Film Noir goes back to school
Review of Brick
Written & Directed by
Rian Johnson
2006
Early in "Brick," a high school kid walks into a party. If you've seen
enough teen movies, you might expect a raucous kegger with football players
smashing beer cans on their heads and cheerleaders dancing on tables? No,
it's not that kind of party. The lighting is seductive candlelight and
partygoers nimbly skip between votives. A young woman plays the piano and
says some lines of jazzy spoken word poetry. She gives the fella who's
just entered a long calculated stare. And so you realize that "Brick" is
a completely different kind of teen movie. It's not really a teen movie
at all.
He asked for my lunch money first- good thing I brown-bagged it. |
The brilliant conceit of "Brick" is that it's a film noir set in a high
school. True to the noir form we're presented with a cynical, lost hero
with questions he shouldn't ask and in search of answers he might be better
off not knowing. Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) answers a plea for help
from his pretty blond ex Emily (Emilie De Ravin). It's obvious that he's
still carrying a torch for her, and picks up on the fact that she's afraid
of something. Or someone. Emily's been running with a bad crowd, and she's
seen a couple of things that have gotten her into some hot water. Plus
she has a secret that she can't tell him. In no time, it looks like Emily's
disappeared, and Brendan feels compelled to track her down at great personal
risk.
Some of that risk comes from the shady (and fascinating) characters lurking
around every corner. They include violent Tugger (Noah Fleiss) and druggie
Dode (Noah Segan) who both have a connection to Emily, as well as mysterious
Pin (Lukas Haas), who's orchestrating a big drug deal (a brick of heroin,
the catalyst, MacGuffin, or "Maltese Falcon" of this little tale). And
Brendan's investigation leads him to the door (and into the web) of rich
girl Laura (Nora Zehetner), hostess of the aforementioned party and erstwhile
femme fatale.
That's a whole lot of plot, and frankly, it's not all that important.
Really, this thing is all about style and character and mood. It's an excuse
for snappy dialogue full of hard-boiled slang, shadowy locales, and characters
with hidden agendas, all of which is in the rich tradition of the genre.
Primarily a post-WWII phenomenon, noirs typically centered on dark themes,
with a cynical hero who's been kicked around by life, a dangerous woman,
and lots of secrets. And it all works like a charm in a high school setting:
is there ever a time in our lives when we take ourselves more seriously,
when every lost love seems like the end of the world and everyone feels
like an outsider? It almost makes me think that all noir should be retroactively
set in high school.
The plot, such as it is, follows along a path familiar to anyone who's
seen a Bogart film. Brendan endures some serious punishment as he finds
himself drawn deeper into this dark and sinister world. What connection
does Emily have to the Pin? What is this guy really after (or who)? And
which person's really pulling all the strings?
The whole thing leads up to a devastating climax where Laura reveals a
shattering secret to Brendan (that may or may not be true).
I don't think I'm giving too much away by revealing that "Brick" ends up
in the place that most of these movies eventually reach. Brendan does get
answers to all his questions...and he'd have been better off if he'd never
asked them. And no one goes to the prom.
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