Film noir is an interesting genre because although everybody is very aware of the cliches and style associated with the genre most people are not very familiar with the classic film noir films. I myself have never seen a 'classic' film noir movie and am mostly left with interpretations of the genre in modern films such as Blue Velvet and Blade Runner, or in the television show Veronica Mars.
Brick is often described as a seamless blend between two genres, film noir and high school drama. This is a little misleading because it gives the impression that the movie is in the style of Veronica Mars. This would bring to mind something that combines the quick dialog, inscrutable characters and questionable morals associated with film noir with the parties, melodrama and fun seeking teenagers associated with high school movies. I imagined a fun almost Mean Girls type movie cast in the style of film noir. Brick is not simply an 'interpretation' like the previous examples. At its core Brick is a straight-up noir that just happens to involve high schoolers.
The film starts with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (of 3rd Rock From the Sun fame) finding an ex-lover dead near a sewer entrance. After a flashback where we see his view of the events that led up to her terrible end, he vows to find out how this could have happened by any means possible. Gordon-Levitt proceeds to enter a world filled with violence and drugs to get close to the 'Pin', a man who seems to be the head honcho of drugs in this town, and someone who might have answers about his Emily.
It's very clever to cast high schoolers in the film noir genre because as we all know high schoolers are nothing if not melodramatic. Every event is the biggest thing in the world, every girlfriend is the 'love of one's life', and it sure does feel like the world will come crashing down if things don't go their way. The characters in film noir tend to be very self serious, as do teenagers, and the people in their lives tend fall into a binary; they are with them or against them. Brick doesn't just cast the characters in this light to make a commentary on teenage dramas or film noir: the story is serious. People die from gunshot wounds or overdosing on spiked drugs. The main character is kicked, hit and maimed and his survival is very much in doubt.
The teenage drama aspect of this movie is mostly used in a role of subversion. Gordon-Levitt's character seems like a pretty tough bad ass, but we have to question this a little when he talks about 'brown bagging it' or when he gets called into the vice principal's office to answer some questions. In fact he constantly brings up that the VP is on his case, and treats this as if he were being hounded by the police commissioner. When Gordon-Levitt tries to set up meetings through his friend Brain, he tells Brain 'they know where I have lunch'. And when he finally gets to meet the Pin (a 26 year old) he does so in the Pin's kitchen where the Pin's mother serves him country style apple juice served 'in a country glass'. These characters may be bad ass drug dealers with gun toting muscle, but they are still just kids (or in the Pin's case a 26 year old living in their mother's basement) who get served oatmeal cookies on napkins and apple juice in special glasses.
Besides the plot of drugs, guns and the occasional femme fatale, the thing that makes Brick most like a conventional film noir is the dialog. Film noir stories are known for having very quick, witty and obtuse dialog that make it almost difficult to follow. Brick not only has this rapid fire style dialog, it also uses many terms either borrowed from the classic film noirs, or invented for this movie. Because of this, Brick is fairly hard to follow at times, and rewards patience, attention and multiple viewings. It's not so confusing that the audience has no idea what is going on, but you'll often feel as if you are a couple of moves behind the characters.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Brick is how much money it took to make. Brick was shot in 20 days on a half of a million dollar budget. This is remarkable considering the fact that Johnson used regular film, which is really expensive compared to digital film, and cast a well known (if not very commercial) actors. This budget is a far cry from the seven thousand dollars that was used to make Primer (one of my favorite films of the decade and likely an upcoming post) but this is still a minute sum compared to Hollywood movies of the day. Brick is a well designed, smart film that is another example that the best, most interesting films of our generation are not coming from Hollywood but from smaller independent filmmakers who are willing to take risks.
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