Brick

by Scott Gleine

The buzz machine that is the Sundance Film Festival can often set expectations so high that no film can live up to them. As Jeremy Piven's character once put it on HBO's hit series Entourage, "I've heard that every film that's ever played at Sundance is the greatest film of all time." This past year's festival cranked up the buzz-o-meter for the film Little Miss Sunshine, which is now beginning to see the light of day and is being met with lukewarm reception (Ari's review seems to offer solid reasons as to why). Way back in January 2005, one of the darlings of the festival was Rian Johnson's debut feature Brick, which mysteriously did not make its way to theaters until about a year and a half after the festival. So does Brick, initially labeled as one of the freshest films in years, live up to its hype? I caught the film earlier this summer and was not quite sure how I felt about it, despite enjoying it for the most part. Upon viewing the film for a second time on DVD, my appreciation has grown considerably.

For those that aren't familiar, the basic idea behind Brick is that it is an old school noir story inspired by the works of Dashiell Hammett. It pays homage to Hammett in the way that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang paid tribute to Raymond Chandler, but the material is mostly played straight and dark, unlike KKBB's more humorous tone. The twist with Brick is that it takes place in and around a California high school. Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns in a terrific performance as Brendan, a young man who has chosen to be on the outside after ratting out a friend to save his own ass and having his heart broken by his girlfriend Emily. When Emily turns up dead, Brendan thrusts himself back into the underworld in search of answers, and naturally gets in way over his head. Numerous quirky characters pop up along the way, including The Brain, who is the Watson to Brendan's Sherlock Holmes, tough guy Tug, burnout Dode, femme fatale Laura, and enigmatic dealer The Pin (a great turn from Lukas Haas). What takes place from there is a witty, somewhat convoluted, yet relatively traditional detective story. Almost none of the film is really about high school at all, and no one ever seems to attend a class. It is merely a stylistic choice (and a good one) to set the story amongst corrupt, modern day teenagers.

In fact, style pumps through the veins of this film like the heroin being sold by its shady "upper crust" characters. Writer/Director Rian Johnson got his start as an editor, and he clearly has an interesting take on how to cut a film. There is no editor credited for Brick, so I can only assume that he edited the film himself without taking credit. It is a deliberately flashy kind of editing that draws attention to itself, but does so on purpose, particularly when trying to highlight certain clues in the story, or by using jump cuts as Brendan starts to lose control. Johnson also has a wonderful eye for shot selection and uses various visual motifs
throughout the film, including lens flares and frequent shots of people's feet (still trying to figure that one out). Cinematographer Steve Yedlin works well with Johnson and does a commendable job of making a low budget film appear visually exciting. No matter what one's take on the film is, Rian Johnson proves without a doubt that he is a talented young director that deserves to be paid attention to in the years to come.

Other aspects of the film that stand out are the harrowing, simplistic score and the clever, in-its-own-world dialogue. Nathan Johnson (possibly a brother to Rian, but not sure) composed the moody, vintage noir-inspired score. He makes excellent use of horns, pianos, and most notably, what I believe is either a xylophone or a marimba. It is an unusual score and is definitely obtrusive to the story, but like most of Brick's aesthetic elements, that is probably the point. The characters speak in a bizarre vernacular where "squawk" means "gun" and cops are referred to as "bulls." During my first viewing of this film, there were plenty of moments where it was a bit confusing to figure out what these characters were talking about. Thankfully, for the most part, the context is enough to understand the lingo. There is a glossary of terms on the film's website that is sadly not included on the DVD as a bonus feature.

The special features on the disc are not plentiful, but are not completely lacking. There are roughly 20 minutes of extended and deleted scenes, each of them being introduced with commentary by Johnson being played over a montage of stills from the production. It is interesting to see how some scenes were re-shot before and after being screened at Sundance. A few scenes are also only slightly tweaked from the final product, some in which only one or two lines of dialogue were excised. This feature allows the viewer to see how even the tiniest bit of fine-tuning can improve an already complicated story. Audition footage is included, but only for two characters, Laura and Dode. Their auditions play pretty much the same as their performances in the film do, and do not really offer anything insightful. Also included is a commentary track featuring Rian Johnson, actors Nora Zehetner and Noah Segan (Laura and Dode), a producer, the production designer, and the costume designer. The track is handled in a sort of revolving door type style in which it moves back and forth between Johnson talking with each one of these collaborators, or just talking on his own. There is a great commentary track on the Boogie Nights DVD with P.T. Anderson talking to various cast members during their scenes that this reminded me of. Overall, it is a track worth listening to, especially to those aspiring filmmakers like myself that want to know more about the difficult process of getting that debut film made. Helping to save the bonus features from being too lackluster is a fun easter egg including a short video that Johnson made with friends in high school. It is called Ninjaco: The Origami Master, and tells the story of a ninja who uses origami skills instead of stealth fighting tricks to get out of dangerous situations.

So does Brick manage to live up to its film festival hype? The answer is yes and no. Yes, because it is an accomplished and highly ambitious debut feature from a promising new talent. No, because hype is always, by nature, something that can cause any artistic endeavor to come off as being overrated. One should take the time to view the film and come up with his or her own opinions on it. Brick is certainly worth checking out on DVD for anyone that has not yet had the chance to see it, or for those who walked out of the theater scratching their heads. I for one am very curious to see what the next film from Rian Johnson is going to be like, which in some ways is the best compliment that a first time director can hope for.