Dir: Rian Johnson
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, Emilie de Ravin, Nora Zehetner
Synopsis: Brendan is a typical high school loner who ends up getting pulled into the underworld of his high school's social system to discover why his ex girlfriend came to him asking for help. He calls on his friend, and information go-to-guy, 'Brain' to help him infiltrate the criminal workings of the school and solve the mystery.
Verdict: At first, you get the feeling that this indie Noir-style thriller from writer/director Rian Johnson is a parody on the genre but, as you continue watching, it develops into a brilliant piece of cinema.
Vaguely reminiscent of Bugsy Malone (in terms of transplanting a well known genre into a younger cast of characters), Johnson got me wondering whether his film is a re-imagining of the American high school genre, or Noir re-imagined? It works as either and both and whichever you decide upon, it probably won't be the wrong answer.
Gordon-Levitt, well known for his role in Inception, plays the classic detective brilliantly, all the while keeping the character equally believable as a high school student. The character steals things to find out clues, makes people talk with violence, has Brain (Matt O'Leary) as his go to who knows information and even his dialogue - through language, sarcasm and how his sentences are structured - scream classic detective (the only thing missing is the alcoholism).
But all the focus cannot remain on him, the rest of the cast also deliver the goods, from Hass' The Pin to Richard Roundtree's Vice Principal (who plays the role of the police commissioner in the high school microcosm).
The story is brilliantly clever, partly in itself as it would surely work just as well within the typical Film Noir setting and characters, but to have it contained within the world of the teenager at school is genius - the underworld of drugs and crime juxtaposing with operation out of their (seemingly) oblivious parents' houses and the simplicity of going to their classes.
All in all, two genres you would never expect to meld together have produced a film that is thought provoking, intelligent and more simply, works as a whole.
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