Brick (2006)

My main grudge with this movie was the dialogues and language used. I had the subtitles on and and it was still difficult to grasp the proceedings because of the jargon and the complicated plot. Users who rated this movie highly used the word 'noir' to describe it. I am just an average movie goer and not some critic. So, that went over my head. Some of the characters (The Pin, especially and The Brain) were too flimsy. The suspense is barely gripping. Wouldn't recommend it.

I am about 50 years older than the characters in the film. As it turns out they speak a different English than I. Even with subtitles and even if many of the words sounded familiar, I was completely lost. Finally, after 80 minutes, I admitted defeat and stopped watching it.Please note that I am a white person who lives in the US just like the kids in the movie. In addition, I am a retired professor at a major state university who dealt with thousands of kids over the years. Nevertheless, I never in my life met kids with such an odd vocabulary. Am I out of touch?

It May not be Black & White, but Brick does follow the same structure as a film noir because of its mystery sort of feeling or mood to it. I like the modern take of it and especially the characters, like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, all do an amazing job of playing their characters.I Think the general tone, or mood of the film is a typical murder mystery type of thing, but with all the characters played as Teens it does add a weird and goofy kinda feeling to it. With the mysterious mood of the film, it left me with a desire to know what happens next through out the entire film. After watching it, it keeps you thinking after everything comes together and makes sense in the end. The dialogue does alienate the audience a bit but it also doesn't. I would say the films dialogue does make it seem like it was for sure from a different time from today which gives it a quality of unfamiliarity but not too much to the point where it completely alienates the audience.I really liked the film from its mysterious mood and its slightly foreign dialogue. They do a great job of making a modern film noir and though it might not be an insanely high budget film the story was all around great and i wouldn't change a thing.

The Brick is quite like many film noirs as it includes a very cynical protagonist who has some shady dealings, he is also trying to solve a crime in a dark and mysterious setting, finally there is definitely a femfatal or two. However, unlike other more classic film noirs it takes place in or close to the present and as opposed to fallowing a hardened criminal or a private detective, it fallows an angry albeit intelligent high school student, with most of the other characters being teenagers too. As such the film is classified as a neo noir film. This style gives it all the charm of most noir films with a new back drop. This is a large part of the reason why I found the movie so enjoyable. The movie like many great noir films leaves you jumping at shadow and confused Intel the end. Although the film can often be a little confusing do to the unusual dialog and terminology of the film but this does add something to the mystery and some thing to the atmosphere of the film so in the end it can be forgiven for them. So if your looking for a good noir film that has something new then this is the film for you.