Summary:
A gentleman sleuth investigates the death of a patriarch of an rich and eccentric family.
My Thoughts:
This is my kind of murder mystery; classy, funny, and a lot more talking with witnesses than examining police evidence with phony technology (ALA CSI: “Zoom in on that out of focus license plate. Great, and now: enhance the image.”). This film feels like a story about Hercule Poirot, C. Auguste Dupin, or Sherlock Holmes, and the case is just as twisty and thrilling as any of the cases that might’ve turned between the pages of some renowned literary novel by Christie, Poe, or Doyle, but not only is the storyline intelligent, it also says something about the state of the American country, it gives us an eclectic cast of suspects, and it’s one of the more fun movie-going experiences I’ve had this year. “Knives Out” is a treat for fans of detective fiction, but it is not at all what you would think.
“I Suspect Foul Play. I Have Eliminated No Suspects.”
After renowned mystery author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”) dies under unusual circumstances, Lieutenant Elliot (LaKeith Stanfield, “Sorry to Bother You”) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) are tasked to investigate, and much to their surprise, the famous gentleman sleuth, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, “Skyfall”), accompanies them. The investigators busy themselves by interviewing the suspects, which consist of Harlan’s family- Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis, “Halloween”), Walt (Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”), Richard (Don Johnson, “Django Unchained”), Ransom (Chris Evans, “Avengers: Endgame”), Joni (Toni Collette, “Hereditary”), Donna (Riki Lindome, “Under the Silver Lake”), Meg (Katherine Langford, “Love, Simon”), and Jacob (Jaedan Martell, “It (2017)”)- and the servants, which include Fran (Edi Patterson, “Between Two Ferns: The Movie”), and Harlan’s nurse Marta (Ana de Armas, “Blade Runner 2049”).
This will be a rather odd review, because I really don’t want to give any sort of hints away as to who might’ve done what, so instead of talking about plot progression, I decided to write about how this film felt as a whole.
I’ve read my fair share of detective fiction, and I have to say that Benoit Blanc feels most similar to Hercule Poirot. Poirot and Blanc share similar many similar traits; both are incredibly keen and observant, but neither of them ever are so observant that their powers border on omniscient (like Sherlock Holmes’ powers sometimes do). Likewise, Rian Johnson’s writing, and the way he creates this case and world, feels a lot more like an Agatha Christie novel than it does a Poe or Doyle novel; characters talk through their problems, and through their inconsistencies Blanc is able to see through a bit of the haze that has been thrown up before him. At the same time, Johnson and Christie like to play games with their audiences- few can forget the Star Wars’ fans uproar over the massive subversion of expectations with “The Last Jedi”.- Christie likes to play her audience the same way. One of the ways that Christie loved to play with her audience was by using well-known character tropes and twisting them. She would do so by creating red herrings, leaving huge hints to dissuade one from thinking it might be a particular subject- but Christie also liked to play with character’s motives, and the motives can be just as interesting as the ‘who’ in whodunit.
The thing about detective fiction is that, in order for it to be truly great, the act of discovering who, why, and how needs to be just as compelling as the actual answers, otherwise, every mystery story would be disposable; you’d see the film/read the book once and have no need to ever revisit it. A GREAT mystery must have memorable players, compelling turns, and motivations that feel simultaneously shady and true to the characters, and the journey of getting to the end has to be exciting, but the clues provided should be enough to let keen viewers know whom the killer is before the reveal happens. This film is one of the better detective movies I’ve seen recently, primarily because it starts slowly and constantly ramps up, the characters constantly surprise you, and even if you do guess whom might be behind the diabolical scheme (as I did), watching the characters all arrive at the conclusion is just as satisfying as if you wouldn’t have puzzled it out.
I think one misconception about detective fiction is that if you’re watching a good mystery, you, the viewer, shouldn’t be able to puzzle it out, but that’s not true at all. Good detective movies provide clues for attentive viewers, so they, like the detective, can try to puzzle it out with them; it’s the ultimate way of getting your viewers to interact with your movie. In our podcasts where we’ve gone over Tarkovsky’s “Sculpting in Time” we’ve continually talked about movies that only require passive viewing (ie. Put in the movie and turn your brain off- “Transformers”), and there are movies that require the viewer to think, and this is definitely one of the latter.
Without going too much into detail, this film also commented on modern issues like immigration and wealth distribution in a way that didn’t feel preachy or judgmental. I went to see this film with two of my more conservative friends, and at the end of the film, one of my friends commented how he was happy that both liberal and conservatives were portrayed in a sort of satirical light in the face of some of the themes. I agree; this film raises some awesome points without ever really alienating one side or the other.
Verdict:
This is probably the best murder mystery film I’ve seen since Altman’s “Gosford Park”, and while I can’t imagine “Knives Out” will garner six Oscar nominations and an Oscar win, as Altman’s (admittedly classier, but less fun) production did, I do have to say that “Knives Out” was one of the more fun experiences I’ve had at the theater this year. I honestly can’t wait to revisit it.
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