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Product Description
Off-beat drama from writer/director Rian Johnson, imitating the conventions of 1940s hardboiled film noir as a teenager investigates his ex-girlfriend's death in a small Southern Californian town. Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an outsider at his high school, but when his ex-girlfriend Emily goes missing, he decides to investigate. Teaming up with The Brain (Matt O'Leary), Brendan gets close to Emily's group of eccentric and sinister friends. As he begins to suspect the figure known only as The Pin (Lukas Haas), Brendan insinuates himself into his inner circle. But will Brendan uncover truths about Emily, or more dangerous truths about himself?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By R. Mullaney
VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD
When Brendan Frye (Gordon-Levitt) gets an unsettling phonecall from his panicked ex-girlfriend (de Ravin) he starts to look into the drug dealing clique she has fallen in with. When her body turns up a few days later, Brendan decides to get to the bottom of her death even if it means getting involved with some bad people.
Brick takes all the elements of a 1940s gumshoe detective tale and fuses them with a modern day California high school drama. Instead of using witless Clueless style chit chat, the kids use bizarre detective slang which comes across a little precocious in my opinion but it's a bold move that adds a distinct flavor to the film. All the performances are strong, especially Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas who plays a 26 year old drugs baron with an orthopaedic shoe and runs his crime empire from his mums house. There are many eccentricities that make Brick an entertaining watch but it's a little overlong and confusing. Some of the dialogue will be lost on some viewers and as the amazon review points out, it's probably better to watch a second time.
Like this? Try: Donnie Darko
Brick takes all the elements of a 1940s gumshoe detective tale and fuses them with a modern day California high school drama. Instead of using witless Clueless style chit chat, the kids use bizarre detective slang which comes across a little precocious in my opinion but it's a bold move that adds a distinct flavor to the film. All the performances are strong, especially Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas who plays a 26 year old drugs baron with an orthopaedic shoe and runs his crime empire from his mums house. There are many eccentricities that make Brick an entertaining watch but it's a little overlong and confusing. Some of the dialogue will be lost on some viewers and as the amazon review points out, it's probably better to watch a second time.
Like this? Try: Donnie Darko
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a low-key but still charismatic leading-man in this hard-boiled teen movie meets Film Noir thriller. It takes a while to pick up the tale, as it's pretty abstract and consciously dense in places; once it gets going however you'll be drawn-in by Rian Johnson's stylistically deliberately barren landscapes and the performances of the young cast.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
An unlikely but stylish tale surrounding a death takes our hero into the world of high-school drug barons and their muscle. This is not the harsh world of The Wire but of a couple of links further out in the drug supply chain. It remains true to much of the rules of noir; from the muscle of a young Moose Mulloy to the lost Velma, including the beating our hero takes in getting to the truth. Even if the criminal milieu is not quite as hard-boiled as it might be the plot is as traditionally taxing on our intelligence (and memory). I suspect matters of cost determined that the film be shot at dawn (Film Aube perhaps), rather than in the Chandleresque night. The result is, as Greene said of Monaco, a sunny place for shady people.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful language, best high-school noir I've seen
The director, Rian Johnson, also directed "Looper" a film which I very much enjoyed.
The first time I saw this film, I was on a plane, and the dense, brilliant... Read more
The first time I saw this film, I was on a plane, and the dense, brilliant... Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. J. Coffey
4.0 out of 5 stars
What did you say?
Love this film. Shot on a shoestring, honest to goodness noir. But why do they make the dialogue so difficult to hear?!! Read more
Published 2 months ago by CrazyJools
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not my cup of tea...
Horrible mess of a film mixing different genres with pretensions of film noir starring f****d-up teenyboppers set in current day Southern California...skip it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Blu-ray fan
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I was expecting at all
I watched this due to Joseph Levitt being in it and I heard its what kick started his filming career. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Steve
1.0 out of 5 stars
VERY BORING SO CALLED THRILLER
I am very confused as to why anyone likes this movie. It is very boring, none of the characters are worth caring about and the plot is ridiculous. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ali M
1.0 out of 5 stars
The bottom line is that this film is terrible.
I thought the best way to review this film is to list the things that I would rather do than watch it again...
1. Swan dive into my neighbours 2ft deep pond.
2. Read more
1. Swan dive into my neighbours 2ft deep pond.
2. Read more
Published 17 months ago by pres pres
1.0 out of 5 stars
Gobbledigook
I was very interested to see this film, as it is described as turning the high-school genre on it's head, and as being the best 'indie' film since 'Donnie Darko' (a film I rate... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Kev-La
3.0 out of 5 stars
WARNING!!! MAY MAKE YOU REALISE YOU'RE NOT THAT CLEVER!!!!
A film noir that takes place at a high school? My only experience with the noir genre is tech-noir but I do kind of get the gist (after help from Wikipedia) of what it should be... Read more
Published 20 months ago by bizmandan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classy little mystery/thriller
Starring the always superb Joseph Gordon Levitt this is one brilliant little mystery film-noir that should not be missed. Read more
Published 21 months ago by ekb
4.0 out of 5 stars
Style over watch-ability
I was going to call this review 'style over substance' but that would be unfair, the film is not lacking in substance; the plot is actually very interesting. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2011 by yorkjames
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