SNAPSHOT
Acclaimed writer and director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, The Last Jedi) pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie in KNIVES OUT, a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death. With an all-star ensemble cast including Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell, KNIVES OUT is a witty and stylish whodunit guaranteed to keep audiences guessing until the very end. (synopsis via Flickering Myth)
I love a good murder mystery.
Preferably one that, as well have a dagger up each sleeve, possesses a healthy sense of the ridiculous, very much in the vein of Murder by Death (1976) or Clue (1985) which gave you a mystery and plenty of laughs.
Truth be told, while I cut my adult reading teeth on Agatha Christie novels _ I love them to this day and I am most definitely Camp Marple not Camp Poirot – I am not heavily into crime stories, finding all a bit too real for my tastes.
Parodies however are just fine since they embed their murders in a sense of the sublimely ridiculous and while I accept murder is not a funny business, stepping away from the seriousness, if only for the length of a feature film, is very welcome indeed.
Knives Out opens in USA and Canada on 27 November and Australia on 28 November.