BRICKWRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: RIAN JOHNSON
OVERALL SCORE: 7.25/10
OVERALL SCORE: 7.25/10
After the death of his ex-girlfriend, Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) heads into the drug ring underworld of his high school in order to find her killer.
Since it's release I've heard nothing but overbearing praise for this 2005 noir mystery film. And following my love of Johnson's 2009 film The Brothers Bloom, I made a personal note to check this film out. To say the very least: Brick is a highly stylized verbal narrative, with elements of mystery, and some action. The movie's dialogue requires your mind to be at its absolute peak (or have thesaurus and dictionary websites readily available) as its riddled with slang, and quick talk. The world of Johnson is not one in which everything is spelled out in simple, elementary, words, but through a variety of analogies, and interesting word usage.
Overall this is both the film's greatest strength, and its greatest weakness. With little on screen action, the slang heavy dialogue can either attract or repulse the viewer. If they find it catchy, intriguing, and worthy of a deeper look, they'll find the meaning behind what is being said, and it makes for a much easier viewing experience. While on the other hand if they find it annoying, overly stylized, and devoid of real meaning, they'll likely sit through frustrated after many "what the hell does that mean" moments. Luckily for myself I leaned just enough in the attraction to make this a perfectly interesting go around.
Though at the heart of the dialogue is the film's characters. The actors portraying said characters can some with a mix bag. While Levitt, Matt O'Leary, and Nora Zehetner seem to perfectly embrace their characters' odd quirks, others (such as Noah Fleiss and Lukas Haas) feel as if they're trying to force their emotions. This isn't always the case, but for the most part the movie's acting takes a strong backseat to the dialogue, and style of Rian Johnson. And that style is at the heart of what makes Johnson's Brick work so well. It's unmoving in its dedication to that style (derived from classic noir films, spaghetti westerns, and Cowboy Bebop - according to IMDB), and the way these characters move throughout the environment. It helps to create a captivating visual world... even if it does lack the depth to be truly memorable.
Despite its obvious flaws, this heavily stylized 2005 film works because of strong dialogue, dedication to its style, and a strong enough story to carry the time.
Since it's release I've heard nothing but overbearing praise for this 2005 noir mystery film. And following my love of Johnson's 2009 film The Brothers Bloom, I made a personal note to check this film out. To say the very least: Brick is a highly stylized verbal narrative, with elements of mystery, and some action. The movie's dialogue requires your mind to be at its absolute peak (or have thesaurus and dictionary websites readily available) as its riddled with slang, and quick talk. The world of Johnson is not one in which everything is spelled out in simple, elementary, words, but through a variety of analogies, and interesting word usage.
Overall this is both the film's greatest strength, and its greatest weakness. With little on screen action, the slang heavy dialogue can either attract or repulse the viewer. If they find it catchy, intriguing, and worthy of a deeper look, they'll find the meaning behind what is being said, and it makes for a much easier viewing experience. While on the other hand if they find it annoying, overly stylized, and devoid of real meaning, they'll likely sit through frustrated after many "what the hell does that mean" moments. Luckily for myself I leaned just enough in the attraction to make this a perfectly interesting go around.
Though at the heart of the dialogue is the film's characters. The actors portraying said characters can some with a mix bag. While Levitt, Matt O'Leary, and Nora Zehetner seem to perfectly embrace their characters' odd quirks, others (such as Noah Fleiss and Lukas Haas) feel as if they're trying to force their emotions. This isn't always the case, but for the most part the movie's acting takes a strong backseat to the dialogue, and style of Rian Johnson. And that style is at the heart of what makes Johnson's Brick work so well. It's unmoving in its dedication to that style (derived from classic noir films, spaghetti westerns, and Cowboy Bebop - according to IMDB), and the way these characters move throughout the environment. It helps to create a captivating visual world... even if it does lack the depth to be truly memorable.
Despite its obvious flaws, this heavily stylized 2005 film works because of strong dialogue, dedication to its style, and a strong enough story to carry the time.
