"Brick" Review

I bought the film back in August of 2006.

And I took it to work with me tonight, and after I watched it, I asked myself one question:

WHY did it take me SO long to watch this film?

The film is enjoyable because people talk in ways that "real" people don't talk. The dialogue is written very differently from how normal people talk, and that just adds to the appeal. When Humphrey Bogart talks in "The Maltese Falcon" - it's not typical, he's got this vibe about him, and his vernacular reflects it. Jack Nicholson in "Chinatown" is another perfect example. It's the way they carry themselves, that adds so much tot he character, and the way they talk is just anther reflection of their attitude and demeanor. Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is another one of those characters, he just happens to live in the modern day. And his "film noir" style dialogue is converted into hip modern dialogue, that is spoken with pure and true film noir diaglogue. It's very well done.

Wow, wow, wow. What a good film. I was hooked after the first ten minutes. It's not a typical indie film, that requires 30 minutes of set-up and explanation of characters and situations you don't care about. After the first minute, you're involved in the story and you're following the journey that Brendan is going on. You learn as he learns, you evaluate people as he does. You try to connect the dots, and when you think you know what's going on, you've got no real idea.

The cinematography is amazing, the shots are so well put together and composed. I loved the look of the film. It had a really grainy feel to it, and I loved how it felt to watch. I also enjoyed the use of color in this film. One group is specifically defined by the color white, while another group of people is specificaly designated to the black color. Then, we have Brendan, who is commonly wears grey throughout the film. A perfect metaphorical representation of how Brendan constantly walks the thin line between good and bad in the film, all in the name of love. Brendan is trying to solve the murder of a the girl he loves, and not only does he learn a lot about her, and the people she fell involved with - he also learns his own personal limits.

And just like typical drama-detective films, it's not over when you think its over, and Brendan has an amazing final scene - with the "true" killer - where you get the sense that he's smarter than we have ever thought. Which, thinking back, I shouldn't have underestimated him. He figures out a good amount of things throughout the film, and I should have seen him putting everything together.

Like I said, the most appealing part of the film is the fact that people talk in ways that are so atypical that it draws you into the film, from the first sequence. I highly recommend it, and I hope you don't wait as long as I did to watch it. Like "The Maltese Falcon" and "Chinatown", "Brick" is not a film I could watch regularly, but I imagine that every year, or two, I will break it out and want to watch it. It's definitely a film that I would watch with anyone who hasn't seen it, just to watch them and see their reactions.