Before Knives Out, there was Brick: Rian Johnson’s alluring, hard-boiled debut

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a teen detective in a world of high school drug rings and two-bit thugs, Johnson’s first film is a fine showcase of his now-trademark thrills, chills and twists

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Before Benoit Blanc, there was Brendan Frye.

At first glance, the teenaged gumshoe at the heart of Brick doesn’t share much with the gentleman sleuth from Knives Out, Glass Onion and the upcoming Wake Up Dead Man. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) styles himself as a lost Agatha Christie character, while Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a jaded teen who spits Dashiell Hammett dialogue before starting fights he can’t win.

But dig deeper and you’ll find two detectives caught in cases that contort around their own genre conventions. Both, of course, are creations of Rian Johnson – the writer/director who induces either delight or unspeakable rage, depending on what type of nerd you are. And both Blanc and Brendan play their cards close to their chest and keep the audience guessing, even when they don’t know what the question is.