A detective story August 13, 2006
Posted by jackal in : Films, Film Noir , trackback
Brick sounds like a stupid movie: A convoluted, melancholy film noir mystery … set around a California high school. Our tough, intelligent detective? That would be Brendan, the resident school loner. When his ex-girlfriend goes missing, and later turns up dead, Brendan sets out to penetrate the dark underbelly of local teenage society, in search of her killer and the truth behind the “brick”.
It shouldn’t work, but it does. Brick is dazzling. Reiminiscent of the way in which Robert Altman updated The Long Goodbye to the 70s, Brick is The Maltese Falcon in Beverly Hills 90210 land - a complete fantasy world, populated by teenagers who behave like troubled Raymond Chandler creations, in which ‘adults’ barely feature, and all played straight, with no excuses or explanations. The acting is superb: Joseph Gordon Levitt’s mesmerising central performance as the tough, introspective Brendan, Nora Zehetner’s radiant femme fatale, and Lukas Haas’ deliciously daft villain, The Pin.
The script is complex, the playful dialogue filled with incomprehensible slang and shorthand. The story is compelling, and riddled with dark humour: instead of Marlowe being hauled in by the cops, Brendan faces-off against Richard Roundtree’s Assistant VP in a marvellous scene (”If you have a disciplinary issue with me, write me up or suspend me!”); a tense meeting with The Pin starts off with the villain’s mother pouring them glasses of apple juice at the kitchen table. I know, it sounds daft, but it’s the finest film I’ve seen in ages. An absolute delight. Do yourself a favour and check out the DVD
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