Brick
Liv and Tim, who live in Hamburg – are still grieving the loss of their child through miscarriage two years on. Liv is desperate to move on, and suggests an impromptu trip to Paris, but Tim who has taken the loss harder, and has declines due to work commitments.
The next day, Liv decides to leave Tim, but they find themselves trapped in their apartment by a mysterious wall made out of some ‘otherworldly’ material.
Deciding to break through walls, and floors to escape, they come across others trapped; the air b n b guests Ana and Marvin, their below neighbour Mr Oswald and his grand daughter Lea, and the ground floor resident Anton – and his friend Yuri.
Direction
Some fun direction from Philip Koch, with cameras panning up and down the many holes that the characters break through on the multiple floors they climb up and down. It is also incredibly colourful with some of the rooms having unique lighting.
Cast/Characters
With an all German cast, Matthias Schweighöfer plays Tim, and Ruby O Fee plays Liv.
Frederick Lau and Salber Lee Williams play Marvin and Ana.
Sira-Anna Faal and Axel Werner play Lea and Mr Oswald.
Murathan Muslu plays Yuri.
Breakdown
Unfortunately the film gets little right when it comes to the narrative.
The characters of Liv and Tim are written somewhat believably, and their heartbreaking backstory is the cause of both tension (in what is one of the only well written scenes of the film), and it is sound that they are the eventual survivors of the ordeal.
The side characters of Ana, Marvin, Mr Oswald and Lea don’t really add anything to the plot – other than being body counts. Ana gets the worst of it, in what is actually one of the most gruesome and horrifying death scenes I’ve witnessed on screen.
The final reveal of what the wall is, should be a smart one – but due to so many silly moments that surround it, it falls flat. *** spoiler *** it is an accidental release of a safety measure, by the company Anton works at.
There should have been more foreshadowing of the event of the wall coming down. The character of Anton is revealed to be one of the architects of the wall.
He gets a blink and you’ll miss it moment in the first 5 minutes of the film, along with the reveal of a fire in the ‘harbor district’. These are throwaway lines but become something much more sinister and important as the film unfolds.
His friend Yuri is introduced when they get to Anton’s apartment, who reveals Anton “died” when the wall arrived.
Yuri becomes an unnecessary antagonist who tries to stop everyone from escaping.
He also UNBELIEVABLY survives a gunshot wound to the chest – and has a cliche third act survival and attack on Liv and Tim.
Other nitpicks (and I have plenty!) you can listen to on my Podcast on this episode.
Overall
Despite a good premise, just too much stupidity happens throughout. For a film that tried to have such smart reason behind the wall, it was just dumb.
1.5/5
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