Starring Matthias Schweighöfer, Ruby O. Fee

Written & Directed by Philip Koch

In the middle of a row, Tim and Olivia discover that their apartment block has been entirely enclosed by a mysterious and impenetrable brick wall.

Isn’t it always the way? Your girlfriend is accusing you of being emotionally closed off following the loss of a child – as if you’ve built a ‘wall’ around yourself – and then you open the door and what do you know? There’s an actual, real-life wall blocking your exit! It’s going to take all your smarts and emotional wiles to find a way out. You might even have to lower your ‘emotional wall’ in order to work together and escape from the real one. Would you Adam-and-Eve it???

Clunkety-clunk metaphors aside, Philip Koch’s German language sci-fi thriller is an enjoyable, crisply paced B-Movie. As Tim (Matthias Schweighöfer looking startlingly like a young Gordon Ramsay) and Liv (Ruby O. Fee) team up with a gaggle of oddball neighbours, Brick develops into an intriguing escape room tech mystery, at times satirica,l at other times satisfyingly gory.

Unusually, while matters kick off with a certain degree of cheesy predictability, as things progress the film becomes more narratively interesting and the premise, which I lazily assumed to be some kind of sci-fi nonsense McGuffin, turns out to be interesting enough to sustain a whole other movie of its own.

Verdict: Brick undoubtedly has a disposable B-Movie patina, but it’s surprisingly satisfying and highly entertaining, especially if, like me, you enjoy the idea of a sweary celebrity chef being trapped forever within impenetrable nanotech. 7/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com