Brick (2005)

First time independent director, Rian Johnson, shot the alleged neo-noir Brick after raising $500,000 from friends and relatives. The film received the Special Jury Prize at Sundance.

After all the hype, I was disappointed. Though technically competent and with clever allusions to the film noir genre, I found the story distasteful and with little real meaning or social value. The plot is confusing and the mumbled dialog of tribal argot generally unintelligible. An obvious influence is Tarantino, and this is also a negative.

The film may have some meaning for local audiences, but outside CA you can give it a miss. Or maybe, I am just too old…