Movies

Brick B Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Noah Fleiss, Matt O'Leary and Noah Segan. Directed by Rian Johnson. Rated R (violence, drugs). 110 mins. $29.98.

THE SETUP: When Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds Emily, the girl he loves, murdered and dumped in a sewer, he becomes obsessed with finding out who's responsible and what Emily could have done to bring about this fate.

SCENE CHANGE: At its heart, Brick is a gritty film noir. But instead of stocking it with trench-coated detectives, writer and director Rian Johnson moves the familiar proceedings to a suburban high school. The change of scenery challenges the viewer to figure out who's who without all the usual visual signifiers.

ALL TALK: Yet the familiar noir language remains the same. At first, listening to a couple of high school kids converse in that rapid fire delivery, talking about how it'll be "curtains" for someone, can be hard to follow. Admittedly, taking advantage of the DVD's subtitles led to a greater comprehension of what everyone was talking about. And, ultimately, the language injects the movie with style.

BEST EXTRA: Pretty sparse, the usual commentaries and deleted scenes.

BOTTOM LINE: If hardened gumshoes and femmes fatales are your thing, catch these high school versions.