Brick - Review Thread

[droidguy1119]

Brick - Review Thread





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March 24th, 2006 (LA/NY)



Brick
A Review by Tyler Foster
for The Following Preview

It's been nearly three days since I saw Brick and I am still rattled. I don't think I've ever been as electrified by a movie on first viewing as I am now. I sit at my computer, contemplating, as I write a review I told myself I would put off in order to process what I'd seen. Rian Johnson has delivered a debut picture that captures the essence of film noir so well that I can't even begin to think how good his films will get as he continues to refine his craft. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is extroardinary as the grungy but deeply intelligent psuedo-private eye Brendan, and the film's script is an intricately plotted and magnetic mystery. It's not even February and I feel I've seen the best film of 2006. It's startlingly good, even better than the trailer suggests, and everyone, everywhere should see it as soon as they possibly can.

A panicked call from his ex-girlfriend Emily sets things in motion, as Brendan follows a trail of words, notes and rumors to shady pie restaurants, sewer tunnels, and candle-lit costume parties. Along the way, he faces off against angry, benched football players, a raging, lunkheaded thug, a doped-out wanna-be, and the pin himself (the kingpin, that is -- dope runner, big time). I'll keep details to a minimum, because I wouldn't want to give anything away in such a brillantly plotted film (if the trailer hadn't changed the locations of so many lines and re-edited so many sequences, I might have said that gave away too much as well). Brick is as fresh as fresh gets, and the twists and turns in the characters and story are all surprising and unpredictable.

The others first: Noah Fleiss, Matt O'Leary and Lucas Haas, as Tug, The Brain, and The Pin, respectively, are all amazing in their own ways. Fleiss carefully crafts a vengeful, violent character but still shows the kid underneath who's scared of the future and what might happen. Unlike most stock villains, he's also willing to accept Brendan once Brendan proves he's worth accepting. O'Leary avoids nerd stereotypes and plays it straight -- he's Brendan's buddy and he knows a lot, but we can imagine that The Brain has a life to live when Brendan's not around. Lastly, Haas is the strangest villain ever -- smart, slick and omnipotent but just maybe a big geek underneath it all. Still, despite all three of these brilliant performances, Joseph Gordon-Levitt steals the show. He demands you pay attention to him, with dark eyes that have seen it all but won't give it up, angry, worried and cautious at the same time. He might even deserve an Oscar nomination.

The characters rattle off dialogue at each other in the syntax of old detective movies, but it's not the blatant reference you might imagine -- the inspiration is obvious but it's not painted on the walls as each line has a unique ring to it that most "homages" fail to find. Rian Johnson's direction isn't showy, and most of his vision is in the framing of the shot and the edting instead of trick camera moves and elaborate, long takes. A scene where Brendan flees another student contains some heart-stopping edge-of-your seat pacing, and the framing of a discovery Brendan makes at the very beginning is strikingly iconic (you've probably already seen it). Only during the fight scenes does Johnson get visceral, and a scene where Tug tries to keep Brendan down in a parking lot combines all three of Johnson's techniques in one of the best-shot fight scenes I've ever seen. Brick should be shown in film schools.

You may feel I'm heaping praise on this film by the truckload, but it deserves every last bit. I want this movie on DVD, to show all my friends, to see it again in theaters, right now, this very minute. This is the independent movie that deserves to find mainstream success, to break through, to reach audiences everywhere. I'd happily stand out on the street corners waving signs and handing out posters if someone asked and while there's no date yet, I love Focus Features for picking it up and posting the trailer all over the place. The future of great filmmaking lies in the hands of people like Rian Johnson, who can't just churn out the same old crap, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who delivers the epitome of a great performance. This is more than just what will undoubtedly be the movie of the year for me, it's the kind of jaw-dropping, all-around brilliant experiences that reminds me why I love film at all. Brick is in a class all of its own.

Stars (out of four): ***1/2

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Noah Fleiss, Matt O'Leary, Lucas Haas and Emilie De Ravin
Written and Directed by Rian Johnson
Bergman Lustig Productions (2005) | 110 Minutes
Rated R for violent and drug content

[sec127]

I just saw a trailer for "Brick" when I saw "Match Point", I never heard of it but between the crazy preview and your review, I might just have to check it out.

