Directed by Rian Johnson; produced by Ram Bergman and Mark G Mathis
Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a high school student, a loner, whose one passion is his former girlfriend, Emily (Emilie De Ravin). When he discovers that she’s been murdered, he begins an investigation into her death, an investigation that uncovers competing drug rings, hidden motives and, maybe, Emily’s killer.
In some ways original, in others traditional, Brick is certainly imaginative and entertaining. It takes a film noir approach, with a hard-boiled detective, and puts it in the context of a high school. As in a Dashiell Hammett story - apparently Red Harvest served as a great inspiration to the writer / director - the protagonist is an outsider, aloof from the various cliques in his world, but smarter than most of their members.
He has an ally in Brain (Matt O’Leary), another student, probably another outsider, who knows much of what is going on in the school. He takes the place of the film noir detective’s informant. Veteran Richard Rowntree plays Assistant Vice-principal Trueman, the ‘cop’ in the piece. Laura Zehetner and Meagan Good play femmes fatale.
The writing is good, though some of the dialogue is lost in what is meant to be the school’s argot, reminiscent of the slang of 1940s movies. The situations created are involving and, in some cases, clever. There is a scene in which Brendan is called into Trueman’s office and it becomes the moment in many black-and-white detective movies when the cop hauls in the private eye for questioning. Using phrases like, “I don’t want you busting into home-room” instead of “breaking up my office” comes close to satire, but the actors’ earnest performances overcome any such close calls. There is action, too - Brendan receives enough beatings to rival a Rockford Files episode - and a tense climax.
That Brick does not entirely persuade one that it takes place in a high school, or at least a high school in the real world, is one of the faults of the script, and also of the direction. With that in mind, however, I doubt that it was the intention of Johnson to create an ‘after-school special’ type drama.
One weakness is the superficiality of the characters’ exposure to the audience. This isn’t to say that they are shallow people, but the viewer does not get to know them well. And Emily, the victim, seems a very unlikely girl to attract the affection, indeed, the obsession of three disparate boys. There is also the episode of Brendan’s illness, which he exhibits two thirds of the way into the film, as if he were sick or poisoned. This is never explained.
This is stylized film noir in a unique setting. Thus, while school cliques and attitudes are evident, there is no going to class, there are no teachers, except for Trueman, there is no home-work. Granted, the action takes place in just two days, and those two days may be seen as extraordinary, but one must, for good or ill, view the setting as providing a stage, and not an interactive world.
Gordon-Levitt represents one of the few successful transitions from child-actor to adult-player, and he largely carries Brick. I think he may be in every scene, and he conveys well the moody, even morose character that many high schoolers affect. The other performers do equally well, though with much less screen-time. If the characters they portray don’t really act their age, it is not the actors’ fault.
The often fearful and anxious world of high school translates easily and rather disturbingly into that of film noir, and this isn’t a kids’ movie. Aside from the unease that comes from too many teenagers behaving like adults, Brick nonetheless proves an enjoyable, if dark, suspense/crime drama.
