Brick DVD Review
Brick DVD Review
Movie Power: *** 1/2
DVD Purchasing Power: ***
I like archetypes. Rian Johnson’s “Brick” has this in spades. A hero’s journey for truth through the underworld. Along the way, he is tempted by several beautiful fem fatales, guided only by his passion for his long-time (and recently deceased) ex-lover.
In high school.
Brendan Fry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a high school snitch turned lonesome intellectual. His over-protective nature has put him on the outs with his girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin), until one day he receives a frantic call from Emily, and several days later, she turns up dead. Luckily, by then Brendan has already begun an investigation that shatters the secrets of upper crust high school students.
Brendan’s only ally in this is the school scholar Brain, as well as the may-or-may-not-be-innocent Laura, who’s always there at the right time and right place. By contrast, the list of usual suspects includes an urban legend drug dealer called the Pin (Lukas Haas), his brawny muscle Tugger (Noah Fleiss), a pie-house stoner named Dode (Noah Segan) and one of his own ex’s, Kara, (Meagan Good).
“Brick” triumphs because relative directorial newcomer Rian Johnson endows a strangely effective sensibility into every scene. He borrows some from the plot of Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep”, some from the dialogue of Dashiell Hammett “Maltese Falcon”, but he doesn’t completely ape the mocking humor of the traditional private eyes. True, its there, but the real humor comes from the awkward imposition of savvy, brutal characters in the middle of home room and suburbia.
Johnson clearly avoids the melodrama everyone expects with high school, and this works for the most part to his advantage. The only problem is the movie loses its bite during the dramatic character-driven sequences. However, the randomness of Johnson’s feature keeps us constantly in suspense, as we know villains can submerge from shadows with out any foreshadow.
The DVD is good, but for a movie of this creative caliber, could doubtlessly be better. The sound quality is perhaps the biggest asset, perfectly complimenting the eerie cords of the soundtrack. Commentary is not too far behind, carrying interviews with Johnson, his producers, actors and even costume designer. There’s also some deleted scenes introduced by Johnson. As the director explains, every scene is crucial to a mystery like “Brick”, so what you essentially see are not deleted parts per se, but instead, the creative ways taken to bypass these scenes and still tell the story.