I think most of us do have some very negative feelings about our High School years. But for some reason Hollywood tends to glorify this time of our life by either choosing for the happy approach or the nostalgic one. It never seems to be about the loneliness, about how you try to adjust to become member of a group, or about the pain of your first love affairs. I was happy to see that ''Brick'' at least tries to shine its light on the darker themes concerning High School.
The approach in this movie is pretty brilliant: doesn't a high school look in many ways similar to the world of a '30's film noir? The protagonist is a troubled young outcast trying to find out why his girlfriend became estranged from him. It leads him to the dark outskirts of the school grounds, to the expelled druggies, to the arrogant masculine tough-guys, and to the cunning women with a secret. As a real film noir, the story evolves with in every scene a bit more of information about the girls' sad downfall.
By shooting a lot of camera shots from the distance, there is a feel of loneliness and desolation to our hero's quest. The soundtrack is sad but melodious, also adding to that feeling of being remote from others.
But I don't think that this movie is as good as it could be. The side-characters are shallow and they never really do anything else than fill their clichéd tasks with some witty dialogue. The complete lack of adults in their world is a nice way to express the falling back on yourself, but it also does make the story unbelievable and far-fetched. And my last criticism is that the story could've been placed in a dozen other situations, more logical to its content. It could've been just another gangster flick with Yakuza or Italian mobsters. The high school approach is more of a visual gimmick than that it delivers any substantial content.
I liked ''Brick'' despite its faults, and I do love to see another movie by its débutant director. :)
The approach in this movie is pretty brilliant: doesn't a high school look in many ways similar to the world of a '30's film noir? The protagonist is a troubled young outcast trying to find out why his girlfriend became estranged from him. It leads him to the dark outskirts of the school grounds, to the expelled druggies, to the arrogant masculine tough-guys, and to the cunning women with a secret. As a real film noir, the story evolves with in every scene a bit more of information about the girls' sad downfall.
By shooting a lot of camera shots from the distance, there is a feel of loneliness and desolation to our hero's quest. The soundtrack is sad but melodious, also adding to that feeling of being remote from others.
But I don't think that this movie is as good as it could be. The side-characters are shallow and they never really do anything else than fill their clichéd tasks with some witty dialogue. The complete lack of adults in their world is a nice way to express the falling back on yourself, but it also does make the story unbelievable and far-fetched. And my last criticism is that the story could've been placed in a dozen other situations, more logical to its content. It could've been just another gangster flick with Yakuza or Italian mobsters. The high school approach is more of a visual gimmick than that it delivers any substantial content.
I liked ''Brick'' despite its faults, and I do love to see another movie by its débutant director. :)