| |
|
 
|
| Brick |
 |
 |
| Actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Noah Fleiss, Matt O'Leary |
| Director: Rian Johnson |
|
Studio: Universal Studios |
| DVD release: 8 Aug. 2006 |
|
Runtime: 110 minutes (1 disc) |
| Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC |
| DVD features: Subtitles (English, Spanish, French), Audio tracks (English, Dolby Digital 5.1), Deleted & extended scenes, "The Inside Track: Casting the Roles" featurette, Commentary by cast & filmmakers |
|
Brick is a tale about a girl in trouble and her ex-boyfriend who tries to dig her out. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Brendan Frye, a high-school loner who gets a desperate and cryptic phone call from his old girlfriend, Emily (Emilie de Ravin of Lost fame) before she vanishes. In their brief conversation, she drops a few clues that have him spending the rest of the film running around, beating on thugs, getting beat on by thugs, and getting to the bottom of exactly what kind of trouble Emily is in.
The best reason to see Brick is for the dialogue. All the characters speak in what can only be termed noirspeak, the kind of language used in gumshoe movies of the '30s and '40s. In fact, writer/director Rian Johnson admits to cribbing from Sam Spade author Dashiell Hammett when writing the script.
In the world of Brick, a story is a tale, cops are bulls, and hired thugs are apes or muscle. As far as I know, kids in school today don't talk like this and they never did; still, it is entertaining if not believable.
The story is a bit convoluted and I could've used a scorecard, but that's okay. I gave up on knowing all the players and their motivations about halfway through so I could sit back and dig the style. I got enough of the gist to proceed. Next time I view it, I'm sure the whole story will gel for me.
That I want to see it again speaks volumes.
|
|
|
