Brick (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Interviews-Crew-Interview with the Director Theatrical Trailer-Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	105:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Rian Johnson
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Joseph Gordon-Levitt Nora Zehetner Lukas Haas Noah Fleiss Matt O'Leary Emilie de Ravin Noah Segan Richard Roundtree Meagan Good Brian J. White Jonathan Cauff Reedy Gibbs Lucas Babin
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	Nathan Johnson Larry Seymour

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

The less said of the plot the better; Brick is a lovingly twisted film, full of revelations and surprises that engage and entertain. Despite the basic concept being absurd, the teenage noir works by keeping itself deadly serious and incredibly stylised, overcoming any notion of kids playing gangster. (There's room for satire here as well, such as the reveal of the Pin's identity, and the surprising violence featured in many of the plot's outcomes.) Indeed, when the literal knives come out, the youthful setting goes out the window and the film makes us feel for these characters; in particular, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's phenomenal Brendan, and femme fatal Laura, who is brought to seductive life through Nora Zehetner's perfect performance.

The film is particularly fascinated by language, and uses very quick stylised dialogue to convey urgency and nail the noir atmosphere. Although it's like being plunged into an alien universe at first, Brick's intelligence shines in shifting the audience into this world and it's dialect and plot become clearer as the mystery plays out. It's refreshing and challenging and there's little else like it - Brick is a film not to miss.

Video

   This is an excellent transfer, featuring next to no artefacts, interlacing or other issues (telecine wobble was noticed a couple of times, but just barely). Indeed, this film looks phenomenal on DVD; it's impossible to tell that it was made on the low budget of barely half a million dollars.

   The film does occasionally have minor issues with blacks, featuring some low level noise (any very dark scene such as 91:17 loses detail) but other than this, the colours look perfect; rarely bright, the dynamic greys and blues match the often dark atmosphere of the film: it really looks sensational.

   There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

   Unfortunately there is little difference between the 5.1 and the 2.0 audio tracks, but the film sounds great regardless. The deathly important dialogue is always perfectly balanced with the loud swinging noir soundtrack, keeping everything audible and effective.

   Effects are loud and often brutal, like an unexpected gunshot, and the rear speakers and subwoofer occasionally kick in to make some scenes more effective, like the rushing of a tarp over a body. But these are rare scenes, and the full surround is not utilized as much as it could be. Only the full surround lacks; what's here is very well mixed and effective, I just wish the rear and subwoofer were taken full advantage of.

   Nathan Johnson's score is absolutely perfect, never for any moment pulling us away from this hardboiled atmosphere - recorded with the help of The Cinematic Underground, find within swinging jazz and slow piano with everything in between to match the feel and texture of noir films. Isolation and seduction and danger and pain and revenge bleed through; it's a classic.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Animated Menus with Sound

Interview with the Director (32:05)

Theatrical Trailer (2:25)

- Audio commentary by writer/director Rian Johnson, actors Nora Zehetner and Noah Segan, producer Ram Bergman, production designer Jodie Tillen and costume designer Michele Posch

- 8 deleted and extended scenes (w/ introduction by writer/director Rian Johnson)

- "The Inside Track: Casting The Roles of Laura and Dode" featurette (3:12)

- Bonus trailers

There is no contest here; however, the R2 UK release features even more extras, including a fascinating look at the creation of that wonderful score. Purchasing this gets you not just our great transfer, but all of the missing pieces that we should have got. With R2, now you are dangerous.

   The video is excellent. The audio doesn't quite measure up, but still packs a wallop thanks to the superb soundtrack.

   The extras are good but sparse, extremely disappointing compared to other regions.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall