Film Review: Knives Out (2019)

Review

I've been hearing a great deal of praise for the film Knives Out amongst friends, and on social media and was quite happy to have gotten a moment to watch it for myself. The star-studded cast on the film's promotional poster, which included the acting talents of Chris Evans, of Captain America fame, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Don Johnson to name a few, already impressed and intrigued. The film is directed by Rian Johnson, a film maker also responsible for titles such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Looper. The film begins in a mansion, and progresses to cut between shots of several rooms, stocked with all sorts of ornaments, paintings, carvings and statues, no doubt commonplace in the home of the wealthy and eccentric. The housekeeper awakens and prepares a breakfast tray for the homeowner, a Mr. Harlan Thrombey, and as she makes her way to his bedroom, she finds it empty and turns towards the study, only to be greatly shocked when she finds her employer lying dead on his couch with his neck cut.

The authorities, as well as Harlan's large family, are alerted to the developments, and all make their way to the mansion for questioning. Amongst those in attendance is Harlan's eldest daughter, Linda, played by Jaimie Lee Curtis. Linda is a confident, strong and independent businesswoman running a company with her husband Richard. Next is Harlan's only surviving son, Walt, the man in charge of running the family publishing company, the same company that publishes his father's famous works, which are indeed the source of the Thrombey's fortune. Then there is Harland's daughter in law, Joni, the widow of his son Neil who passed on. Joni looks after her daughter, Meg, a college student who relies on her grandfather to pay her tuition, and it also Harlan that provides Joni with a monthly allowance, which she uses to run her own business. Finally, there is Marta, Harlan's nurse and close friend who immigrated to the country with her mother and sister. With all the players in place, the murder mystery commences; the light has already been turned off, our victim offered up his shout of surprise/agony, and the light turned back on leaving our room of suspects open for analysis. Theatric vocabulary aside, the police go on to question each member of the family separately, as the night before the supposed suicide, Harlan invited his family to celebrate his birthday. Each person's information of the night is meant to lead to some understanding of what could've lead to the suicide. But hiding in the periphery is a mysterious man, silently observing and listening to each interview, eventually letting himself be known as the world-famous private investigator, Benoit Blanc. Interestingly, Mr. Blanc claimed to have been hired by an anonymous person to investigate the event, suggesting that the suicide may not be as straightforward as first perceived.

Marta is also interviewed, and as it would happen, she is incapable of telling a lie without becoming sick to her stomach, serving as a useful tell for most of the investigation. From the interviews, it would appear that Harlan was cutting his family off from his wealth in one fashion or another, from firing Walt from the company, cutting off Joni's allowance, to threatening Richard with knowledge of his affair. It thus seems that many would have a motive to want the old man dead, the million-dollar question is, who?

I must warn that to truly give a satisfactory review, I would have to give minor spoilers, although it will not reveal the greater surprises of the film's proceedings, but I still recommend that those who would like to have the entirety of the movie's mystery left intact, to stop reading now and watch it for yourself, for it is certainly worth viewing.

For those still reading, the film puts the wind out of the sails early on by revealing the culprit early. As the birthday party ended, Marta followed Harlan up to his study, agreeing to play a game of Go before giving him his medication. After the game, Marta administered the shots, only to later discover, to her horror, that she had mixed the medications up, giving Harlan a lethal dosage of morphine. With only 10 minutes to live, Marta scrambled to find the life-saving antidote but was unsuccessful. With not much time left, Harlan calmed her down and walked her through a cunning plan to remove her from suspicion of murder to prevent her and her family from landing in trouble. To increase her chances, Harlan decided to take his own life, leaving Marta in the clear but with a very large secret to keep. The drama would follow when Harlan's will was eventually read to the family, who would go on to be informed that he had left all of his assets to Marta, leaving the Thrombeys less than pleased.

It is from here that film initiates its many twists and turns, showing that various events of the faithful evening before the suicide hold more significance than anyone could've guessed. It's a testament to how the truth of a matter can often be found in between the various accounts of the same series of events, the film using quality editing to string each re-telling in a way that provides the correct amount of information when necessary. The film was just plain enjoyable, a fun and exciting exercise in trying to figure out how all the pieces could fit together, while analyzing each character both obvious and not, and yet, I felt that the film could be subject to an even deeper reading that does not necessarily have anything to do with the mystery genre or the films primary point.

The Thrombey's could be read as a metaphor for America, wealthy, entitled, arrogant and diverse, each member seems to display radically familiar personality types within society at large. Meg represents the liberal "social justice warrior", quickest to call Marta a member of the family and eager to stand up to any suggestion of prejudice. Linda and Richard the typical hard working, "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" kind of American's. Even Joni is a picture of the Instagram influencer who believes in meditation and holistic life, while Ransom is the typical trust fund wanton kid who cares about no one but himself. And Marta is the innocent immigrant who is capable of no wrong and treated in a somewhat patronizing fashion that undermines her ability to act fully as an adult and a human, her potential of doing bad diminished in the eyes of her employer's family. I found it comical that members of the family could never get her nationality correct, a series of mishaps that could be read as the attempt to show how American's aren't all that knowledgeable or caring of countries outside of their own borders.

The dynamic even suggests a deeper, unconscious feeling of superiority on the parts of the Thrombey family, one that might even strike a familiar and uncomfortable chord with any who has grown up with housekeepers, gardener's, etc. Though calling Marta a member of the family, her membership is contingent upon maintaining a status quo. Which is to say that Marta is always seen as a non-threatening entity that the Thrombey's feel good about taking care of, once this dynamic changes with the reading of the will, the family soon changes their outlook of their father's foreign nurse and friend. Even Meg, with her indignant anger at the cops who questioned Marta's arrival at the beginning, is quick to change her tune when her way of life is threatened, an example of how many liberals who scream for open borders and other rights for immigrants, do so to maintain an appearance while safe in the knowledge that their lifestyle will go unaffected. Even Mr. Blanc brings a local focus to proceedings, spinning a stereotype on its head, with his strong Kentucky accent indicative of a community that is stereotypically seen as unintelligent and racist, yet Benoit Blanc is nothing but a gentleman throughout, and by far the smartest man in the film.

One need not subscribe or agree to this reading of the film, but I found it hard to avoid these small truths at play in it, but aside from them, I enjoyed the film as a whole but felt that given the points raised earlier, the director could've perhaps gone even further with regards to the twists by making Marta out to not be as kind-hearted or good as she came across, thereby truly showing the potential of her humanity, which is to say, her potential also do terrible things, the same as anyone else. I also felt that Harlan's acceptance of his demise was unrealistic, and a huge postulate for the audience to accept for the sake of the progression of the film. But despite this, masterful casting, excellent performances, and amazing layering made Knives Out a true stand out in my book. And with that, I wish you all happy viewing :).

More Info

Watch the film at The Movie DB: Knives Out

Score: AA

Out of 10: 8