"Brick" boldly reinvents noir

Film noir has always been the genre most precious to me, so when I was informed of a certain "Brick" generating an appreciation that spread like wildfire at last year's Sundance Film Festival, I needed to get the lowdown. \nI'm not sure how writer/director Rian Johnson came up with the idea to take all the elements that make noir so great and place them in a high school setting, but the only word I can reply with is brilliant. The dark alleys of the city are transformed into dimly lit, locker-filled hallways. Heavies become jocks and the ever beautiful yet deadly femme fatale isn't a woman smoking a cigarette in some nightclub -- she is the head of the theatre and drama department. \nWhat kind of yarn is "Brick" spinning? Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays deadpan Brendan, a high schooler who's just found his ex-girlfriend Emily ("Lost" doll Emilie de Ravin) dead in a drain pipe. Who could do such a thing? All he knows is before her death, she called him on a pay phone, throwing out words that would leave even Sam Spade in a clueless rut. With these few keywords such as "pin" and "tug," one expertly weaved story unfolds as a perilous journey takes place through an underworld composed of questionable keggers and parking lot scuffles. \nGordon-Levitt has come a long way from his oddball antics on the likes of "3rd Rock from the Sun" by stepping up into excellent roles in the likes of 2004's "Mysterious Skin" and obviously "Brick." One would swear Johnson sat down his entire cast and made them watch true classics like "Kiss Me Deadly" and "The Big Sleep" to make everyone understand just what type of character they must embody. \nIn the case of something like "Brick," it's quite hard for the extras to live up to the movie. Johnson, as well as producers and cast members, provide a rather loaded commentary. Because of all these folks appearing on the same track, at times it feels a bit too congested and no one is really getting a chance to have the mic long enough. \nTwenty minutes of deleted and extended scenes, while interesting for some, clearly show why they were left on the cutting room floor. Considering "Brick" is already 110 minutes long, there is far too much information to take in and one viewing certainly isn't enough. Of some interest though is a short piece with Johnson on why he chose certain actors for their parts. \nNot only is "Brick" a work of sheer genius and fine genre revisionism, it is easily one of the best films of the year.