Rian Johnson's debut feature is a revitalised noir set in a high school but with adult archetypes. There's the femme fatale (Norah Zehetner), the underworld kingpin (Lucas Haas) and the gangster (Noah Fleiss) while Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the hardboiled Detective.
This conceit works brilliantly, you just have to suspend disbelief about how their world barely overlaps with the adult world.
It's twisty, the dialogue is arch, people speak in near code, social circle subtlety is key to things and it requires you to follow with your full attention. It's almost like one of those modern adaptations of Shakespeare where they change everything but still it's Shakespeare. I leaned the on subtitles a lot, something I didn't have when I saw it at the cinema and because of that I would have missed some of the subtlety.
If you loved Knives Out but haven't seen this you must. The lineage is unmistakable.
Highly recommended 9/10.