Brick (2005)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Rian Johnson

Writer (WGA):

Rian Johnson (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 2006 (Canada)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

A detective story.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

High School | Drugs | Drug Dealer | Corpse | Strangulation

Awards:

9 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

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 J. White	...	Brad Bramish (as Brian White)
Jonathan Cauff	...	Biff
Reedy Gibbs	...	Pin's Mom
Lucas Babin	...	Big Stoner
Tracy Wilcoxen	...	Straggler
Ari Welkom	...	Tangles (as Ari Velkom)

MPAA:

Rated R for violent and drug content.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Ireland:15A | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | Netherlands:12 | USA:R (certificate #41781) | Germany:12 | Finland:K-15 | Portugal:M/16 | Japan:R-15 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

San Clemente, California, USA

Company:

Bergman Lustig Productions

Trivia:

The film makers had filmed a version of the film scene with the playing field all muddy and damaged. When they came back to film more of the scene they discovered that the school had refurbished the field and it was now perfect and bright green. That's why most of the shots in the scene are angled upwards to hide the field from view.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Brendan is in Tug's trunk on the way to see the Pin for the first time he opens up the trunk to see where the Pin lives. He clearly does not have his glasses on while looking out from the trunk. Yet, in the next scene the camera's vision of the Pin is very blurry until Brendan puts his glasses back on. This makes it impossible for him to have been able to see the numbers on the mailbox without his glasses on.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

References "V.I.P." (1998)

Soundtrack:

Frankie & Johnny

Strange but fun and gripping

Saw this at the Mill Valley Film Festival. It's essentially a film noir set in present-day San Clemente High School, reminiscent of "The Big Sleep," but with drug-dealing added to the mix of double-crossing. The characters may be teenagers, but the dialog channels Chandler and Hammett, and my only real complaint with the film is that Joseph Gordon-Leavitt (in an otherwise wonderful performance) sometimes mumbles; this is dialog you don't want to miss. Lukas Haas is wonderfully eccentric in what is essentially the Sidney Greenstreet role, Noah Fleiss as the dumb thug, and Nora Zehetner even LOOKs like Mary Astor. As with all the great American noir films, there are many sardonic laughs inserted into the dark story.