As recommended by Mr. D, I decided to watch Brick after I had finished my homework one night. I really enjoyed this movie and recommended it immediately to my friends the following day. Shot in a film noir style, adapted to a Southern California high school seems it would be like hot sauce on oreos, a terrible combination, however Brick did it perfectly. I was captivated the entire movie and could never predict what was going to happen next. I gave this movie a 9.0/10, a good score for an overall good movie.
Brick starts with Brendan, a young Joseph Gordon Levitt (Premium Rush, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception) answering a phone call from a panicked ex-girlfriend mentioning terms like "Brick" and "the Pin" before hanging up. Missing the next day Brendan uses her notebook to attempt to track her down and ends up finding her dead in a sewer pipe. The rest of Brick is Brendan following clues and immersing himself in a high school drug ring to find his ex's killer. I would love to write more, but as it is a mystery I would hate to spoil any part of it.
As I mentioned earlier Brick is a modern day example of a classic film noir. Complete with a morally questionable main character, a devious femme fatale, and a world filmed with crime and violence, Rian Johnson(Looper, Brothers Bloom) directed. What really made the movie for me would be Levitt's fast talking conversions and one-liners, another noir element, like "Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you." A scene that was really enjoyable to watch was when he was first introduced to the Pin. This scene is the exelfies the character of Brendan the best, not sugar coating anything and looking to get in trouble, while at the same time looking amazingly cool and smooth.
This film seems intriguing and I do plan on watching it. I think it would be especially interesting to see Joseph Gordon Levitt as a young actor. The plot seems more interesting than I previously thought.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a cool and interesting movie, nice review Eric. I have not seen it but based on Mr. D's recommendation and your positive review I think I am going to watch it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, like I said in class, I've yet to meet someone who I recommended this to who was disappointed. It's a cool little movie that was totally overlooked when it came out. Glad you liked it. And yeah, the dialogue is very noir-ish. Last semester I showed a scene from Bogart speaking sharp, quick dialogue, and matched that up with a scene from Brick, with the same sort of dialogue.
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