Brick (2025)
Directed by Philip Koch
No — Brick is not woke, scoring 17 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
A brick wall materializes overnight around an apartment building, sealing in Tim, Olivia, and a handful of neighbors who would prefer not to know one another.
Consciousness Markers
The ensemble cast includes several actors of color in supporting roles, though the film does not foreground representation as a theme.
No evidence of LGBTQ+ themes in the plot, cast, or research.
The film features a female co-lead, but there is no discernible feminist agenda or commentary.
No evidence of racial consciousness or commentary on race in the plot or research.
No evidence of climate change themes or environmental messaging.
The conspiracy involves a secret military program, not an anti-capitalist critique.
No evidence of body positivity themes or messaging.
No evidence of neurodivergence themes or characters.
No evidence of revisionist history or historical reimagining.
The film is a thriller with no apparent social or political lecturing.
Why it received this score
A brick wall materializes overnight around an apartment building, sealing in Tim, Olivia, and a handful of neighbors who would prefer not to know one another. Philip Koch directs the standoff as a closed-room pressure cooker: alliances form, secrets leak, and a secret military program hums somewhere behind the masonry. It is a thriller with modest ambitions and a serviceable grip on tension.
On the matter of social consciousness, the film is an arid plain. There is no environmental sermon, no indictment of capital, no consciousness-raising of any stripe. The conspiracy is military and bureaucratic, which is to say impersonal. The estranged-couple reconciliation at the center is domestic business, not ideological business. The ensemble does include several performers of color in supporting roles, and this registers as ordinary contemporary German casting practice, not as a thesis. That is the full extent of it.
The film's actual failing is familiarity. The keywords might as well read: trapped, huis clos, cliché. The wall signifies nothing in particular, and there is a strange relief in that. We have endured a great many recent films that wanted to instruct us. This one only wants to hold us hostage for ninety-odd minutes. There is a modest integrity in refusing to mean anything at all.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Synopsis
When a mysterious brick wall encloses their apartment building overnight, Tim and Olivia must unite with their wary neighbors to get out alive.
Questions about Brick
Is Brick woke?
No — Brick is not woke, scoring 17 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Ultra Based.
Does Brick have any woke elements?
1 of the 10 markers register at 30 or above, led by Representation Casting (40). On Representation Casting: The ensemble cast includes several actors of color in supporting roles, though the film does not foreground representation as a theme.
How does Brick compare to other 2025 movies?
It ranks #127 of the 217 films from 2025 we've scored; their average is 26. The wokest is STRAW (92).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.