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What starts out as a silly and confusing
mess pretty much ends up as a silly and confusing
mess. But it's hard not to try and find some
way to praise Rian Johnson's film for its unique
qualities and its quirky attributes. I guess
that's why Sundance insisted on given Johnson
and the film the "Special Jury Prize for Originality
of Vision" at this year's festival. At the very
least, it's different.
And, at least, the problems with the film
are obvious from the get-go. At first I thought
this film was sort of a WB "Gilmore Teens" piece.
The young people in the cast here, lead by the
amazing and amazingly hot Joseph Gordon-Leavitt
(herein after referred to as JGL) speak in a
rapid-fire manner and use catch phrases that
sound totally familiar yet hopelessly unintelligible.
For awhile I thought this hipster speak was
just another way to make people like me in their
40's feel totally out of touch with today's
youth. But then little phrases would pop up
that I recognized or understood from other types
of genre films, particularly 40's film noir
detective stories, and I realized that the speech
wasn't so much new as a distillation of language
which has permeated movies and modern culture
for the last 50 or 60 years. Johnson's use of
language may be unique but its just as likely
to remind the viewer of "Bugsy Malone" as it
is "The Maltese Falcon."
Johnson's influences are also in evidence
early in the film. "River's Edge" and David
Lynch are as obvious as Dashiell Hammett and
other detective noir. The opening sequence with
JGL at a phone booth seems as if it could have
been lifted from some student reworking of "Wild
at Heart." At least when Johnson aims to pay
homage, he aims high.
But the whole plot of the film, centering
around a missing and then dead teenage girl
is so convoluted and elliptical that we wouldn't
understand it even if it was in straightforward
English. How messy is the plot? Well, the dialogue
has JGL spelling it out for us step by step
in the film's climax and it is still impossible
to follow or comprehend. Hey, at least it makes
you want to by the DVD so you can create your
own timelines and flow charts and try to figure
out what the hell is going on here.
In addition to the performance by JGL,
the work by Lukas Haas is really interesting
and cool here. His is definitely the most interesting
and quirky character in the piece, perhaps in
any piece this year, and Haas makes it all seem
worthwhile. When he and JGL are on the screen
together, it crackles with electricity and one
hungers for the duo to share the screen in something
just a little less eclectic.
There is plenty of other young hotties
to look at as well. Noah Fleiss has what may
very well be his best role since "Joe the Lion"
a few years back and spends the entire movie
in a wifebeater that makes him look as hunky
as any hood at the local shopping mall. Noah
Segan, who played the cutie gay twink in "Adam
and Steve" plays it straight as Dode and
you would be hard pressed to even realize it
is the same actor. Brooding and in full leather
jacket, Segan is even hotter than he is in gay
movie, if that is possible to believe. And anyone
whose seen any of the "Spy
Kids" movies will be surprised to see how
Matt O'Leary aka Gary Giggles has grown up since
he plays a hot teen nerd here. Sadly, for some
reason, Johnson never seems to give us a good
look at him though. Yes, there's a lot of attractive
young actors and actresses here and a few of
them would probably be recognizable to anyone
who watches the WB on a regular basis as well.
Hey, "Brick" isn't the best film I've ever
seen but it certainly isn't half bad. At least
it isn't a teen movie about a girl getting an
abortion based on the Ben Folds Five hit of
a few years back.
Notes:
Also with Richard Roundtree.
The film debuted at Sundance in 2005. It
has been acquired by Focus Films who are aiming
for a March 2006 release.
Viewed at an advanced screening during
the Austin Film Festival at the IMAX Theater
in the Bob Bullock State History Museum in October
2005 with my friend Johnny Oh!
Report Card
Script: B-
Acting: A
Cinematography\Lighting: C
Special Effects\Make Up: C
Music: D-
Final Grade: C-
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