Take your garden-variety green pea. Now, cut it in half and hold half of it in your hand. What you hold in your hand represents the typical worldview of your common teenager. Teenagers suffer from acute tunnel vision, or the inability to comprehend that the world exists outside of them, their friends, their drama, and their desires; to say that teenagers wear blinders would be a gross understatement, as this world of theirs often leads to feelings of total isolation. To an outsider, a non-teenager, someone not privy to the world of adolescence, the world in which teenagers live is a total mystery. Non-teenagers cannot not understand the way teens talk, the way they act, or the way they see the world - it is a world made up of cliques to the Nth degree, and a cryptic, nearly indecipherable lexicon - an outsider can never penetrate this foreign landscape. Rian Johnson's Brick almost perfectly exemplifies this exclusive world of the teenager by using the conventions of noir and cri-fi genre to craft his character's world.
By masking his narrative in such an overtly affected style, Johnson has, without doubt, created one of the most symbolic realities of teenage culture ever captured on film. I was amazed at how well it all worked, thanks in no small part to the slang-infused dialog, the archetypes typical in cri-fi, and the abilities of the young-adult cast. Not since Heathers have I seen a more true depiction of what it really FEELS like to be a teenager – not what it really IS like. Now, I am not saying these films are realistic – far from it. These two films set the proper tone and atmosphere, and embody the feelings of being a teenager by systematically eliminating any kind of real world anchors that might pull the narrative down to the level of your typical WB Network prime-time drama. That is, Brick does not strive to capture a teenager’s reality by mimicking real adolescent life, but it does so by creating a fantastic unreality that heightens the sense of self-induced isolation felt by the characters.
For ninety-percent of the running time, Brick plays it smooth, cool and mature, without a wink in mind. There is hardly anything played just for nudge-nudge laughs, and the film has a definite style without being too over-the-top. With this said, I do feel that the trailer was a bit misleading by trying to sell the film as a super-stylish, wham-bam, edited-to-hell, hip and crazy made for MTV film. Yes, Brick is hip, but in the same way that Phillip Marlow or Sam Spade are – they are hip because they are so damn laid back and cool. I was struck by the lack of flash and gaudy-stylized editing or camera gimmickry – Brick is mature beyond its hipster indie roots. I was also amazed at how low-budget the film’s look is, and how it achieves so much with so little. In many ways, it hits the same kinds of chords Donnie Darko did a few scant years ago; although I am betting that Brick will age a bit better than Kelley’s fan-adored angst-driven mind trap.
Brick’s narrative is so typical of the cri-fi genre, that it is hardly worth mentioning – and this is not an insult. Hardboiled yarns have never been about original narratives, or mind blowing twists and reveals. They are all about the execution while detailing character interaction and the crazy predicaments the charismatic characters find themselves in. We all know this story before the film even starts, only in this corner of noir-land the players are still wearing Letterman’s Jackets, and using Oxy-10 as they worry about who’s party they will be attending come Saturday night. But just in case you haven’t yet escaped to the world of smooth-talking cigarette-smoking dicks, and blond bombshell broads in red dresses who barely whisper above their sex-drenched desires as they move through the fog-dampened lamp-lit streets of Los Angeles, allow me a nut shell: a blond has been found murdered. There are drugs involved, and a very young kingpin pusher. There are rival gangs, led by thuggish neck-breaking knuckle-dragging ape-men who are always better to keep as friends no matter their smell or lack of smarts. And most importantly, there is the dick, the P.I. who, of course, gets the last minute call for help from the beautiful blond before she kicks the proverbial bucket. Add in a peppering of broken noses, busted bones, a know-it-all brainiac, and a series of trashy, darkened locations and there you have it – next stop: noir-land.
During the first thirty minutes of the film I noticed the complete lack of adult characters and thought this inspired trend would continue throughout. What better way to further exemplify the isolated and foreign world of adolescence? However, by sticking too close to the conventions of the genre, Johnson felt the need to include two minor adult characters. Although theses two adults may only have minor roles, their impact on the film is a major negative, and, worst of all, during these sequences the film falls apart and becomes nothing more than a mere parody. It is almost as if Johnson didn’t have enough faith in his own brave idea to execute it without a hint of wry self-referential humor. By introducing two adult characters, Johnson’s film falls briefly into the territory of parody and this slightly tarnishes a film that comes so close to perfectly selling a hard-to-sell idea.
Even with these flaws, Brick is still a film that comes highly recommended. It is rare these days to see a film that so bravely tries a new approach to an established genre, and it is rarer still to find a film that comes as close to perfection as Brick. I believe the flaws in the film are more glaring because they effectively destroy the amazing and believable world set up around them – they are the coal amidst a cavern of diamonds. Even when the script is mired in slang so thick that it is almost impossible to decipher, there are times when the rhythm of the dialog and skill of the actors is so hypnotizing it is nearly impossible to draw away from the film. Brick, like all great cri-fi, is all about the execution – and for this, the filmmakers should be commended, for even with the flaws the film still shines.
