Brick

Yes, there are spoilers for Brick. This is analysis. If you haven't seen the movie yet demand to keep reading that's on you.

Brick was not the first Rian Johnson movie that I watched (that honor goes to The Brothers' Bloom, courtesy of my father). It is, however, my favorite, as it is the hardest hitting of Johnson's movies. While the rest of his movies refuse to back down on showing people in all their messed up glory. This is where the triangle (brunette and two white dudes) mentioned in Knives Out begins, in its most brutal manifestation. This is not a movie for those who have a weak moral stomach, or who want to find someone to blame. Because, in the end, everyone is to blame, which means that no one is.

For those of you who don't know, Brick follows the story of Brendan, who is trying to find  out what happened to his ex-girlfriend, Emily, who called him on a payphone, babbling nonsense. The only thing that Brendan can really make out are the words "Tug" and "Brick" (along with a few others, but the movie covers those). The rest of the movie is a descent into the underworld of his highschool to find her and try to redeem her, to the best of his ability.

Brendan is the most tragic of Johnson's protagonists. There are more conflicting drives in this guy than a trio of other protagonists. He wants to keep people from hurting those he loves, but also wants to get revenge. He thinks he cares about Emily, but his constant need to control her drives her away and starts this whole series of events. Brendan is partly to blame for Emily's plight. I mean, sure, he didn't make her get in trouble, but if people think they're not responsible for the environment they create for others to make choices in I've got swampland in Florida for you!

C'mon, it's a good deal! People make their decisions in a vacuum, this is a good deal!

No, Brendan's hands are not clean. I think he knows it, too. The line between loving Emily and controlling her are pretty thing, and maybe he has left is to check up on her to make sure she's OK? It's hard to tell. But Brendan's anger gets in the way of everything he does, especially the end, when he is finally confronted with what he actually and truly is. The definition of tragedy, far as I'm concerned, is to struggle with one's fate. And Brendan cannot accept what he was told. And that is tragic.

Laura is the only antagonistic brunette that Johnson has ever devised. And even then, she's shown in as fair of a light as someone can show an evil manipulative puppet master. She's played with such vulnerability, such brutal honesty, that I just can't help feel sorry for her own position. Yes, she's consumed by her own greed and lust for power, but she is consumed by her flaws, the same as Pin, Tug, Brendan, and everyone else is. She has fallen prey to who she is. She gave up. They all did.

Tug is the most powerless character in the whole movie. Yes, I rated him above Emily. At least Emily gets to move on, at least she tried to have some agency. You cannot say the same of Tug. He is never not subject to his anger, never ever in control, never able to make a single decision for himself. Even when he's trying to rise above his anger, it is his anger that consumes and drives him to make that decision. He is utterly incapable of change, which Brendan uses against him. No matter what Tug does, he loses.

Brick is a tale about how we will never win. If we are only out for revenge, if we only act on anger and disappointment then we will be forever stuck. Brendan would not change, he would not evolve, he would not let go. And he paid the price for it: all he knows and loves is gone. And I doubt he moved on from it.