[halo7]

This movie looks great. But I will probably have to wait till its on DVD to see it .

[Brock Landers]

Originally Posted by halo7

This movie looks great. But I will probably have to wait till its on DVD to see it .

Same.

[matthall]

I have been dying to see this, I love noir films, and I love this fresh approach, plus droid's review...can't f-ing wait!

[Highfire]

I saw the trailer back when I rented Broken Flowers and I thought it looked interesting. Your review makes me wish I had here right now where I could watch it.

[redman]

god damn it. its not being released in my country. it sounds like such a good story too.

[droidguy1119]

Originally Posted by Highfire

I saw the trailer back when I rented Broken Flowers and I thought it looked interesting. Your review makes me wish I had here right now where I could watch it.

I've seen the trailer on a lot of Focus and Universal DVDs and I have to commend them for spreading the slick trailer around. It should bring in people to see it when it finally opens.

[darthspielberg]

yeah...i preview DVD's from my job at my local Movie Gallery, and Brick has been on ALOT of Universal/Focus releases. and I must say...this looks friggin amazing.

way to pimp an awesome movie, guys!
as Droid would say "Thumbs Up"

[Xia]

I can't wait to see this, I saw the trailer about a week ago and since then I've been pumped. When will I be able to see it?

[droidguy1119]

Originally Posted by Xia

I can't wait to see this, I saw the trailer about a week ago and since then I've been pumped. When will I be able to see it?

As I say in the review....I don't know.

It opens March 24th in NYC, at least (the official website says it also opens in LA on that day), and from there...there are no scheduled openings. Undoubtedly if it does well in those two cities, it will get a limited release and then maybe even a wide...one can only hope.

[FunnyBone]

I really want to see this now!

[cg124]

sounds like a great movie. I won't bother watching the trailer for it and I'll just wait for it to come out on DVD

[hammerhedd11]

Wow, after seeing the trailer for this I really can't wait. I'll probably have to see it on DVD though because our movie theater is stupid.

[droidguy1119]

An Interview with Director Rian Johnson

The Following Preview: First, the basics. How long ago did you write this film, and how did the project and cast finally all come together?

Rian Johnson: I wrote Brick just out of film school, back in '97. We shot it in December of '03, so it was a six year process from script to screen. Part of that had to do with my lack of both industry contacts and social skills, part of it was due to the sheer weirdness of the script. But most of it is just that it's really hard to get the money together for any indie movie. It came together and fell apart multiple times, and all we could do was keep chugging along and hope that all the pieces would line up eventually.

Finally, bit by bit, they did. I found a great casting director who helped us pull the cast together, and an amazing producer who knew how to get movies made for very little money. Then with those pieces in place, I had the confidence to pass the hat to friends and family and scrape together our tiny budget.

TFP: How's it been taking the film around?

RJ: It's been totally energizing. After finishing the editing process it's easy to get burned out on your own movie, but now that I'm getting to show it to audiences and see how it bounces off of people, I feel like I'm seeing it through fresh eyes.

TFP: I could ask you what your influences were in making Brick, but that might be too easy. Has anyone seen an influence in your film that wasn't there?

RJ: Yes, and those are always much more interesting than the ones I know about! My favorite is the Dark Shadows connection - a sharp eyed viewer pointed out that the Pin bears a striking costume resemblance to Barnabas Collins from the vampire soap opera Dark Shadows. Coincidentally, Joseph played a part in the 1991 remake of the show. Weirdness abounds.

TFP: Looking at IMDb, I see you not only edited Lucky McKee's debut feature May but he also starred in a short film you directed called Evil Demon Golfball from Hell!!! How did you two meet?

RJ: Lucky and I met in the dorms at USC. You can track down the Golfball short pretty easily online, and see a quick shot of Lucky in his glory days. There's also a pretty big visual May reference hidden in Brick, which at all our screenings I've only had one person catch.

TFP: You think he'd work on a project of yours in the future?

