Brick (2005)

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

Director:

Rian Johnson

Writer:

Rian Johnson

Stars:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, Emilie de Ravin

11 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

The lonely teenager Brendan finds his former girlfriend Emily dead in the entrance of a tunnel of sewage and recalls her phone call two days ago, when she said to him that she was in trouble. Brendan, who still loved Emily, met bad elements of his high-school trying to contact her, and when he succeeded, she told him that she was OK. He hides her body in the tunnel and decides to investigate the meaning and connection of four words, including "brick" and "pin", that Emily told him to find who killed her. Using the support of his nerd friend Brain, he successively meets the small time drug dealers Kara, Dode, Brad Bramish, Laura and Tugger, to reach the teenager powerful drug dealer The Pin. Slowly, Brendan unravels the motives why Emily was killed and plots a revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

high school | tunnel | drug dealer | detective | drugs | 

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Taglines:

"A spellbinder! It pins you to your seat."

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Ponta de um Crime

Filming Locations:

San Clemente, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$475,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$83,574, 2 April 2006

Gross USA:

$2,060,589, 9 July 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bergman Lustig Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

When Pin enters his house while Tug and Brendan are talking at the kitchen table, we can see that he is wearing what appears to be white sneakers. Later on in that scene, there is a shot from under the table and we can see he is wearing the big black orthopedic shoe he usually wears.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

References Heat (1995)

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Soundtracks

Frankie & Johnny
Performed by Bunny Berigan
Courtesy of SOUNDIES Inc. by arrangement with Sugaroo!

User Reviews

Superficial flaws distract from its fundamental defects.

There's so much bad to say about this movie, and so little space... a)World-weary cynicism works in 30-40 year olds. In kids this age, it's just irritating. b) No likable characters whatsoever c) No believable characters whatsoever d) All of the bad guys are straight out of "Bugsy Malone", but lose their appeal due to lack of Splat Guns. e) Plot that consists entirely of holes. The plot is also hamstrung by points b) and c) in that you really don't care what happens to the horrid little brats.

It's overly knowing, references films to which it's the palest of pale imitations, tediously shot, and it's fairly obvious that the only direction the actors were given were a bunch of magic markers and a pack of valium. Should not be watched by anyone under the age of 20 (will make them think they're cleverer than they really are) or over the age of 20 (risk of dangerously high blood pressure).