In his debut feature, Rian Johnson exploits the hard-boiled world of Dashiell Hammett to ennoble the self-absorbed, overdramatic world of high schoolers. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Brendan, Brick’s Sam Spade, a wiry but self-assured teenaged gumshoe looking to solve the mystery of his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance. His quest draws him into a set of noir characters, including a deceptively angelic femme fatale, a troubled drug addict, and a sexy dancer/actress. The anachronistic, delivery of the film’s dialogue is at first jarring, and then unintentionally hilarious, as the young actors struggle their way through a style that’s unnatural to them. The world is hermetically sealed; the teens are the “grownups,” and adults rarely penetrate its seedy milieu. Like most self-consciously hip neo-noir films, Brick places tone and plot kinesthetics over believability of character and atmosphere.Gordon-Levitt’s sullen performance is a cool pose, but it’s phony. He’s allowed to “hit the street and break some deserving teeth.” Inconsistent with noir ethos, Brick’s sadistic violence occurs without any consequence; Brendan is brutally beaten and tortured but emerges relatively unfazed. C’mon, even Jack Nicholson in Chinatown had to wear that stupid bandage for most of the film.
Opens March 31 at Angelika Film Center
Opens March 31 at Angelika Film Center
