BRICK (2005)

Brick (2005)
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Brick is a detective story set at a high school, which is very surprising to me because I never once saw any of the characters attend class. When Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gets a desperately frightening phone call by his ex girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin), he immediately makes her business, his business. With the help of his friend he calls The Brain (Matt O’Leary), he figures out a crime investigation to why he found Emily’s body dead in a sewer tunnel two days after her phone call. Throughout his journey, Brendan gets beat up plenty of times to the point where he should not be standing, but pushes to find who his ex girlfriend’s murderer is, and why she died. The investigation has to do with an eccentric drug lord they call “The Pin” (Lukas Haas) and the femme fatal character is Laura (Nora Zehetner). The twist to this movie is rather striking. The damsel in distress would be Emily in this movie. Brendan starts off trying to figure out the investigation with the words “brick” and “pin.”
I enjoyed this movie. It definitely fits into the film noir genre because it has a lot of crime, violence, drugs, and love story attached to it. It’s very entertaining, however very confusing to follow, because it’s a fast pace and you need to catch every word in the dialogue to understand Brendan’s next move. A better understanding and more appreciation of Brick would be advised if watched a second time. Brendan’s character is hard boiled and very tough. He knows what he wants and he does his best to get what he wants. He is a very intelligent boy who strives for the answers, and achieves his goals. The twist is amazing! I was not expecting the ending, which was unpredictable, which I love about movies and is what makes movies a hit!