Brick (2005)

Directed by

Rian Johnson

Genre

drama film, film noir, crime film, teen film, mystery film, neo-noir

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 50m

Rated

R

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 1,388 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A high school loner investigates his ex-girlfriend's disappearance using the tactics of a hardboiled detective. He uncovers a drug ring connected to his school's social cliques. The story plays out like a classic film noir but with teenage characters.

tensestylizedfast-pacedgrittynoirishmoodycerebralcleveratmospheric

What happens

This article is about the 2005 live-action film. For animation style and technique, see Brickfilm. For the 2025 film, see Brick (2025 film). Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, edited, and directed by Rian Johnson in his directorial debut, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Brick was distributed by Focus Features, and opened in New York and Los Angeles on April 7, 2006. The film's narrative centers on a hardboiled detective story set in a California suburb. Most of the main characters are high school students. The film draws heavily in plot, characterization, and dialogue from hardboiled classics, especially those by Dashiell Hammett. The title refers to a block of heroin, compressed roughly to the size and shape of a brick. The film won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and received positive reviews from critics. It has come to be regarded as a cult classic. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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