RJ: I hope so - he's actually a pretty fantastic actor. He just finished a movie called 'Roman' which is sort of a companion piece to May. He made it with Angela Bettis, but they flipped roles - Angie directed it, and Lucky starred in it. I did a bit of editing on it too, it's a very cool little movie.

TFP: Any chance that Evil Demon Golfball From Hell!!! will end up on the Brick DVD? Do you know what other supplements there might be?

RJ: I thought about it, but because it's a USC student short they technically own the rights, so it would be a headache. But I am going to put a short that my friends and I made in high school called "Origami Master" which is fun. I've also put together a bunch of deleted and extended scenes, and some commentary and behind the scenes pictures that will hopefully give a good feel for what the shoot was like. We're working on the commentary track too - I'm not a huge fan of commentary tracks where the director just babbles for two hours, so we're trying to figure out how to do it so it's a little more structured and interesting.

TFP: Speaking of DVDs, I think pretty much every Focus DVD I've popped in over the past three months has had the trailer for Brick on it. How has Focus been going about marketing this film and how much were you involved?

RJ: I've had very little involvement, just because I haven't felt the need to get involved. Focus has done a great job so far, they really believe in the movie and are doing a great job of spreading the word about it.

TFP: Lots of directors these days post blogs. Is the message board (www.rcjohnso.com/forum) your version of the blog?

RJ: Absolutely. I'm a big internet geek, I'm constantly trolling the web, and it would always frustrate me to see people asking questions on various random sites around the web, and getting either no info or misinformation about the movie. So I'm trying the message board out as an experiment really, a place on my own personal site where people can talk about Brick and I can give answers when I have them.

TFP: What was it like, getting the Originality of Vision prize at Sundance?

RJ: It was quite a thrill. Going into Sundance, I had spent seven years of my life working on this movie and nobody had seen the finished product, so I was very very nervous. Getting that kind of creative validation was an amazing feeling, for me and for the whole crew (and my family, the investors!)

TFP: Did you see anything cool at Sundance that hasn't hit theaters yet?

RJ: The bad thing about having a film at a festival is that you don't have any time to see movies. I only got to see Mysterious Skin, Me and You and Everyone We Know, and The Squid and the Whale. Although after Sundance I saw a great movie called The Puffy Chair, which I think just got distribution a few weeks ago. So that's my hot tip.

TFP: Clear up the release dates for me, plus throw in your two cents on when maybe the film will open wide?

RJ: We open in LA and NY on 3/31, then will spread out very quickly in the weeks following. If you live in a major market in the US, chances are Brick will be coming to a theater near you. I'm going to be posting the exact cities and release schedule on the main site and on my message board, that's the best place to get the most current info.

TFP: Anything you're working on for the future?

RJ: Absolutely - a con man movie called "The Brothers Bloom." It's a globe trotting con man adventure romance fairy tale. I cheated a bit, and wrote every location I've ever wanted to visit into the script, so we end up hitting most of Europe in 120 pages. Grab for the brass ring, right?

[iv3rdawG]

The movie was alright, nothing special IMO. I liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt (great to see him getting work, loved him when he was a little kid in Angels in the Outfield), and Nora Zehetner though. The last 3/4 of the film made up for the horrible first quarter of the film. So 7.5/10. Also the film should not have been rated R.

It looks excellent. Finally, an original film. I'll probably end up waiting for it on DVD, though.

[droidguy1119]

I've gotten it on DVD and I really still love this film. I reccomend everyone go out and buy or rent it on Tuesday if at all possible -- worth the price, I guarantee it.

[Drizzt240]

I saw this on an Airplane. I agree with Dawg, nothing special. I should probably see it again though. It's totally sureal.

[Glordreen]

And intelligent and brillaint film. ill be picking this up.

[FunnyBone]

Is it worth a blind buy?

This film looks good. But I should hope it's not the typical style over substance problem.

[droidguy1119]

I think yes it's worth a blind buy and no it's not style over substance, but that's me. Certainly it takes some getting used to...

[iv3rdawG]

Originally Posted by FunnyBone

Is it worth a blind buy?

Nope

[spide-ed]

great film 9/10, one of movies of year.