Brick (film)
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| Brick | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Rian Johnson |
| Produced by | Ram Bergman Mark G. Mathis |
| Written by | Rian Johnson |
| Starring | Joseph Gordon-Levitt Emilie de Ravin Nora Zehetner Matt O'Leary Lukas Haas Meagan Good Noah Fleiss Noah Segan |
| Music by | Nathan Johnson |
| Cinematography | Steve Yedlin |
| Editing by | Rian Johnson |
| Distributed by | Focus Features |
| Release date(s) | 2006 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $450,000 |
| Official website | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Brick is an American film written and directed by Rian Johnson. The film's narrative centers around a hardboiled detective story that takes place in suburbia, in which all of the main characters are high school students. It was Johnson's directorial debut, and won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Brick was distributed by Focus Features, opening in the United States on March 31, 2006 in New York and Los Angeles. The film draws heavily in plot, characterization and dialogue from hardboiled classics, especially from Dashiell Hammett.
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[edit] Plot
The movie opens with Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a student of San Clemente High School in California, looking at the deceased body of his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin) partly lying in water. Brendan is in the know of the intricacies of the "upper crust" of druggie socialites, but chooses to live outside them until he gets a terrified phone call from Emily. She tearfully tells him that she "didn't know that the brick was bad" and that "the Pin's on it now", imploring him to help her. Brendan manages to find her, only to face her plea for him to leave her alone.
After her death, Brendan takes it upon himself to avenge her, enlisting the aid of fellow loner The Brain (Matt O'Leary) to track information, while feigning to be an inside man for his assistant vice-principal (Richard Roundtree). His intrusion into the tightly knit circle of high school cliques brings him into the lives of several people, including sophisticate Laura (Nora Zehetner), prolifically violent Tug (Noah Fleiss), stoner Dode (Noah Segan), seductive play actress Kara (Meagan Good), jock Brad (Brian J. White), and drug baron The Pin (as in kingpin) (Lukas Haas). The Pin is pivotal in Brendan's pursuit of the truth about Emily's fate.
[edit] Production
Rian Johnson wrote the first draft of Brick in 1997 after graduating from USC School of Cinematic Arts a year earlier. It was originally inspired by the works of Dashiell Hammett, an author known for hardboiled detective novels. Before Johnson became familiar with Hammett's work, he was an avid fan of the 1990 film Miller's Crossing by the Coen Brothers (who, in turn, cited Hammett as one of their influences for Miller's Crossing). Johnson, already a fan of film noir in general, enjoyed Hammett's style, calling it a "pure dose" of the hardboiled detective genre.[1] The decision to give the Brick narrative the twist of a suburban high school setting was to apply the film noir genre to a fresh set of visual cues.
After the screenplay was completed, Johnson, with the aid of good friend and cinemtographer Steve Yedlin, tried hard to get it into the hands of anyone in the film business willing to read it. After attempting to get the project funded by a number of production companies over a period of six years, they decided that the easiest and safest route to take would be to fund and shoot the film themselves. By shooting the film independently, Johnson would have complete control over achieving the delicate tone required to successfully translate Brick from script to screen.
Over the years, Johnson had come in contact with various individuals that were willing to work on the film, including casting director Shannon Makhanian, producers Mark G. Mathis and Ram Bergman, and various actors. After acquiring about $475,000 for the film's budget, Brick finally began production in 2003.
The film was shot in Johnson's hometown of San Clemente, California on 35 mm film stock. Much of the film takes place at San Clemente High School, the high school Johnson attended.
[edit] Score and soundtrack
The score to Brick was composed by Rian Johnson's cousin, Nathan Johnson, with additional support and music from The Cinematic Underground. The score harkens back to the style, feel and overall texture of noir films. It features traditional instruments such as the piano, trumpet and violin, and also contains unique and invented instruments such as the wine-o-phone, metallophone, tack pianos, filing cabinets, and kitchen utensils, all recorded with one microphone on a beat-up Apple PowerBook.
Since Nathan Johnson was in England during most of the production process, the score was composed almost entirely over Apple iChat, with Rian Johnson playing clips of the movie to Nathan Johnson, who would then score them. The two later met in New York to mix the soundtrack.
The soundtrack CD of the movie was released on March 12, 2006 by Lakeshore Records. In addition to Johnson's score, it contains songs by The Velvet Underground, Anton Karas and Kay Armen as well as the big band version of "Frankie and Johnny" performed by Bunny Berigan and a full unedited performance of "The sun whose rays are all ablaze" by Nora Zehetner.
[edit] Special effects
The majority of the film's special effects were cheaply and efficiently produced using practical and in-camera effects. Early in the film, for example, Emilie de Ravin walks toward the camera out of a tunnel as a garbage bag floats downstream and engulfs the camera, transitioning over to Joseph Gordon-Levitt back in his character's bedroom. To achieve this, the desired effect was filmed in reverse order. The garbage bag began over the camera and was pulled away during filming, as de Ravin walked backwards into the tunnel. This footage was then cut to a scene in which a garbage bag was simply pulled over Gordon-Levitt's head.
