{"id":22912,"date":"2019-12-04T20:22:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T10:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=22912"},"modified":"2019-12-04T20:23:29","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T10:23:29","slug":"knives-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=22912","title":{"rendered":"Knives Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Director:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Rian Johnson
\nWriter:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Rian Johnson
\nCast:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Daniel Craig, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas<\/p>\n

A<\/span>re you up for\u00a0Knives Out<\/em>?\u00a0 You’ll know within the opening few minutes of the film whether you’re game for Rian Johnson’s satirical whodunnit when Daniel Craig begins to talk in the most ridiculous, OTT, Foghorn Leghorn accent I’ve ever heard for his character Benoit Blanc.\u00a0\u00a0Knives Out<\/em> proudly wears its Agatha Christie inspiration on its sleeve with its country manor setting,\u00a0tweed jackets, feuding families and the presence of a sharp-witted private detective.<\/p>\n

Successful\u00a0author Harlan Thrombey invites his family over for his 85th birthday.\u00a0 Amongst the guests\u00a0are his son Walt (Michael Shannon) who runs his publishing empire and is frustrated that he won’t open up the licensing rights for his books to be made into tv shows and movies.\u00a0 His daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her philandering husband Richard.\u00a0 His son Ransom (Chris Evans) who is a spoilt playboy that doesn’t bother to hold down a job.\u00a0 And Joni (Toni Collette) the widow of Harlan’s deceased son Neil who is a lifestyle guru and influencer.\u00a0 Oh, and Harlan’s beloved nurse and closest confidant Marta (Ana de Armas).\u00a0 It is Marta who finds Harlan dead in the morning, his throat gruesomely slit with a knife.<\/p>\n

Who’s the chief suspect?\u00a0 Well as private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) quickly ascertains, all the Thrombey siblings could rightly be considered.\u00a0 All of them on the night of Harlan’s death appear to have been cut out of his will for one reason or another.\u00a0 Blanc suspects the clue to identifying the murderer is right there on the property so he asks the family to stay for a few days and goes hunting for clues…with Marta as his chosen sidekick.<\/p>\n

The opening act upends expectations for this\u00a0genre by making Marta the central figure of the film (Agatha Christie generally had little time for carers, maids and butlers in her books).\u00a0 We come to understand that Marta stands to be most affected by Harlan’s death as she used her wages to care for her family who are wholly dependent on her.\u00a0 The film memorably reveals the true nature of the Thrombys and their insincere relationship with Marta as each one misidentifies her country of origin and tells her to her face that they though she should’ve been at the funeral but were ‘outvoted’ by the others.\u00a0 I think it’s the 2019 version of Bradley Whitford’s “I would’ve voted for Obama for a third time” speech.<\/p>\n

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Knives Out<\/em> is a lot of fun and keeps audiences guessing from the outset by knowing the well established rules of the genre and bending those expectations.\u00a0 An early plot twist appears to reveal what happened to Harlan much sooner than expected but very quickly audiences are left scrambling as revelation upon revelation changes what we think we know.\u00a0 What I admire about\u00a0the construction of\u00a0Knives Out<\/em>‘s narrative is that it never ‘cheats’ when it arrives at its final conclusion.\u00a0 There isn’t the late arrival of a new character or a grand reveal of a person in disguise that explains Harlan’s death.\u00a0 In fact, its quite possible for an attentive viewer to work out what happened based on what Rian Johnson shows us.<\/p>\n

I loved\u00a0Knives Out<\/em>.\u00a0 It is a cleverly and intricately plotted whodunnit that tips the hat to Christie’s formula but is bursting at the seams with fresh ideas of its own.\u00a0 I like that Johnson cheerfully sprinkles the film with his political ideology and makes the film very much a product of the current climate in 2019 with topics about refugees, the Trump presidency and the alt-right movement all fair game.<\/p>\n

The cast look like their having a ball and although its difficult to pick out any one star, I think credit must go to Ana de Armas who manages to shine amongst an array of famous faces.\u00a0 Her\u00a0performance as Marta – strong, resourceful, resilient – is a significant part of what makes the film so enjoyable.<\/p>\n

One last note – the final shot of the film is a beauty and one of my favourite of the year.<\/p>\n

After a challenging couple of years for Rian Johnson as he dealt with a tidal wave of angry\u00a0Star Wars<\/em> fanatics post-The Last Jedi<\/em>, its great to see him land on his feet in such emphatic fashion.\u00a0\u00a0Knives Out<\/em> is probably his best work to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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