Brick (2005)

Joseph Gordon – Levitt
Lukas Haas
Nora Zehetner
Emile De Ravin
Noah Fleiss
Meagan Good

Directed by Rian Johnson

Plot: High school student Brendan Frye prefers to stay an outsider, until the day that his ex-girlfriend, Emily, reaches out to him unexpectedly and then vanishes. Brendan's feelings for her still run deep and he becomes consumed with finding his troubled inamorata. To find her, Brendan enlists the aid of his only true peer, The Brain, while keeping the assistant vice principal only occasionally informed of what quickly becomes a dangerous investigation. Brendan's single-minded unearthing of students' secrets thrusts him headlong into the colliding social orbits of rich-girl sophisticate Laura, intimidating Tugger, substance-abusing Dode, seductive Kara, jock Brad, and - most ominously - non-student The Pin. It is only by gaining acceptance into The Pin's closely guarded inner circle of crime and punishment that Brendan will be able to uncover hard truths about himself, Emily, and the suspects that he is getting closer to.

Review: I knew nothing about this movie. I just saw some adds on various websites that intrigued me. When I found it at the video store I saw that it had won some awards from Sundance, so I decided to give it a chance.

I really enjoyed this film, but I don't quite know why. The story is intriguing and all of the characters were interesting. The film itself is dialogue driven and sometimes confusing, but it seems to work. At certain points I felt stupid that I lost track of what was happening, but it still kept me wanting more. The performances were good, but nothing spectacular. The way the fighting in the film was shot was more realistic and not so choreographed. Although confused at times, I was still able to follow the movie and enjoy it more as time went on. It's almost as if the confusing story made the movie even better. The film was similar to that of Pulp Fiction in the manner of the way the story was told. It's original and different from most movies out there right now. Although I wasn't sure at first, I really came to like this film a lot.
 

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