Slowly filming a car driving in reverse, then playing the footage backwards at a higher speed gives the illusion of a car quickly approaching as the camera darts in front of it stylishly. Clever fades give the impression of time changes while quick jump cuts add tension to a scene in which the protagonist wakes up after passing out.
Certain edits were also introduced to the film to time footage to different dialogue, adding certain information and leaving other information out completely. These edits are noticeable, as the actors' mouths are not always moving in sync with their dialogue.
One particular scene, in which de Ravin's character floated toward the camera, used a green screen, but it was edited out of the film far before its completion.
[edit] Releases
[edit] Theatrical release
Brick premiered in the United States on March 31, 2006 in select theaters. It opened to United Kingdom audiences on May 12, 2006 on a limited number of screens. The film grossed $2.07 million in the US box office and a total of $3.35 million worldwide.
[edit] DVD releases
The Region 1 DVD release of Brick originally became available on August 8, 2006 as part of the Focus Features Spotlight Series. Special features include:
- A selection of deleted and extended scenes with introductions by director Rian Johnson
- Audition footage featuring Nora Zehetner and Noah Segan
- Feature audio commentary with Rian Johnson, Nora Zehetner, Noah Segen, producer Ram Bergman, production designer Jodie Tillen, and costume designer Michele Posch.
The Region 2 DVD was released on September 18, 2006.
[edit] Flight version
Virgin Atlantic Airways has featured a version of the film on its flights to and from the United Kingdom.
[edit] Reception
Brick was released to mostly positive reviews. It received a 78% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes,[2] and ranked #35 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[3]
[edit] Awards
| Result | Award | Recipient | Festival/Ceremony | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Special Jury Prize: Dramatic, for Originality of Vision | Sundance Film Festival | 2005 | |
| Nominated | Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic | |||
| Won | Grand Special Prize | Deauville Film Festival | 2005 | |
| Won | Most Promising Director | Rian Johnson | Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | 2006 |
| Nominated | John Cassavetes Award (best film production with a budget under $500,000 USD) |
Independent Spirit Awards | 2006 | |
| Nominated | Best Foreign Independent Film | British Independent Film Awards | 2006 | |
| Won | Best Screenplay - Original | Rian Johnson | San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards | 2006 |
| Nominated | Best Original Score | Nathan Johnson | Satellite Awards | 2006 |
| Won | Citizen Kane Award for Best Directorial Revelation | Rian Johnson | Festival de Cine de Sitges | 2006 |
| Won | Best Overlooked Film | Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards | 2007 | |
| Best Screenplay - Original | Rian Johnson | |||
| Nominated | Best Breakthrough Filmmaker | Rian Johnson | Online Film Critics Society Awards | 2007 |
[edit] Trivia
- At the "Halloween in January" party, a girl in a red dress briefly drags a cooler across the shot. This is a reference to May, another movie Rian Johnson worked on.
- Also at the party, Laura recites part of a song from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado
- The film contains a number of references to Dashiell Hammett stories:
- Brendan's request of Laura to honk her car horn four times – long, short, long, short – to communicate with him, a reference to The Maltese Falcon.
- Brendan remarks to Laura, "now you are dangerous", a line lifted directly from the film The Maltese Falcon.[4]
- The conversation between Brenden and his vice principal is almost identical to one in The Maltese Falcon.
- The antagonist whispers "a dirty word" to the protagonist at the end. A similar occurrence can be found in "The Girl With The Silver Eyes".
- The majority of the film was shot at existing locations. One of the few sets used for the film was The Pin's basement. The Pin's study was filmed in first, then the set was painted black and dressed to look like the musty storage room located opposite the study.
- The telephone booth seen throughout the film is a non-functioning set piece.
- Rian Johnson cited Spaghetti Westerns and Cowboy Bebop as influences on his visualization of the movie.
- Davey Havok takes a copy of the DVD on tour with him.
[edit] References
- ^ Johnson, Rian. 2006. Brick [Commentary track], Brick [DVD].
- ^ Brick at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on November 26, 2006.
- ^ The 50 Best High School Movies. Entertainment Weekly (2006-09-07). Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
- ^ Dashiell Hammett. The Maltese Falcon. Chapter 4: The Black Bird.
- ^ Rian Johnson (2006-04-19). The Visuals of Brick. Rian's BRICK forum. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Brick Forum run by director Rian Johnson
- Theatrical trailer at Focus Features
- Short flash clips
- Photos from the film set
- Review written in the language of the film
- Brick at Box Office Mojo
- Brick at the Internet Movie Database
- Brick Review at RockTag.us
