Knives out

​"Knives out"

Watched English movie "Knives out". 

This film is directed by Rain Johnson. Screenplay by Rian Johnson. Produced by Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson. Cinematography by Steve Yedlin. Music by Nathan Johnson. The film stars Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Collette, Ricky Lindhome, Christopher Plummer, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford, Michael Shannon. The film runs for about 2 hour 10 minutes and was released in 2019. I watched it on Netflix on 8th Jun 2023 with Aditi. 

Harlan Thrombie, a mystery writer, is murdered the night after a party at his home. The party guest list includes Linda, eldest daughter. Her husband Richard and her son Ransom. Walter, son who runs the publishing house. His Wife Donna and Son Jacob. Joni, wife of his dead son Neil, who owns skin care company, her daughter Meg. Marta, a Paraguayan nurse who looked after Harlan. Police investigate. They are assisted in informal capacity by Detective Benoit Blanc.

Ana plays Marta. She has a very expressive face and also looks beautiful. Daniel Craig plays Benoit Blanc. Credit should be given to the one in charge of casting to envision this role for Daniel. It goes completely against his James Bond persona. He does admirably well. Chris Evans, Don Johnson and Michael Shannon play the supporting role impeccably. 

Every member has a motive to kill. Every member was in the house. No one seems to have any gap in their whereabouts. Whodunit? Success of a mystery movie lies in hiding the identity of the killer and revealing it with a flourish at the end. Audience should regret for not thinking on those lines. This movie achieves all of it. There is a small matter of looking through semi opaque glass that is not convincing, but otherwise it’s a well thought plot. 

This movie received several nominations for academy, golden globe, Bandung, BAFTA etc. It also won a few awards. 

The movie earned almost 8 times its production cost. It was a super hit.

Few weeks ago, I had posted review of ‘Glass onion’. That is sequel of this movie. Another movie in this series is expected.

Positives: Mystery. Pace.

Negatives: As mentioned above.

Recommend watching.