Brick

[Glaukos3]

The unusual format of this film was impressive and I can well understand why it won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. Taking the film noir detective format of the 1940's and splicing it into a Los Angeles high school setting with teenagers playing all the roles was certainly innovative. The film also turned the blazing white sun in the clear blue californian skies to its advantage by making it a feature of some really arty camera work and I enjoyed the plethora of low camera angles.

However overall this film let me down. The language used by the characters was (intentionally) straight out of 1940's film noir but so much so that anyone who wasn't an avid fan of this genre would have been left struggling to understand the dialogue. It was just too difficult for me and my interest began to fade as the plot (the central plank of any film noir) became more and more difficult to keep track of, as a result.

The actors were terrific but I couldn't help feeling I was watching one of those shakespearian plays updated to mordern times. In the end the film felt too restricted by its format, it was intriguing but I think Brick will only appeal to film buff's.

I hoping the Beguiled on Friday night turns out to be the right choice.

[stephen smerdon]

To start, let me say that I had high expectations when I started watching this film. It had received several recommendations and I was fairly excited to see it. There were several things I enjoyed about this film. Although the plot was not completely foreign, the progression of the storyline and the characterization were somewhat creative. I was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cinematography. The composition, the lighting, and the scene transitions were all very well done. My problem with this film is mostly in the writing. The characters, and the interaction between them, make it very hard to believe that the setting is at a high school. This extravagance is only heightened by the relationship between Brendan and the Assistant Vice Principal. I also felt the screenplay put far too much emphasis on the roles of each character to the story, rather than to the story itself. In addition, the dialog, a nice attempt to be unique, seemed completely unnatural and forced. It does little more than hinder the comprehension of the audience. The style of dialog might have worked if the setting and the characters were not that of a high school, and if the acting were far superior. With the exception of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the acting was mediocre at best. I don't mean to say that this was a bad film, but it's certainly nothing to get too excited about.

[Glaukos3]

The scenes between Brendan and the Vice Principle were actually the most enjoyable parts of the film for me - I wonder if that was because I was tiring of the adolescent actors ? Having watched so many tv cop shows over the years I could immediately relate to it and I thought it was very very humourous, as indeed they are in tv cop shows. I let the high school setting wash over me and didn't try to take it too seriously, but you are so right Stephen about the dialogue and the overly serious nature of the characters - that just wore me down in the end.