Brick: An
Addiction
Paranoia, insecurity,
threat, sedition, vulnerability – ‘Brick’ captures the very essence of Noir. Director,
Rian Johnson, newcomer on the Indie movie scene, combines the typical Noir
detective storyline with the teenage zeitgeist of today. Packed with ambiguity,
it entices you from the very start.
A girl lies, her hair splayed out on the chilled concrete,
cold water trickling over her limp body. She’s dead, and a boy, helpless,
watches on, his face contorted in distress.
Two days earlier, Brendan, (Joseph Gordon – Levitt),
receives a worried phone call from his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin),
who mutters about ‘the Brick’, ‘the Pin’, ‘Tug’ and ‘Frisco’. Oblivious to what
these words mean, he goes in search of her and sees her once before she
disappears. He doesn’t care for his own wellbeing, and goes to extreme lengths
to find out the truth - finding Emily dead doesn’t stop him in his tracks. As
he shuffles along, shoulders hunched, through what seems to be an uninhabited
town in the middle of nowhere, he uncovers more and more about the corrupt
society he lives in, and wipes away the facades that many of his contemporaries
display. Maintaining a convoluted and labyrinthine storyline, Brick leaves you
lost in the dark, constantly withholding information that you want to know.
Like Noir, ‘Brick’ portrays heroes, villains, a Femme Fatale
and a sidekick. However the ‘Brick’ cast have not imitated these stereotypical
characters, but portrayed them in a new, updated light – a bunch of teenagers. We
have already been introduced to our protagonist Brendan, a scruffy high school
student who, ostracised by nearly everyone in society, takes on the role of the
solipsistic detective. His dry wit and slap stick comedy are a good break from
the emotionally disturbed side we see most of the time – Levitt does a good job
in updating the protagonist, but no one can be in the same league as the slick,
smooth talking Detective Spade (Humphrey Bogart) in the Maltese Falcon.
You will never guess what ‘Brick’ has in store – not one,
not two, but three Femme Fatales! Laura (Nora Zehetner) may look like porcelain
– but don’t be fooled, she’s hard to crack. With a similar manipulative
character to that of our favourite Femme Fatale, Mary Astor from The Maltese
Falcon, she wraps everyone around her finger with her high pitched, floaty
voice (the most irritating thing you will ever hear). She gets away with
anything and, like old time Noir, makes the male characters question their
identity. There is also drama queen Kara – the girl with many faces, and the
recently deceased Emily. With so many Femme Fatales no wonder the town is in
disarray.
The local crime lord in Brick, ‘The Pin’ (Lukas Hass), dressed
in a shadowy, dark cloak, holding a staff of ‘power’, seems to have been
dragged from the 1940s. An interesting twist, but at odds with the other
characters. But, you wouldn’t expect Brick to have only one villain now, would
you? With a nihilist, albeit mcCarthyist attitude, our second villain, Tug the
drug dealer, walks around, gun in hand, in his ‘wife beater’ vest. Sounds like
the true embodiment of evil in our world today, but his inner struggle is
enough to make anyone pity him. Undoubtedly, the funniest part of the film is
when we assume there will be a violent confrontation between protagonist and
villain – instead we get a pleasant sit around the kitchen table, with orange
juice, and of course the Pin’s mum. Very dry, Johnson!
A constant melancholic atmosphere is usually not the best
recipe for film making. But combine it with dizzying camerawork and fast paced
momentum and you’ve got yourself a pulse racer. Steve Yenlin does an excellent
job with the cinematography of Brick, using different lighting and settings to
create pathetic fallacies. Accompanied by disorientating, harsh instrumentation,
the breathless discussions between characters are entwined with panic and are
almost inaudible. This sinks us further into the murky tunnel of ‘whodunit’,
blurring the thin line between good and evil.
So the trilby hats and trench coats iconography has gone,
but in its place are Potter glasses, jock jackets and ‘wife beater’ vests –
something that the younger audience can relate to. Winning nine Independent
Film Awards, and making a pretty sizable profit, it is no doubt that Brick is a
success. The way Rian Johnson has mortared this particular Brick is not for
everybody - but for most the addiction will last a lifetime. It sucks you in
and you’ll feel like you’re drowning – but you definitely wouldn’t want to
fight it. Unmissable.
