Brick

Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir thriller film written and directed by Rian Johnson, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was Johnson's directorial debut and won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Brick was distributed by Focus Features, opening in New York and Los Angeles on April 7, 2006. The film's narrative centers on a hardboiled detective story that takes place in a Californian suburb. Most of the main characters are high school students. The film draws heavily in plot, characterization, and dialogue from hardboiled classics, especially from Dashiell Hammett. The title refers to a block of heroin, compressed roughly to the size and shape of a brick. High school student Brendan Frye is living a lonely existence after breaking up with his girlfriend Emily Kostich and betraying his friend Jerr to the authorities. Brendan receives a phone call from a terrified Emily. She begs him to help her, mentioning a "brick", "poor Frisco", "tug",...