THE STORY – A couple whose apartment building is suddenly surrounded by a mysterious brick wall must work with their neighbors to find a way out.
THE CAST – Matthias Schweighöfer, Ruby O. Fee, Murathan Muslu, Frederick Lau, Salber Lee Williams, Sira-Anna Faal, Alexander Beyer, Josef Berousek & Axel Werner
THE TEAM – Philip Koch (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 99 Minutes
If the premise of “Brick” sounds familiar, that’s precisely because you’ve seen variations of it before. From “Escape Room” and the “Saw” franchise to episodes of “The Twilight Zone” and “Squid Game,” survival game stories are a strong niche in the horror and thriller genre. It’s no mystery why this puzzle-box storytelling is so appealing across multiple mediums. For starters, the concept of being trapped in a confined space can certainly heighten suspense and build psychological tension, especially if you’re claustrophobic. But neither suspense nor tension can be deciphered from “Brick,” a generic experience that plays its cards too early and peaks far too late in the game.
Written and directed by Philip Koch, the film follows Tim (Matthias Schweighöfer) and Olivia (Ruby O. Fee), a couple whose apartment building suddenly becomes enclosed by a brick wall. To find an escape, they must unite with their neighbors: next-door partners Ana (Salber Lee Williams) and Marvin (Frederick Lau), an armed Mr. Oswalt (Axel Werner) and his granddaughter Lea (Sira-Anna Faal), one floor below, and a wildcard conspiracy theorist, Yuri (Murathan Muslu). As these neighbors attempt to outsmart an increasingly deadly threat, their personalities clash on matters of morality, strategy, and belief systems.
The personalities of these characters, and the perplexing situation they find themselves in, unfold at a painfully dull pace. No amount of fast-cutting or intense-sounding music can muster up enough urgency here. Through uninspired direction, monotonous production design, and weightless writing, “Brick” stalls on its momentum at nearly every turn. Clues and reveals meant to raise the stakes fall flat instead. The film lacks the visual creativity and narrative dimension to carve out a distinctive mystery with clear objectives. Given the incoherent story motivations and two-dimensional characters, it’s a challenge to stay connected with this material on an emotional level. Additionally, a series of predictable red herrings undermines potentially inventive moments, where the wall’s patterns expose a much more elaborate danger.
“Brick” works best when focused on the relationship drama between Tim and Olivia. Their conversations early on in the film suggest a couple on two different paths of healing in the aftermath of a devastating loss. While the flashbacks to this trauma are rather clumsily incorporated, the emotionality reverberates thanks to committed performances by Matthias Schweighöfer and Ruby O. Fee. The puzzle-solving material does them no favors, but the dramatic tension connected to their resurfaced past allows the actors to explore raw nerves. While Olivia addresses her emotions head-on and tries to encourage a fresh start, Tim continues to run from loss. He retreats behind the wall he had built around himself. When the characters reach a breaking point in an explosive argument scene, it resonates as the most authentic moment in the film.
The entire” Brick” mystery feels incredibly secondary, and frankly silly, compared to the weight of Tim and Olivia’s relationship history. Ultimately, the nuances of their characters get lost in a muddled story that rushes to its conclusion without laying the groundwork for a satisfying conclusion. Visually, the film misses opportunities to really enhance the claustrophobic setting and utilize the neighbouring apartments to explore the wall’s mysterious scope. Thankfully, the film features a committed cast that does its best to find moments of tension. However, the direction takes a pedestrian approach to deciphering clues and struggles to balance character motivations with the labyrinth concept.
