Brick

Well I couldn't find anything interesting on TV so I flipped through my roommates book of movies to find something I have seen yet. After amazing my roommate with the amount of movies I still haven't seen in her collection after living with her for three years, I came across the film Brick. Brick is a modern day film noir set in a California high school. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a high school detective Brendan looking to figure out what is going with an ex-girlfriend after she calls him asking him for help. As he starts to look into her situation he goes deeper and deeper into the high school's underworld and starts to discover that he's bitten off more than he can chew. This film is an amazing example of the classic detective story. The story celebrates the tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler and their dysfunctional detectives. The language and characters throughout the film sound like they came straight out of a novel. You have the overly witty detective who gets himself hurt more than any normal person should. The femme fatale who's only desire is to help but ultimately reverts back to her nature. The drug boss and his main thug who look to control the business. Along with these classic characters is the language that transports you into the film noir world so well that you forget that it's set in modern day California. The film is so good at representing the detective novel that it has to remind you that you are watching high schoolers. At one point Brendan ends up blacking out in the Pin's basement and is brought up to the kitchen to fully discuss their issues. While the two are sitting in the kitchen the Pin's mother is serving Brendan breakfast. Another way the film works to include that high school aspect is to make the cop element of the story into the vice principal of the school.

I find this film an amazing example of detective fiction and great interpretation of a genre that has gotten lost through the years. I love the way the director really captured that element of the detective which makes you love him and yet hate him at the same time. The wit that the film uses is brilliant and made me want to go find the novels from a detective fiction class I took and reread them. If you enjoy mysteries and Indie films this is right up your alley. If you're not sure it is I suggest watching it any way, it's just that good.