7 – Brick (2005)

Brick REVIEW

4/5 stars

Director- Rian Johnson

Cast- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, Nora Zehetner, Noah Fleiss, Matt O’Leary

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Brick is a strange movie. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What it does is take all the stereotypes of 30’s film noir films and place them in a high school setting, and infuse it all with a great sense of sincerity. The main character is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and he does a wonderful job. The other actors do a great job as well, and the girl who plays Laura, the “femme fatale” is nothing less than captivating.

One of the only problems I have with the movie is the portrayal of “The Pin”, a 28ish year old drug dealer who has control of the local drug trade. While all the other characters dress and act as the teenagers they are, they dressed this character in a black 18^th century overcoat and gave him a gold tipped cane. The casting was very odd as well. They cast Lukas Haas, his only other really noteworthy role being the little Amish boy in Witness. The ending result was a character that looked like a baby faced Dracula, making him stick out like a sore thumb. Having said that, the rest of the film is so riveting that the viewer eventually just accepts the character.

The sequence where the main character, Brendan, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, lets himself be beat up repeatedly so he could get to “The Pin”, the drug dealer, is great. Joseph plays it with such stubbornness that you can’t help feel on his side. It is played with some humour as well. In the end the thug gives in; the little smile Joseph gives is pitch perfect.

OVERALL

Sure it’s a little muddled, but its energy and sheer inventiveness make up for it. To put it simply, you dont have time to ask questions. It just barrels forwardand taakes you for the ride. And a mighty enjoyable ride at that.

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TRAILER

“Brick” on other websites:

IMDB —– Rotten Tomatoes —– Wikipedia

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