Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tunenut (A) on April 08, 2006 at 18:53:59

As something of a film noir fanatic, there was no way I would miss this. The setup (common knowledge, this is no spoiler) is that this is a 40s-50s style film noir set in suburban high school. It works a lot better than it probably should. There is an element of intentional humor as the parts that would be played by tough guys and cops go to high school students and principals. The shamus is a pretty tough kid whose ex-girlfriend is in trouble and he recruits the smart kid, Brain, to help him infiltrate the underworld. Their speech is filled with tough guy/high school slang made up just for the movie. Social status is the question: "Who's she been eating with,"- meaning lunch. This could've been annoying, I found it wildly imaginative and entertaining. And the plot is well, a noir plot, with so many twists I'm still not completely sure I got all of it. Fun movie.