Brick, a movie you should see

So recently I rewatched one of my very favorite movies of all time. It's a little movie called Brick. The reason this movie is one of my favorites isn't because its action packed, or because it has amazing special effects, or even because it makes you think. It isn't any of those really. It is a detective story with a pretty good hook, its based in a modern day high school where people say things like "status quo" or "upper crust" as the kids in the popular/rich group are called. I saw this movie on a lark years ago because of Netflix (thanks again Netflix for giving me the chance to see a great indie film). It recommended it to me because I love the movie Memento and because I rated that highly and also rated The Maltese Falcon highly. I got it and figured, well the worst that could happen is I watch it, hate it, send it back immediately. That isn't at all what happened. I watched it, than watched it again to be certain I had actually just seen the movie I thought I did. Than I watched it a third time the next day with my roommates at the time. They loved it.

It has a fresh off of 3rd Rock From The Sun Joseph Gordon-Levitt in it as our main character named Brendan. He shows us glimpses of great things in acting to come, which are still coming again and again if you see Inception you can see what I mean. He brings an air of maturity, stability, and determination to the character that you don't see often in modern movies, and especially in modern detective films. You watch it and get a feeling of a Sam Spade type of character running down the suspects to find out what happened exactly so he can finger the right person and possibly outplay them at their own game. The plot is fairly simple to understand, but hard to follow if you aren't paying attention, like any good detective movie this is the case but also you want to pay close attention as well. We start off with Brendan (Levitt) hunched over by a dead girl near a tunnel, and than we flash back to him getting a phone call from the same girl. Her name is Emily (played by Emilie de Ravin) and she wants to talk to him, and than when she does, she tells him she needs his help. They get cut off, something scares her off, and they later meet up. She tells him she cares deeply for him but he has to move on with his life, alluding to a previous relationship the two had, and that she doesn't need his help any longer. The entire scene pulls hard at your heartstrings and makes you wonder if Brendan knows she is essentially saying good bye to him forever, or if he thinks he will see her again soon. Soon after they let us see how Brendan ended up at that tunnel with the dead Emily, and what happens next is him trying to find out how she ended up dead, and why she did. The fantastic and underused and underrated Nora Zehetner plays opposite him as the girl who won't stop trying to help him in his quest. She wants to help him because she sees how much he loved Emily and wanted nothing but to help her. She sees this, and from what we can gather early in the movie, is almost jealous of that. She continually is offering her help to him. Brendan refuses, stating he can't trust her. He decides that somehow Emily got involved with the kingpin of the area. So he sets out to find him. What happens next, and from there on, is where the true detective elements of the story start. I don't want to get too into anything else other than to say, watch the movie. I have purposely left out elements of even the beginning of the movie to make sure not to ruin anything.

Nothing about this movie feels cheap or contrived. Not the sets, not the actors, not the dialogue, none of it. You would think making a modern detective film set in a high school would end up somewhat ridiculous even, but it never does. It keeps your interest from start to finish. You want to know what happened to Emily, and how Brendan will get through the next thing, and will he live to avenge Emily. You really end up caring about Brendan to such a degree that it almost takes away from the other very clever and well written characters. I did say almost though, and the other main characters of the film are both interesting and feel real. The movie should feel almost like a weird version of The Maltese Falcon in fact, since the director actually even uses lines from it in two different parts (try and guess where when you watch it). Also, the film is entirely shot at San Clemente High School, which is just a little shout out to one of my faithful readers. So give the movie a try, I sincerely doubt you will be disappointed.

You keep reading them, and I'll keep writing them.