Review

Brick
Directed by Rian Johnson

This movie took place in a California suburb, in a variety of empty or semi-deserted locations; the high-school, a payphone on a residential street, a tunnel, and the basement of a single-family home. There were very few characters outside of the major roles. I think this enforced the sense of isolation and independence of the protagonist while also showing the suburbs as a lonely, desolate and dangerous place.

The movie follows the main character as he tries to find his ex-girlfriend’s killer. In order to do this he joins an underground gang that sells drugs to rich high school kids. I think there was only one scene that involved a parent, and it was the king pin’s mother serving milk and cookies to three members of the gang before they departed for their territory in the basement.

The dark intrigue of the plotline could have taken place anywhere, in fact, it probably would have been considered quite commonplace at an inner city high school. The fact that it is situated in an upper middle class suburban society only makes it that much more dysfunctional and completes the image of a dystopia in the traditional utopian neighbourhood.

All of the characters have secrets that are revealed as the main character tries to get to the bottom of his ex-girlfriend’s life; and death. Everyone is hiding from someone or something; from the drug addict behind the diner to the girl who seemingly has everything anyone could want. By digging into the lives of these ‘happy’ suburbanites, the protagonist discovers that his home, school and town are far from the American Dream of the good life.