The Irwin Library Film Series enters its 4th year with a new theme: The 2000s! We're guessing most Butler undergrads were born in this decade, and we assume your memories of it are limited to watching The Backyardigans or a certain young English wizard. Since we know you've all seen Mean Girls 15 times already, the Librarians have curated a selection of important films from the first decade of our young century which you might not have already encountered. Each month we'll host a Wednesday night showing in the Irwin Library Instruction Lab, with popcorn and soda available, as well as BCR credit (we'll have a post-film discussion of cinematic and cultural themes to make your experience worthwhile). Get ready for flip phones, iPods, and George W. Bush references, as Butler Libraries takes you back to the 2000s!
Wednesday, October 21 at 7:30 PM: Brick (2005), directed by Rian Johnson and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Any director's self-financed first feature is always a gamble, but Rian Johnson went for longer odds with an homage to 1940s detective-driven film noir. While set in a contemporary California high school, the characters display both the attitudes and dialogue of those from a black & white Bogart film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Brendan, a teenage loner who gets drawn in to a thorny noir-esque plot about murder, local drug dealers and femme fatales that sees him busting into lockers for clues. A low-budget mood piece that's energetic, stylish, and allows the viewer to play "count the noir tropes," Brick is definitely for fans of Rian Johnson's later string of whodunits centered around Benoit Blanc (Knives Out, Glass Onion, etc.).
