Underplayed Gems

Brick (2005)

Brick poster
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
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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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.

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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)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.