Brick

[modage]

yeah, its great and i think i might see it again if i can find some more people to drag with me.  it will probably hold #1 for me for a while, which means by this time next year it will be completely overlooked at the Xixax Awards! 

[hedwig]

fine i'll just go to New York to see it.

[killafilm]

I'm seeing it this week.

[w/o horse]

There were some parts that made me giddy.

Spoilers

The first time he goes to see the Pin.  I don't have the whole scene in my head, I need to see it again.  How often do you get to say that in modern cinema.  The flashes of whatever bleak images while he's on the ground.  I was practically gushing.

The little shots here and there.  The high-five worthy shots.  Tug standing in front of the train speeding past just behind him.  Tug walking toward Brendan while Brendan is holding up the cement block.  The ceiling fan moving.  My friend Gallagher wearing his Bane sweatshirt in the movie.  The magic hour talk with the Pin.  The lens flare in the phone booth.  The chase with the knife guy.  Laura and Brendan's faces on the field at the end.  A passionate flash back to a hostile moment between Brendan and Em.  Every time he visited his actor lady friend.  The freshmen joke was somehow great.  The principal talk, 'See you at the parent teacher meeting.'  The angle on the principal.

So many.  The movie was a lot of fun.  A lot.  It wasn't out of the ball park my favorite of the year this year, I really liked L'Enfant and Lonesome Jim, but it, look, this year is going to be great near as I can tell.

I really liked the way the story was told.  It seemed very straight forward, no fucking around, like its lead character.  It began with the plot, ended on the plot, and held these fabulous characters in its hand the whole way through.  A well written go-getter of a lead too.  As far as high school characters go, the most bad ass I can think of.

[picolas]

i'm so addicted to this trailer. i missed it in january. it's almost as addicting/exciting/thought about all the time as the donnie darko trailer was.. i'm slightly sad it makes Jo obsolete, though.

[Gamblour.]

What a bizarre movie. The film really had the burden of proof that it was not bullshitting the audience. For about 45 minutes, I wasn't sold. It was a film noir...in a high school. But so what? There was no benefit. Then, the scene with Tug comes around and the movie finally has a reason to exist.

MINOR SPOILERS

The fight scene with Tug, then the meeting with the Pin comes up. The Pin is the reason why this movie is great, just the constant presence he creates, his mother coming around, the lamp in the car,  it's just so fucking smart. The dialogue, I'm still not a big fan of it. It's clever, but for no reason. It presents a barrier between the audience and the film. Talking fast and using a slick lexicon are great, but there's no pleasure in watching it on its own. In, say, A Clockwork Orange, we know what it means and the meaning is dark, covered up with a facade of playful language. It's mostly a mood thing here, and it starts to work when scenes aren't solely comprised of it.

The fact that it was shot almost entirely in daylight is really ambitious, but if they had one more goddamn shot of a character in front of the sun, I would've shot someone. Anyway, the fact that they are kids was played with just right. I wish there was some more stuff with parents, but I'm going to contradict myself and say that I'm glad there wasn't, because they did leave me wanting more scenes with grown-ups. Like RK said, once I was on board with the idea, it got really good.

It's growing on me by the minute.

[w/o horse]

The fact that it was shot almost entirely in daylight is really ambitious, but if they had one more goddamn shot of a character in front of the sun, I would've shot someone.

I counted three.  Once with Em on the field, once with Brendan in the phone booth, and the prolonged one on the beach with the Pin.

I saw this again today.  Seeing it a second time, not having to wait to get sucked in, you realize the film is running from the word go.  No time wasted.  No line of dialogue wasted.  No shot wasted.  I appreciated the Halloween in January party more this time around, really classy shots.

The first scene with the Pin is still my favorite.  The revelation of Pin is fantastic.  Then, Brendan lists off the details he knows, the camera cuts with each one listed, Tug comes and hits him, the camera falls down.  Brendan's face cut between some dark, abstract shots.  The camera goes sideways, Tug over Brendan, the Pin in the background.  Laura comes into the room, tells them to stop, a flash of light.  End.

And there were about five or six lines which are worthy of being quoted over and over again. 

I'll list them, but I'm not good at remembering exactly how lines go so fix them if you can:

Em:
'You don't love me, you just want to keep me.'
'I don't want to be saved and hidden.'

Brendan:
'When she saw you she got scared like'  Fuck what's he say 'she'd seen some kind of devil.'
'I was done here three months ago.  [About not wanting to be his boy].  You got a problem with me, write me up.  I'll see you at the parent conference.'

Laura:
At the school, her short monologue.  It was great.

The dialogue is great.  I wish I could remember it all exactly.  Is the script online?

The movie is a lot of fun.

[pete]

I missed a few minutes in the beginning and I wasn't so good at following these plots anyways, if someone has the time and inclination and feels like being my friend, please PM me your interpretation of the plot.  please.
that being said, it was real good and confident.  it was always directed with the audience and its familiarity with the genre in mind--started out cute, funny, then gradually sucked you in and got darker and darker.  everything was well-shot without being too first-time flashy (ahem Justin Lin) and the sound design was real fun.  I "got it" but didn't really understand how exactly all the pieces fit and the relationships between the characters.  if you could help that'd be great.

[Ghostboy]

(ahem Justin Lin)

I kept thinking about him, too, and how his film, even though it was playing it 'straight,' so to speak, didn't pack nearly as much weight as this one. And of course, any good will he might have had has since been squandered with his followup work. Although I shouldn't speak too soon - Rian Johnson could change his mind about studio films and sign on to direct 'Stealth II.'

[killafilm]

 

I don't think I have any praise to add that hasn't already been said.  I don't consider myself a huge Noir fan, yet this had my balls from the get go.  The Pin is awesome, who would have thunk it? The language didn't seem that big of barrier either.  Maybe I just talk retarded, but the theater had these little promo books with Brick Talk, stuff like "copped" "dose" "hop/junk" "scraped" are all words i've heard in the real world with the same meaning as the movie.  It's def. my favorite of the year thus far and the first movie that i'll try to drag friends to go and see.

[samsong]

word on the justin lin thing.  and i wonder if rian johnson likes park chan wook (the answer being a resounding yes).  the first half's an absolute mess, there are some fantastic moments (most notably the fight that ensues as heard from the cellar... fucking sweet), joseph gordon-levitt's proving to be a great actor.  thought the ending as bullshit and the femme fatale element (both the character and the actress) was really weak.  throughout the film, i had the sense of watching kids play make-believe where they role play and make up crazy narratives as they go along.  overall a pretty banal, slightly entertaining exercise in genre (hooray film school!).

[modage]

let me just grab a quote from that...

"a...fantastic...entertaining...great...film."

cool. 

[samsong]

you're a douche bag.





kidding. sort of.

[modage]

the last time you get called for free concert tix. 

[samsong]