Willa's Flic Pic: Brick * * * *

Brick
2005, Rian Johnson
Drama/Mystery
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The Brain: Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with the Pin. But I bet you got every rat in town together and said 'show your hands' if any of them've actually seen the Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.

To stay out of the various drug-linked cliques at his high school, Brendan makes the unpopular choice of being an outcast. Although they are in love, Emily’s aspirations win out over Brendan’s isolation and she breaks-up with him. He loves her very much but he won’t compromise and follow her into what he knows to be a destructive cycle.

Two weeks pass. In that time, Brendan has lost all contact with Emily (Emilie de Ravin, LOST) – until now. She leaves the address for a phone booth in his locker. When they talk, he knows she’s in trouble but she’s not making sense. There are squealing tires and she hangs up. The next time he sees Emily she’s dead. He is consumed with who did it and why.

Brendan is a doomed hero whose love is lost at the beginning of the film. Her death gives him his courage, determination and nobility. You can tell how much he loved Emily because this new attitude is devoid of fear, practically daring someone to kill him. You hope he comes out a winner in the end but, besides the possibility of avenging his love’s death, he is used, beaten and witnesses nothing but the same. This defines the dark hero of this mystery noir.

It took me a while to figure out this was set in a high school. Although the setting and habits of the characters indicated they were in high school, the actors may have been just a little too old to be playing the roles they were in (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Laura Zehetner and Emilie de Ravin were all actually 22 when making the film).

That being said, I really looking forward to seeing Gordon-Levitt come into his own in a heavy drama like this after his exceptional work in 3rd Rock From the Sun.

Brick operates so much to a rhythm it’s lyrical – somewhat Shakespearean. I had trouble understanding the dialog in the first few minutes so I turned on subtitles. The dialog is essential in establishing the age of this group and the circle they run in. It was beautiful simply in its delivery and sound.

In the closing scenes I was smacked with the similarities to film noir like The Maltese Falcon. It didn’t come off as a tribute but an influence or fabulous reinvention. It’s easily a film you could watch over and over again.

This is Johnson’s break out full-length feature. He wrote and directed Brick. I look forward to his next work, The Brothers Bloom, coming sometime in 2008.