It was refreshing to see a movie that took longer to write than it did to film. (Don't worry though, I'm sure that any day now, the writer's strike in Hollywood will be over...) Anyway, the genre of pseudo-noir-mystery-set-in-modern-day-California-high-school was needing a boost, and this film does it justice.

Like 'Clerks' the dialog in Brick was so articulate and fast-paced (In other words: contrived) as to be ridiculous, but original enough to be interesting. For instance, after a short chat with the principal, the main character (a student tracking his missing ex-girlfriend) is telling the principal to 'keep off his back for a few weeks, no matter what happens...' to which the principal says, '...sounds reasonable.' Right. I was able to use my Suspend Disbelief skill at +6 (+4 for indie film, +2 for the two Newcastles I had before the show) and I was only merely annoyed.

The dialog was peppered with the dialect of SoCal Coolspeak. My two favorites were 'Tell so-and-so I want words...' which means 'Tell so-and-so I want to speak with him, and 'where does so-and-so eat lunch...' which means, 'where does so-and-so eat lunch...' as though lunch rituals were a defining personal characteristic like hair color or the car you drive. (maybe they are, I just never thought of lunch that way...)

Great acting by the way, I am told the lead character used to be the leader/kid in the TV sitcom, Third Rock From The Sun, but I wouldn't know. I saw him as a young Agent Moulder from the X-Files, with mad deadpan skillz. As a matter of fact, everyone in the movie had mad deadpan skillz. Plenty of dry humor and witty banter to go round.

Brick never got boring, a perfect pace for a slow revealing of the layers in this well-thought-out mystery. Don't try to solve the mystery yourself, they don't give you the info you need. And don't let the snappy dialog or Coolspeak throw you, the movie is very interestingly shot and well put-together,(According to IMDB, it won the Sundance Film Festival's Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision, whatever that means)

I give Brick an 8 out of 10. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lunch. In the basement of a nearby abandoned factory. Alone. Nude.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: Hollywood, indie movies, movie reviews