Brick

Brick is a phenomenal movie which happens to be one of my favorite modern noir films. The dialogue and the verbiage is so fascinating and helps to create for an interesting twist on the Othello story. If you watch this film make sure that you select the subtitles. if you do not do this you will miss many of the important story elements. Pay attention to each of the scenes, this is not a film that you can be multi-task watching. put away the computer, homework and in Chad's case the graphic novels.

The strength of the story is the complex weaving of character depth manifested through intensly quirky dialogue. The speak of the film is very off-putting at first, due to the common usage of slang and shortcuts. Once the film gets going and the story begins to develop, you really become drawn to the language of the story. Surprisingly enough the intensity of the film is helped along by the way that the characters of the movie relate to each other through their language.

Inception is a great example of the sleek sensibility of Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. In Brick it is evident that he is starting to develop his "cool" and hundred yard stare. He expresses so much anxiety, intensity and raw emotion in his eyes and jaw line. He is able to help not only the story to move along, but the co-stars with whom he stars are able to feed off of his uncanny acting abilites. He is able to build the story, through his unique screen presence. You are not sure if he cares or if there is a deeper sense of purpose to his character in relation to the story. He maintains a distanced, very calloused perspective on the characters as he pieces together the intricate story line. As unrelateable as he is to the everybody in the story, I really found myself bonding to his cynical perspective. Everyone has motivation and not all of it is for his benefit.

The story of this film is a predatory gyro. You are never sure who is the prey and who is on the prowl. The setting of the film is rather fascinating. A film noir in a high school? Very unique. It really adds to the complexity of the characters and the way that they navigate through the turmoil. I hope that my kids are not within fifty miles of any of the characters in this film. Frigging crazy! The whole time I watched this film, I had to keep thinking this is all from the perspective of adolescense and not that of veteran old-doggism. That is not even a word. Good. Good.

Go see this movie or borrow it from me, because it is fantastic. And IIIIII helped! But seriously this movie rocks. Great Indie flick.