{Brick}
I finally watched Brick last week...sheer brilliance on Rian Johnson's part to set his old-fashioned noir detective story in a contemporary high school setting. I Also love that Johnson doesn't take his film too seriously, playing along with the fact that we are watching high school kids, by noting so at key comic relief moments. The film pays homage to characters played by Bogart and Veronica Lake, complete with dialogue straight out of a pulp novel, and hints of modern cult classics like Twin Peaks or Heathers.
Plot Summary:
Brick, the dynamic debut feature from writer/director Rian Johnson, won the Sundance Film Festival's Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision. Brick, while taking its cues and its verbal style from the novels of Dashiell Hammett, also honors the rich cinematic tradition of the hard-boiled noir mystery, here wittily and bracingly immersed in fresh territory - a modern-day Southern California neighborhood and high school (San Clemente). There, student Brendan Frye's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt of Mysterious Skin, Third Rock from the Sun) piercing intelligence spares no one. Brendan is not afraid to back up his words with actions, and knows all the angles; yet he prefers to stay an outsider, and does - until the day that his ex-girlfriend, Emily (Emilie de Ravin of Lost), reaches out to him unexpectedly and then vanishes. Brendan's feelings for her still run deep; so much so, that he becomes consumed with finding his troubled inamorata. To find her, Brendan enlists the aid of his only true peer, The Brain (Matt O'Leary), while keeping the assistant vice principal (Richard Roundtree) only occasionally informed of what quickly becomes a dangerous investigation. Brendan's single-minded unearthing of students' secrets thrusts him headlong into the colliding social orbits of rich-girl sophisticate Laura (Nora Zehetner), intimidating Tug (Noah Fleiss), substance-abusing Dode (Noah Segan), seductive Kara (Meagan Good), jock Brad (Brian White) and most ominously, non-student The Pin (Lukas Haas). It is only by gaining acceptance into The Pin's closely guarded inner circle of crime and punishment that Brendan will be able to uncover hard truths about himself, Emily and the suspects that he is getting closer to.
Velvet Underground - "Sister Ray"
