BRICK Film Review - 18/6/06

This is the first film from Writer/Director Rian Johnson who managed to pull together a good cast with a sprinkle of well known names amongst them; especially in the shape of the lead, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (more well known from TV's "3rd Rock From The Sun") who was fresh from filming the anguishing film "Mysterious Skin" with it's tragic heart-rending story. Backed up with current hot favorite Emilie de Ravin and Matt O'Leary ("Frailty" another gripping thriller) we also get the character of The Pin in the form of Lukas Haas and even a nice cameo from Richard Roundtree as the School Principal. The top poster was featured at The Sundance Film Festival where "Brick" received a good showing coming across as a modern-genre film noir set in the youth counter culture vein. Watching it a second time around things make even more sense from a tightly scripted but convoluted and somewhat confusing plot. You really have to watch this one closely to understand what is happening to who, when and where and why? A stylish affair I caught the trailer for this on a Region 1 DVD a few months back and was immediately drawn to it by it's incredibly chilling soundtrack especially the haunting "Emily's Theme" by The Cinematic Underground - So much so that I have tracked down the band's first CD album "Annasthesia" and bought the "Brick: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" to boot as well! Some of the excellent camera framing in this movie has a strong atmospheric feel; a particular scene being a shot set on a beach where the characters of Brendan and The Pin are in black silhouette, set against an orange sundown talking about Tolkien. I won't go into the film too much as it will give most of the story away - But suffice to say Levitt's character of Brendan attempts to help out ex-girlfriend Emily (de Ravin) who gets way too deep into something and he has to put the puzzle pieces together to help her. I look forward to future work by Writer/Director Rian Johnson if it is as good as this first effort!