‘Knives Out’

It is great that we are now seening seen a revival of WhoDunIt movies featuring intelligent sleuths. Kenneth Branaugh resurrected Belgian, Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s most famous detective, in two movies, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’(2017) and ‘Death on the Nile’(2022). Director Rian Johnson has presented us with a new sleuth, Bennoit Blanc, whose origins, are unknown so far.  

Daniel Craig of 007 fame plays Blanc in two movies, Knives out and Glass Onion. Blanc’s accent is also hard to pin down, while some critics say it is South African.

Knives out like many Whodunits, has famous thespians in its ensemble cast. While Glass Onion is set on a private Greek Island owned by a Billionaire, the locale for this movie is an old over-decorated, yet beautiful Massachusetts mansion. In the first scene, we see a caretaker walking through the the mansion and finally enter a room. The camera focuses on her face, which turns from a mild smile to one of shock and then to terror. Obviously, she has seen something awful.

Elsewhere, in a small apartment, we see three women, who receive news that one of them is wanted at the mansion. The girl summoned, drives to the mansion and is greeted warmly upon arrival, by another younger woman and welcomed to come in. Inside, she exchanges hugs with an older woman.

Then the police arrive and slowly, we are introduced to the premise of the story and the people in the mansion. The mansion belongs to Harlan Thromby(Christopher Plummer of ‘Sound of Music fame) a successful writer and wealthy individual. The previous night, Harlan and his family gathered to celebrate his 85th birthday. The following morning, he was found dead, with his throat slit open with a knife.

As the police interrogate the suspects, there is one additional person who is helping them. The man identifies himself as the famous detective Benoit Blanc, a name that some in the family seem to recognize. He tells the family that he was called to investigate the case, by an anonymous person who also sent him money in advance for his services.

Next, we are introduced to the people present in the house. The caretaker we saw int he first scene is Fran. She has served the family for a while. The girl summoned from the apartment is Martha, a dutiful nurse who diligently took care of the late Harlan.

The middle-aged woman who embraced Martha is Linda(Jamie Lee Curtis), the older daughter of Harlan. She has built herself a successful real estate business, based on an initial  gift of a million dollars she received, from Harlan. There is her husband, Richard who, it is soon revealed, is having a secret affair. It is also revealed that Harlan was aware of this affair and confronted Richard with photos. Harlan also told Richard sternly, that he was going to expose the affair to Linda. With his salt-and-pepper hair and mustache, Don Johnson delivers a masterful performance as the philandering Richard.

Linda and Richard have a son, a good-for-nothing young man, Ransom (Chris Adams, of Captain America fame). Ransom is a disappointment to the whole Thrombey family.  Ransom was seen leaving the party early the previous night, and that early morning was still absent. It is revealed that Ransom had a loud argument with Harlan the previous night.

Harlan’s youngest son, Walt, Walt’s wife and teenage son are also present at the house. Walt is responsible for publishing Harlan’s books. The previous night, Walt tried to persuade Harlan to sell movie rights to Netflix, but Harlan brushed him off. Harlan was disappointed that Walt never made it by himself, as a writer.

.There is also Joni, the widow of Harlan’s second son.  She has a daughter Meg and got an allowance from Harlan for Meg’s education.  Harlan discovered that he had also been paying  Meg’s University directly for her education and Joni has been double dipping the allowance, stealing a hundred thousand for herself.  Harlan was furious at this and told  Joni that he was cutting off her allowance entirely.  

Finally, there is great Nana, Harlan’s mother who seldom speaks, and is old and fragile. 

Martha, Harlan’s devoted nurse was also hi trusted confidant. Harlan had told Martha, all his qualms against his family members. Marta has an unusual problem, in that, she vomits whenever she speaks the truth. Benoit uses this to his advantage, to get to know how every other member of the Thrombies bore a grudge towards Harlan.

There is one other twist too. Martha too hides a devastating secret about the previous night. This secret could send her to jail and her mother, an undocumented immigrant back to her native country of Paraguay. 

When the will is about to be read, Ransom returns to the house and all hell breaks loose. There are no guesses as to who the sole beneficiary is, to all of Harlan’s fortune. The family members, especially Linda lose all dignity and balance , and attack Martha, accusing her of manipulating Harlan. Jamie Lee Curtis’s performance of Linda is outstanding . Her tantrum is a noteworthy scene. Things take an unexpected turn and it is up to Benoit to solve the mystery and identify the killer.

This is a riveting movie with a tour-de-force ensemble cast. The dialogs and screenplay are great. The director effectively uses of a baseball to help the viewer distinguish transitions between a flashback and the present. I also felt the that the use of a unique knife sculpture as a background, in scenes of the movie, was very effective in accentuating the theme of the movie. While not as ambitiously created as its sequel, Glass Onion, this movie is as good. I cannot wait for the next installment of the Knives Out Series

Cast: Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Christopher Plummer, Anna De Armas, Toni Collette, et. al.

Director: Rian Johnson

Quotes:

Blanc: My presence here is purely ornamental. You will find me a respectful, passive observer. ..of the truth

Blanc: Physical Evidence can tell a story with a forked tongue. Everyone could lie.