FC Barcelona Sport

As always, I give this movie two thumbs up, and I'd probably give it more if I had more than two hands.





Kara: You better be sure you wanna know what you wanna know.

So apparently, while I’m working on my own film noir I’m going to be watching Brick on a regular basis. It just doesn’t seem like I can avoid it. I keep wanting to revisit it, and have it feed the pool of inspiration.

Thank God for the films of Rian Johnson.

I realized part of what I love about Brick, part of what makes it so real and visceral is the sound design. This is a film that is visually sparse and distinct, and the sound design matches that in every way possible. There is little to no background noise that can’t be called “generic”, the only things you hear are what you see, and yet everything is distinct and clear. That may not sound like a lot to those of you that have ever thought about sound, but if you’ve ever been subjected to a film that has had the sound over designed or under designed I am sure your brain picked up that something was very off – even if you couldn’t figure out what that was. Never assume that what you’re hearing along with the picture, was simply what the sound peeps recorded while filming.

My favorite random bit about the sound design of Brick? [Yes, I am a geek that has a favorite part of the sound design in this film.] I adore the fact that everyone’s run/footsteps sound distinct. I remember reading an article that Rian Johnson had taken his characters shoes into account when plotting what they would be like, and I think this extends right down to how they sound. Normally, this is the kind of thing that isn’t readily apparent, but where I noticed it the most was the sequence where the thug is chasing down Brendan at school. Ws they run through the corridors Brendan’s step is lithe and quick and the thug is heavy and significantly slower – the sound comes more into play when Brendan realizes he can be heard running and discards his shoes to double back on the thug as he hears him approach.

My point is, from script, to production to post every element of something as “simple” as how the shoes would work in this film was fully planned, thought out and executed to maximum effect.

I am both astonished and inspired by this. This is the kind of craftsman ship I aspire to, and while I know I subconsciously do add touches like this to my works, I’m still working to make it a conscious effort. I would love to one day be compared to Rian Johnson, the Orange County director with an eye for artful details.

The Brain: See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin. But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
Brendan: You think The Pin's just a tale to take whatever heat?
The Brain: Hmm... So what's first?
Brendan: Show of hands.

Brick scares me in a way I cannot describe to you unless you too are a young director looking to make their mark on cinema. Rian Johnson managed to make a low budget feature so awe inspiring that I cannot stop watching it as I think of what my next project might be. I can only hope that my next feature directorial effort will land somewhere in the ball park that Brick occupies, and yet the film intimidates me enough that I’m not sure how to pull something like that off on a lack of a budget.

If you haven’t seen Brick here’s why I think it’s so awe inspiring.

I’m going to start with the visuals, the cinematography. This film is fully planned visually, somehow balancing an Orange County setting with dirt and grit. As I live in Orange County, not too far from where Brick was filmed, I know what this local looks like and somehow Johnson and DP Steve Yedlin managed to make San Clemente look like a place I’d never seen before. On as meager a budget as they had, the duo put a consistent color scheme, texture and feel into their film that set it apart from so many low budget films. The cinematography tells the story as the characters go through it.

You can’t talk about Brick without talking about the cast. This is the film that helped launch Joseph Gordon-Levitt into the realm of a hard core indy actor and shake loose from the mantle of television he’d had on him. In a career that’s since spanned some of the richest roles in recent cinema, Brick still stands as one of his best performances. Getting that kind of performance out of your lead actor, and achieving riveting and genuine performances out of everyone else onscreen is a thing to be envious of. As a director it’s hard enough to get one outstanding performance out of your cast, but to get every actor to appear onscreen as if they were born into the roles they are playing is a thing of downright beauty.

One cannot watch even the trailer for this film without noticing the writing, again by Rian Johnson. The dialogue that drips off the characters tongues seems ripped from Dashiell Hammett and the plot could easily fit within any noir made in the era of Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder. This is a film so intricate that the audience gets lost with the characters and if any one element were out of place the entire film would come crashing down around us all.

Every single element that awes me about Brick comes back to one central element – Rian Johnson and his directorial style. Johnson manages to hit it out of the park from the opening shots of Brick; for a first feature he artfully merges tone, acting, dialogule, the visuals and the plot in such a way that his directorial stamp is clearly seen. Along with the story of Brendan Frye you can see the hand of Rian Johnson, and that is an incredibly difficult thing to achieve on a first feature.

Rian Johnson is someone I am both humbled by and inspired by because we’re young directors from the same county, and yet I have yet to be able to achieve what he has already artfully succeeded at doing.

Brendan: 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.

I clearly remember the day in 2006 when my brother and I decided to see Brick. We didn’t know a lot about the film, except it was a detective film, was a hit at Sundance, and starred the kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun. This was why I was taken a bit back when I purchased my ticket and was handed a small Brick thesaurus. Needless to say, I was intrigued and frightened. What unfolded for me over the next two hours is still one of the single most inspiring films I’ve ever seen.

Set in a non-descript California high school, Brick is the tale of a young man, Brendan who answers the plea for help from his ex-girlfriend Emily. When he finds Emily’s body, Brendan is wracked with guilt because he did not act fast enough and decides to start shaking things up. As Brendan investigates the last few months of Emily’s life he unearths the shady underbelly of his city that he’s avoided and gets wrapped up with the Pin a local drug dealer, his main muscle Tug, and Laura who may or may not be on his side. As Brendan works through the mysteries surrounding Emily he gets pulled deeper into a void that he tries to keep from spiraling out of control and consuming him the way it consumed Emily.

If you haven’t experienced Brick yet, I cannot urge you enough to find it. This film is Rian Johnson’s feature directorial debut, and let me tell you it has rocketed him to the top of my list of director’s to watch. Brick was made for next to nothing in terms of budgets, but Johnson used every resource available to him, filled the cast with young but impeccable talent, and filled the screen with compelling visuals and uses writing and dialogue the way a painter uses oils. It’s a beautiful thing.

Brick works so well because it’s a hard boiled film noir that chooses not to worry about paying homage to its roots. When the story already has drugs, crime, a femme fatale and an anti-hero there’s enough going on that Johnson knew directly referencing any noir would be like hitting the nail on the head – too hard. Instead you are ushered into an odd setting for a noir, a contemporary high school and given all of the pieces of the puzzle as Brendan is given them and the journey is what drives the homage and the viewing experience.

I can’t get out of talking about Brick without showering some praise on the man that brings Brendan to life – Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Brendan is the role that landed Gordon-Levitt on the map of young actors to watch and provided a solid foundation for the years that have passed since; though he is young Gordon-Levitt doesn’t have to worry about a pay check and instead has chosen to appear in films that he selects based on content – this has kept him out of the trap of making work just to eat. In this, as with most of his films, Gordon-Levitt disappears into the role and what makes the skill involved here most believable is that the complex dialogue rolls off his tongue as if it were second nature. This is quite a feat on a film as unique as Brick.

I’ll finish up by saying it again, find this movie. Sooner rather than later. Maybe like me you’ll want to drive down to San Clemente and explore the sights you recognize from the movie too.

Director & Writer: Rian Johnson
Brendan: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Laura: Nora Zehtner
The Pin: Lukas Has
Tug: Noah Fleiss
The Brain: Matt O’Leary
Emily: Emilie de Ravin
Dode: Noah Segan
Kara: Megan Goode

Brendan: Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept
last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you.