I missed this at the cinema, probably because it got a limited release but picked it up on DVD as it sounded intriguing.
Intriguing is probably a good word to describe it. Noir-ish in feel and texture, it features Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Third Rock From The Sun) as a loner who investigates the circumstances surrounding his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance, with help from his Nerdish friend, The Brain. Feeling a little like a The Big Sleep but set on campus, he tracks down clues and infilrates the cliques and crime-rings that operate on and around the periphery of his High School. High School can be an isolating, confusing place for many teenagers, so it is a clever and suitable setting for a detective (which essentially is what this is) story.
The cinematography and subtle soundtrack help add to the Noir feel - there’s some nice use of contrasting light and shadow, and some scenes are deliberately shot from dutched angles to isolate the viewer, and in turn the protagonist, from the bigger picture.
Unfortunately, the unusual slang used by a lot of the characters is difficult to follow and the dialogue is often buried deep in the mix - a complaint I’ve noted from people who saw this at the cinema so it’s not simply that I have a rather crappy centre speaker (not helped by my R2 release not having subtitles and defaulting to the 2.0 soundtrack not the 5.1). I don’t normally have a problem with slang as it’s usually nuanced, in context and delivered in a familiar rhythm that I can pick up and usually from a good idea what the characters are saying - A Clockwork Orange is a great example - Anthony Burgess’ mixture of latin and soviet slang he wrote for the droogs seems to instantly make sense when read or indeed viewed in Kubrick’s searing movie adaptation.
However, part of my befuddledment is probably in as much part due to the effect most noirs have on me -they almost always reveal more of themselves on a second viewing and are more enjoyable as you start spotting clues or red-herrings.
So I can’t say whether I loved this and would put it into the minor classic bracket (technically it’s good enough) or not but it certainly gripped me throughout and should have rewatch value too. Definitely recommended viewing if you are a fan of noir or to enjoy Gordon-Levitt’s excellent portrayal.
I loved this movie after catching it at a small university cinema screening and on watching it again only last weekend (my fourth time, I think), can confirm that I continue to love it. After I came out of the first showing I was, like you, slightly undecided but I found that it occupied my mind for days afterwards and the subsequent viewings on DVD have solidified its status as one of the best films I’ve seen in the past few years.
And yes, the dialogue was quite low even on the theatrical prints – I found myself learning forward onto the lecture theatre desk for most of the movie – but I did find that it made me concentrate harder on what was happening–which was a bonus.
gproject
February 18th, 2008