5. Brick
Bergman Lustig ProductionsStarring everybodys favourite Lady Gaga cover artist Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Google it), Brick is an excellent, if slightly puzzling, neo-noir film set in an American high school. Gordon-Levitt heads it up as Brendan, a classic noir hard-boiled detective trying to save his ex-girlfriend, from whom he received a mysterious and terrified phone call at a payphone. His search takes him to a party with the stoner clique which Emily is part of. He steals her notepad and follows directions on it to her dead body. Like any sensible teenager finding the body of his ex-girlfriend, he hides it to avoid police detection so that he can solve the murder himself. Brendan discovers that the murder is linked to a local drug baron called The Pin, so tries to get his attention by beating up his associates. Obviously this gets him beaten up in return. This doesn't stop him, and his persistence is eventually rewarded-ish as, though he gets taken to The Pin, he also gets attacked by a man with a knife. Swings and roundabouts. Brendan then discovers he was seen hiding Emilys body, and so is implicated in her murder. With all this drama he ends up sleeping with an incredibly attractive girl who regularly appears out of nowhere to give him information which, as this is a noir after all, probably means shes the person responsible for it all. Further spoilers aside, Brick has gained a pretty strong cult following, and for good reason. The film is pretty dark, but it cuts it with some subtle hilarity. Combining the noir and teen genres shouldnt work, as both of them are pretty tired at the best of times. Brick manages to not only reinvigorate tropes from both, but uses them together to create a film without peer.