Brick

Here's a movie that somehow gets an old receipe, mix it a new pot and end up feeling almost new!

The story and characters are that of a pure "noir" movie. So you get the typical characters (the femme fatales, the mob boss, the henchmen, the tough (but not invincible) hero...), but it's all set up in an high school environment.

It's practically a masterclass on how a good "noir" should be made.
The story gives you plenty of twists and turns and the characters are very well written.
It's all supported by an excellent cast of unknowns (you can recognise faces from Lost or Heroes). The lead stays the higlight: Joseph Gordon-Levitt impersonates here one of the coolest characters I've seen on screen for a long time, hard-hitting yet vulerable.

The movie is also beautifully shot and maintains an excellent atmosphere throughout, strange and eerie, perfectly in synch with the corrupted world it describes.

An excellent movie, for a 1st, it's really impressive, I'll make sure I'll check out Rian Johnson's movies in the future.