Flutterby™! : Brick

Holy crap! Did I not mention Rian Johnson's awesome film Brick here? I was reminded by stumbling across Andrew Pilsch's review of it, which I wanted to link to from the comments of my review of it, but I don't find any mention on Flutterby. And, surprisingly, I see no mention of the movie over at Jette's Celluloid Eyes.

Brick is a film noir set in a high school. Yes, this could easily be a satire. The noir elements could be used for irony. High school kids with dark angst, deep senses of duty, and cavalier crimes could easily come off as cheesey. It's none of these things, and somehow it grabbed the essence of high school.

The film opens with a shot of a dead woman in a culvert, a guy, we shortly learn is named Brendan, in the background. Flash back two days and we're in the thick of Brendan trying to figure out what's going on.

The film is wonderfully written and directed. Short snappy dialog in metaphor you have to listen closely to translate. When adults, even authority figures, show up in the film, they're largely ineffective and out of touch, tools to be manipulated by the players, and it plays perfectly.

Next time you're up for an intense thriller or a little reminder of what the end of adolescence was like, I recommend it.