…sed mutato nomine te fabula narratur…

When I was in Sweden, staying at my friend Yvo’s place, I spent one morning just nursing a hangover in the apartment while he was out making money or something. Eventually, I switched on the TV and stumbled across one of these movies that almost instantly have you stop the zapping process because it is clear that something exciting is being broadcasted. Even though I had missed the setup, which usually means I don’t want to watch the rest of the movie anymore either (too confusing, plus I had a hangover), I decided to keep on watching – and that’s how I discovered Brick, a movie you may have missed.

Here’s a review…

Listening to: Mumford & Sons – Sigh no More and Reggie and the Full Effect – Last Stop Crappy Town

As you may already see by the trailer,  is essentially a film noir like they used to make ‘em in the 40s and 50s. You know, like The Maltese Falcon and The Third Man. After the decline of the genre (by “decline” I think I mean: elements of the genre were incorporated in so many other movies that it became harder and harder to draw the line between “true” noir and detective/thriller stories), it retained a toehold in our collective movie memory through lovingly made parodies or homages like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, although occasionally somebody stepped up to return to basics. Although that did not always turn out to everyone’s liking.

However, as you may also notice by the trailer, this movie has the look (and feel) of an all-American high-school movie, an altogether different, more modern genre, influenced by guilty pleasures like Pretty in Pink or Clueless, taken seriously by Cameron Crowe, and forever tainted by 90210, Saved by the Bell, or Mean Girls (okay, Mean Girls wasn’t THAT bad…).

The movie poster - (c) Focus Features

And that is, in essence, the essence of the movie Brick – it deftly mixes together the seemingly mutually exclusive genres of noir and the high school movie, taking the endless in-fighting and subculture rivalry that is a part and parcel of the quintessential Hollywood Highschool, and putting a smart-talking loner with a penchant for sticking his nose where he shouldn’t in the middle of all this. Add some narcotics, a femme fatale or two, and what you get can only be described as an interesting movie experience.

Now, the high-school-movie-genre has had its fair share of films that took the clique-thing to more extreme levels. Heathers, featuring a delightfully evil Christian Slater who channels a young Jack Nicholson, is but one example, as are The Craft (teen movie + gothic horror) and 10 Things I Hate About You or Cruel Intentions (high school meets classical literature, imagine that!), but I know of none that are able to consistently keep style and substance separate as deftly as Brick. In appearance, it is all high school (filmed at …), but in substance, it is a Dashiell Hammett-noir all the way. This, needless to say, makes for a very surreal, but not altogether unpleasant viewing experience.

The story is relatively straightforward, especially for those acquainted with detective stories in general. Brendan, a typical highschool outcast played by an excellent Joseph Gordon-Levitt of 3rd Rock From the Sun-fame (and, incidentally, also from 10 Things…), is trying to solve the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, Emily (one could say she was Lost). In doing so, he stumbles across a much larger issue involving the sale of drugs of various intensities and the ensuing power struggle between the various subcultures (including, but not limited to, punkers/stoners, jocks and goths). It all leads back to the popular clique, the type of people who also feature in My Super Sweet Sixteen and the like – called “the upper crust” in the movie – and eventually to an enigmatic figure known as “The Pin“. Also, there is a classic femme fatale, played by Nora Zehetner, who has her fingers in several pies and who of course has more than one trick up her sleeve when it comes to getting what she wants. Things eventually come to a violent climax as Brendan shakes things up and, with the help of his accomplice Brain (no, not this one), plays several parties against one another. The mystery is resolved to almost everyone’s satisfaction, and things seemingly go back to normal.

What lifts this movie above others in the same genre, to my opinion, is the acting by the relatively young cast, and, consequently, the directing. Both help further advance the unsettling effect that the movie already has through the combination of different styles. Allegedly, director Rian Johnson had forbidden the actors to prepare by watching actual noirs, so their delivery of the lines is at times almost Brechtian in nature – and this is further emphasised by the lines themselves, featuring such gems as “No, bulls would gum it. They’d flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they’d trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we’re doing this I want the whole story. No cops, not for a bit“. In a Bogart feature, noone would think twice about stuff like this, but having a 17-year-old refer to the police as “the bulls” is actually just … quite absurd.

Brendan and Laura - (c) Bergman Lustig Productions

To me, the absurdity somehow adds to the poignancy, precisely because you, the viewer, are never allowed to take anything for granted. However, this is also one of the weak points of the flick. It is by no definition a movie that I would recommend to anyone but the most seasoned watchers. Others may need a proper introduction to the genre, or a movie night with one movie from each represented genre, and then this one, but that may be a bit too much to ask. Still, the movie never claims to be smarter than its audience, and those willing to sit down and give it a try are rewarded with an interesting, if polarizing, experience.

[NB: I should note here that this preceding paragraph is inspired by an actual movie night with a group of friends, where I nominated Brick to what can only be described as very different reactions. Needless to say, I benefitted enourmously from some of the objections raised by some other viewers, which in a sense made me appreciate the movie even more, but which also helped me to see its weaker points. Thanks!]

Brick, however, is more than a stylistic excercise for movie buffs. Underneath the detective story and the anachronistic dialogue, there lurks a veiled critique about the apathy of American suburbia that features in so many films of the 90s and early 21st century, from American Beauty to The Chumscrubber. This obviously is not the main purpose of the movie, but it is brought to the fore in two scenes where the fourth wall is almost breached. These are the only ones where adults have a speaking part – first, there is the assistant vice principal (!), who assigns Brendan the task of taking down the subversive elements in the school (a brilliant cameo by Richard Roundtree, although I still feel Louis Gossett Jr or James Belushi would have been even more awesome)(no, not Tom Berenger, that would just be silly)), and then, even more extreme, there is a delightful episode where a beaten-up Brendan is being served applejuice by The Pin’s mother. Both adults are aware, in some form or another, that those darn kids are up to something, but neither of them  (and this goes especially for the mother) seems willing or able to do something about it, and the kids are allowed to run amok once more.

Then again, maybe I’m reading too much into this, and the whole thing is just an attempt by the writer to liven up his own memories of his teenage years.

…and that is Brick, a movie for movie buffs and fans of solid detective stories that feature kids instead of alcoholic PIs with a midlife crisis. It is far from perfect, but for its budget, and given the fact that it really is Rian Johnson’s solo project in a way, it is well worth your time and effort. Johnson went on to make the similarly flawed The Brothers Bloom and seems to be making a name for himself in the area of quirky, off-beat movies with a serious undertone. We can only commend him for having found his niche so quickly – if this indeed turns out to be his niche – and if it is your niche as well, I would recommend you to try and keep an eye out for him.

Excellent cast, interesting script, fascinating experiment: not a movie for everyone, but definitely a movie for me! Brick, the movie I almost missed.