I’m immune to most teenage flics. It’s cause at 28, I’m not relating to these pesky kids anymore. They seem to be getting less articulate, less cerebral, and prettier. The latter of which I find completely acceptable when it’s congruent with a smart cast delivering succinct, witty repartee with the kind of edginess that the kids on Dawson’s Creek would surely recoil from.
It’s been a while since I saw a trailer that really jazzed me up with the promise of something original and clever. Brick seduces its viewer with such an avowal. As the film’s protagonist, Third Rock alum, the uber talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the disillusioned and detached Brendan Frye with the kind of cool, calm collectiveness that would give Humphrey Bogart sure-fire competition.
Like Bogie’s Maltese Falcon character, “Sam Spade,” Brendan is a fool for love and honor. And in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett’s detective ditties, Brendan is a flawed, yet irrepressible hero. As such, he embarks on discovering how his even more tragically flawed ex-girlfriend (Lost’s Emilie de Ravin) Megan was killed. Her final bone-chilling, cryptic words, “The brick. I didn’t know it was bad. It had pins on it. You gotta help me.” Turns out it’s too late. Does that stop Brendan from finding out which goons were responsible for “putting her in front of the gun”? Hardly…
From this point on, Frye makes it his mission to reveal the truth behind the disappearance of his missing girlfriend. To do so, he enlists the help of his friend “The Brain” (Matt O’Leary). As the trailer progresses at a heightened pace, Brendan becomes more and more involved in a world of drug lords, social sophisticates, and well, high school in the year 2005. What makes this film all the more intriguing is its context. All of its typecast characters fit the mold of the archetypal high school players. Lukas Haas plays the shady Dope Runner aka “Pin” and Nora Zehetner rounds out the cast in her portrayal of the bewitching, femme fatale Laura. It’s a novel twist on latter day films like St. Elmo’s Fire, with a more telling and less contrived narrative. What’s all the more eerie is how much the situational theme of high school gels with the film noir vibe.
Article comments
1 - Jack
Beth...great job!