In the wall...

Film During the screening of Brick attended, a man sitting across the isle from me sat opening and shutting his oyster-shaped mobile phone every few seconds. He had a slightly fierce look in his eyes so I didn't ask him to stop -- I don't know what the other nine people in the auditorium thought. After a while it really broke my concentration, which is a shame because Brick is the kind of film which demands your attention.

Described in the lazy press as this year's Donnie Darko, Brick transplants the tropes of a hard boiled noir mystery thriller into a high school setting, infrusing it with language in the style of Anthony Burgess. The effect is akin to wating Reality Bites or My So-Called Life with the dialogue transplanted in from Bugsy Malone without the songs. It's odd and incongruous, but as the story unravells around teenage detective Brendan you can't help but be enthralled. It helps that the plotting isn't typical high school fare, doing for the murder mystery what Election did for politics, but totally free of useless exposition. If something is revealed about a character, it is important. There are few red herrings.

Clarity is helped by the brilliantly measured performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, totally unrecognisable from his turn as an alien in tv's 3rd Rock From The Sun. Peter Parker without the spider-powers, he's channeling the souls of both Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford, an imprenitrable wall of placidity in the face of insurmountable odds, convincingly getting straight back up again whenever he's knocked down. The rest of the cast, a sea of unknowns (with one notable spoilery exception) are equally amazing, with few weak links despite the sometimes obtuse dialogue. Expect Nora Zehetner as femme fatale Laura, to gain a Rachel McAdams style cult following.

One of the dangers of this kind of picture is that the audience requires a peculiar film literacy in order to gain full enjoyment. Thankfully, writer/director Rian Johnson keeps the audience entertained with meticulous photography and editing, with unexpectedly funny set pieces and slapstick within the generally sober texture. If there's any criticism it's that sometimes the style decends slightly too far into it's archer sensibilities but it's to Johnson's credit that he keeps faith with his concept and isn't distracted into providing a teen movie cliche in the climax. Engrossing.