REVIEW: Brick

Brick (dir. Rian Johnson, 2005) *****

reviewed by David Sugarman

Is there any genre with as poor a track record as the high school movie? Against that legacy is set this indie debut from film-school graduate Rian Johnson. Brick is a gem of a film, ingeniously mashing two of the most American of genres as high schooler Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) turns detective to investigate the death of his former girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin). In his investigation Brendan must navigate through a rogues gallery of drug dealers, informants, femme fatales and the school authorities.

Brick is my favourite film of all time. I expect I have seen it on more than ten occasions since I first saw it on TV in 2007, and each time I see it I love it even more. Each time I watch it I find something new to love: the local drug baron The Pin (Lukas Haas) and his fondness for Tolkien; his homicidal sidekick Tugger (Noah Fleiss) and his crew of identical wife-beater wearing thugs; and the self-obsessed quarterback, Brad Bramish, and his prize routine comeback of “Yeah?”.

There’s not much about Brick that is genuinely original as such, but the skill and confidence with which Johnson throws such disparate elements into play together equals more than the sum of its parts, and proves again and again that you just can’t beat a great script delivered by good performances. Johnson’s dynamic directorial style makes his Sundance award winning debut such a joy to watch that any attempt to define Brick solely by its genre really cannot accurately convey the tone of the picture. Fantastic.