Brick (2005)

This movie is something different.

The movie is a modern day revamp of the classic Film Noir genre. Instead of staring a jaded, but tough Private Investigator, we get a rather emotionally disturbed High school kid named Brandon who works as a sort of detective for his school, helping to crack down on drugs and dealing with gangs.

The movie uses many of the classic tropes of Film Noir: Quick-paced but vague dialect that keeps you interested in the banter, good use of lighting to express tone, and character tropes that fit right in with any classic Film Noir. There's the Lady in Red, the Kingpin, the sketchy woman who draws the hardened detective into it all, the informant. But it also uses modern elements, like setting the story with high schoolers as all the leads and using modern sets and clothes. I'm not sure if the mix is perfect or not, but it works well enough and the fast-paced 40's style talking works to replace the generic faux-hip-talk hollywood seems to think kids talk like.

The movie stars Joseph Gordon Levittas Brandon, who gets a call from his ex, asking for help. She gets killed off though and this sends Brandon searching for clues about the murder, getting involved with a local 20~ kingpin named "The Pin" and Tug, a muscle that is loyal to the Pin.

The whole point of the movie is the Film Noir motifs and the mystery, but it's a really good mystery that doesn't solved until the very end. The writing is really good though, with interesting characters all around. The editing is also really well put together, showing just what needs to be seen and what is going through Brandon's mind at the time.

I especially like the focus on reality. Often times movies try to make their character seem really smart by making him be some genius, or making him some martial arts expert who never looses expect to the boss's right hand man. But here, Brandon gets his teeth kicked in a lot, but he wins with proper movement and hitting the right point. He's smart, not because he knows all the answers and manipulates everyone, but rather he knows how the streets work and which people he needs to press for information, and how much he needs to press in order to get them to just give him the information on their own.

And the movie never makes you wait too long or keep you board trying to get an answer. It knows just when to add knew information, when to drop in a red heron, and the ending is just brilliant. A good movie and a really good time.