Tonight's viewing has been Director/Writer Rian Johnson's Brick. A Raymond Chandler-esque noir tale of a missing girl and the determined ex-boyfriend trying to find her. Only it all takes place in a modern day Californian High School.
One day Brendan receives a mysterious message and a panicked phone call from his ex-girlfriend Emily who seems to have gone missing. Trying to found out what has happened to her Brendan is drawn into a world of crime and double dealings that lurks beneath the surface.
From the tight and twisting plotting to the use of fast talking dialogue full of slang (Brendan in particular has a way with words) the film really does feel like someone lifted Farewell My Lovely and pitched it into the present day and for me it works brilliantly.
Joesph Gordon-Levitt (currently at your cinemas in (500) Days Of Summer) is front and center as Brendan and he makes a (youthful) Bogart for his day. Perfectly capturing the feel of someone both totally out of their depth but also in much more control than all those around him. The hardened loner trying to save the only person he has ever bonded with.
Around him is an interesting roll of characters, from the gangster's moll who is possibly more dangerous than anyone, to the drug lord (who lives at home with his mum), the thick headed muscle , the school brain who everyone calls 'Brain', the school drop out and of course Emily whose presence haunts the film throughout - always just out of reach.
Given an almost dream like quality in the haze of the Californian sun (looking even better in HD on Blu-Ray) and with a haunting score the film captures that sense of lives changing through long summer days and grips to the last as allegiances change and the audience is kept wondering how it will all play out.
The last scene in particular is a gut wrencher but played out in muted tones, the film maybe detective noir for a new generation but there is no by the numbers melodrama here. A wicked smart thriller laced with humour and heart, highly recommended
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