Brick (2005)

Director:

Rian Johnson

Writer (WGA):

Rian Johnson (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 2006 (Canada)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

A detective story.

Plot:

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

Plot Keywords:

Teenage Detective | Attempted Murder | Child Killing Child | Phone Booth | Pistol

Awards:

8 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Brendan Frye
Nora Zehetner	...	Laura
Lukas Haas	...	The Pin
Noah Fleiss	...	Tugger
Matt O'Leary	...	The Brain
Emilie de Ravin	...	Emily Kostich
Noah Segan	...	Dode
Richard Roundtree	...	Assistant V.P. Gary Trueman
Meagan Good	...	Kara
Brian J. White	...	Brad Bramish (as Brian White)
Jonathan Cauff	...	Biff
Reedy Gibbs	...	Pin's Mom
Lucas Babin	...	Big Stoner
Tracy Wilcoxen	...	Straggler
Ari Welkom	...	Tangles (as Ari Velkom)

MPAA:

Rated R for violent and drug content.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #41781) | Ireland:15A | Argentina:13 | South Korea:15 | UK:15 | Japan:R-15 | Canada:14A | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-15 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

San Clemente, California, USA

Company:

Bergman Lustig Productions

Trivia:

The music score was composed by Rian Johnson's cousin, Nathan Johnson, with additional support and music from The Cinematic Underground. The score hearkens back to the style, feel and overall texture of noir films. It features traditional instruments such as the piano, trumpet and violin, and also contains unique and invented instruments such as the wine-o-phone, metallophone, tack pianos, filing cabinets, and kitchen utensils, all recorded with one microphone on a beat-up Apple PowerBook. Since Nathan Johnson was in England during most of the production process, the score was composed almost entirely over Apple iChat, with Rian Johnson playing clips of the movie to Nathan Johnson, who would then score them. The two later met in New York to mix the soundtrack.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Brendan's confrontation with Dode in the football field, he falls on the grass and briefly passes out. When he wakes up and hears Laura's horn, his clothing is dirty. When he reaches the tunnel to meet with Tug, The Pin, and Dode, his clothing is clean.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[Brendan answers the pay phone]
Emily: Brendan.
Brendan Frye: Emily.
Emily: Yeah-h... How's things?
Brendan Frye: Status quo.

Movie Connections:

References Du rififi chez les hommes (1955)

Soundtrack:

I'm in the Middle of a Riddle

Transposing geography

The geography of film noir is usually a neighborhood, a city, a region ... BRICK transposes this geography onto a high school with surprisingly successful results. Watching it brought to mind not only the black & white films of the 40s and 50s, but glimmers of Gus van Sant, David Lynch and River's Edge. What gives BRICK its filmic authenticity (much different from realism) is its language -- the language of Chandler and Hammett, but re-imagined from the lips of contemporary teens.

The effect is staggering. BRICK essentially re-creates a world we thought we knew. Suddenly there are forces at work that we recognize because we knew they were there. But to see them in this noir glow is to give them an exciting new life ... "to see them again for the first time." There are plot twists and surprises aplenty here, although familiar once you realize the inspirations for the film. But familiarity is more than compensated by a superb cast and (not generally noted in these comments) excellent music. Contemporizing the soundtrack keeps us on our toes and makes a significant contribution to the tension of BRICK.

A terrific debut!