Brick is a total film noir without all the foggy streets and dark corners. It's also set in a high school. Without the traditional setting and appearance of a noir, it's interesting to see what's left. The "detective" character is Brenden, who finds his ex-girlfriend dead in the opening scene. He enters the deep drug rings of the school to determine the extremely complicated realms of interest that contributed to her death. He's a classic tough guy, except that he's 18 years old. Though the cops are a factor here, Brenden and the vice principle have the relationship you expect out of the detective and the cop--familiar but always a power struggle. The language in the film is extremely difficult. People speak in highly stylized slang that's tough to keep up with, but it draws you into an acceptance of a bunch of high-schoolers living in a Dashiel Hammett novella. Also, like any good noir, it's more about the thrill of the ride than being able to keep up with all the details on the first viewing.Though the movie has no realistic foundation, the noir types translate remarkably to the high school setting. Here, the stakes are life or death. My high school experience didn't have shootouts and drug wars, but being a part of the right clique certainly seems like a life or death situation. The audience can relate to the "brain" or the guy who eats behind the school or the girl who uses her beauty to control her social status, but it's much more fun to watch these types play out in an intense crime mystery than in another story about high school drama (living through that time once was enough). The femme fatale type works particularly well in the high school setting.
Brenden makes this film work in my opinion. Noir is driven by a compelling character. I wasn't always sure how Brenden would benefit from getting to the bottom of Emily's death, but I cared enough to keep watching. Brenden is still the hero who can take a punch but never shows his cards, the streetwise man who can improvise a plan well enough to get caught up in the dangerous situation and manage to pull himself right back out. He also has a noble goal: he loved Emily. Even though they weren't together anymore, it's especially compelling to watch Brenden fight with such dedication for a girl who didn't love him back.
As Johnson's debut film, Brick is more intriguing than anything else. It's a complicated story with a strong tradition behind it that leaves out half of what makes up that tradition. It's highly stylized but made on a low budget. Many of the actors are recognizable without being huge stars. It's a story of compromise: claiming back all that you can to fill the hole of something you've lost and trying to break even.
