes, I'm going home sick".

One of today's great actors is Joseph Gordon-Levitt and here is no exception. This movie come out in the period of Levitt's career where he was transitioning from child actor to Hollywood superstar and this movie was an important step for Levitt. Levitt is great in this role, he was 25 when this movie came out and as a 17/18 year he is very believable and so is the rest of his cast.

The plot of this movie is quite dense and i'm sure re-visits will be rewarding. This does lend a great deal of gravitas to the movie. The characters too are all deep interesting characters, each of the main characters are fleshed out enough to understand as characters rather than actors in a movie.

As for what 'Brick' means, i'll let you find out but it suits the narrative.

Watching this for the first time I did find it hard to follow plot at times but I did get the basics and at times the premise for the movie may seem slightly quirky but the movie makes fun it some scenes (particularity in the ones at the Pin's house with his mother).

The movie won 'Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision' at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and winning 'Originality of Vision fits the movie perfectly. The movie has become a cult classic over the last decade and it deserves it. Before you go and see Star Wars VIII make sure you watch 'Brick' and Johnson's third movie 'Looper'.

Overall Score: 8.8/10

What did you think of this movie if you have seen it? Did it make you become a hard-boiled detective?

Brick is available on Netflix and DVD

Director: Rian Johnson

Writer: Rian Johnson

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emilie de Ravin, Nora Zehetner, Matt O'Leary, Noah Fleiss and Lukas Haas

Cinematography: Steve Yedlin

Editor: Rian Johnson

Music/Score: Nathan Johnson

#RianJohnson #JosephGordonLevitt