Brick

Movie post!
It's been a while eh?
You may or may not recall sometime ago in this space I had mentioned that a group of friends and I held monthly movie nights to discover hidden (and not so hidden) cinematic gems?  Well we have finally completed a cycle and my time to choose has come up again.
  

Last time around I chose Lindsay Anderson's If... , Malcolm McDowell's first film, winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1969 and a movie I loved back when I watched it in my Cegep days.  Upon re-watching I kind of felt that the film, dare I say, needed an edit?!  I felt terrible having these thoughts. Didn't I love this movie?  Didn't I get a kickass grade on my term paper about the film?  Has my attention span been reduced to nothing?!
I draw no conclusions here; let's move along.

Movie choice this time around is Brick, the 2005 debut by Rian Johnson (Looper yes!), starring my school girl crush Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  I saw this neo-noir-ish film back when it had a limited release in theatres.  I struggled with the whip smart, fast talking, detective story set in a high school setting, asking myself: who talks like this?!  My movie date whispered to me: "think of it as Shakespeare."  And with that I was able to chill the fuck out and let my suspension of disbelief kick in and enjoy the show.  In a nutshell there's a guy, he's the hero, there's a girl, she's the ex-girlfriend in trouble, there is also a femme fatal/gangster moll, there's some drugs, there's some bad guys with names like the Pin and Tug.  This all takes place in a high school scenario. It is awesome.

There are great little nuggets of info on this film from its wikipedia page, including how the first-time filmmaker began developing the script in 1997, the fundraising of its shy of half a million dollar budget, and the shooting of the film in twenty days.  Geek out on the film trivia!

Of course this film is PACKED with amazing quotes, one of my faves:

THE BRAIN:  What first, tip the bulls?

BRENDAN: No, bulls would gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we're doing this I want the whole story. No cops, not for a bit.

                        

THE BRAIN: So what first?

BRENDAN: I don't know. Your mom still have the cell?

THE BRAIN: In her car.

BRENDAN: Borrow it for a few days, get me the number. Wait for my word, and cover for me first period. I'm going to be a little late.