A a modern take on the whodunit murder mystery, the upcoming film has been written and directed by Rian Johnson behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi & Looper. Knives Out; If These Porches Could Talk; Crooked House (Agatha Christie Collection) Aunt Agatha’s Apartment; Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie; Bicycle to Treachery: A Miss Mallard Mystery (QUIX) The Final Goodbye.

Well, today I’m going to talk about something I don’t normally do on this blog… talk about a modern, theatrically released movie that doesn’t happen to be an adaptation of an existing mystery franchise. That said, it does have a definite tie to Cozies – it was actually the expressed intent of Rian Johnson, Director/Producer/Writer of Knives Out to produce “an old fashioned murder mystery. Like an Agatha Christie, I love her!” Well, I certainly agree with that sentiment! And I was incredibly pleasantly surprised to find that Johnson’s 2019 movie actually felt like a modernization of an Agatha Christie… and it’s better than most of those!

To start off with, the plot is pure classic mystery. When wealthy, eccentric, cantankerous mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (played by Christopher Plummer) is found dead after his 85th birthday party, it seems like a clear-cut case of suicide. However, there’s one thing that keeps the police from just signing it off as suicide – Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig), a renowned private investigator. Benoit Blanc, the so-called “last of the gentlemen sleuths”, has been hired to look into the death. I don’t want to go too far into the plot beyond that, as the movie is far too new for spoilers… I can’t even tell you the other classic mystery that that this movie reminds me of, as I want it to be a surprise!

One thing I can talk about more is the cast, and I can’t say enough good things. As already mentioned, Christopher Plummer does an excellent job as Harlan Thrombey, as well as Daniel Craig, who plays the role of “southern fried detective” Benoit Blanc alternately as mysterious, ridiculous, or insightful, as the moment requires. Equally impressive were many of the other people I would consider “big names” of the cast, like Jamie Lee Curtis, who plays Thrombey’s dry, highly successful daughter Linda. But I was also surprised by many of the other actors and actresses, who are a bit too young for me to be as familiar with them (I am more of a “classic movies fan” than a “modern movie-goer”) such as Ana de Armas (playing the on-site nurse and confidante for Harlan Thrombey), Michael Shannon (as Harlan’s son and head of Harlan’s publishing house), Toni Collette (playing Harlan’s slightly hippy-dippy daughter Joni), and Chris Evans (playing a semi-estranged grandson). I need to stop here with the list, because, honestly, the entire cast does such an excellent job that it would just turn into a copy of the closing credits!

Is Knives Out Agatha Christie

Note that there are a few details that some more sensitive readers should be warned of. First, it isn’t entirely bloodless. Let’s face it – when you stab someone, there’s blood, and while there aren’t exactly buckets of it in this mystery, there are a few moments that might put off squeamish viewers. Likewise, one character does have a particular tell when she lies – violent vomiting, which in practice I personally found more off-putting than the blood. Depending on how seriously you view swearing, there are a few instances of it here – though personally, I wasn’t bothered by either the frequency or severity. And as I said earlier, I’ve seen more extreme examples of most of this in actual modern Christie adaptations than here. There are a few depictions of drug use, though nothing particularly strong. There are also some brief political discussions.

This would normally be a great moment to say “They don’t make ’em like this any more”… except, they did. They just made this one in 2019, and there’s word that there’s a follow-up starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc already in the works. I’m certainly looking forward to it, and aside from those who are particularly sensitive to the above issues in their Cozies, I heartily recommend it.

PS: At least as of the time of this posting, Knives Out is available on Amazon Prime streaming.

The butler did it, you say? In Rian Johnson’s new movie, this mothballed murder mystery cliche gets a welcome airing out.

Knives Out pays clever homage to British crime writer Agatha Christie while also rewriting her treatment of social class in her novels, stories and plays. The movie is set in America but the set-up is classic Christie. The wealthy patriarch of a large and unwieldy clan has died the day after a tense and argument-laden birthday party. The manner of death suggests suicide – but is it? The entire family is suspect. A will is to be read. A flamboyant detective with a French-sounding name arrives on the scene.

A non-family member is a part of the mix, and the importance given to her character reflects the movie’s attempt at weaving social commentary into a classic whodunit yarn. Marta (Ana de Armas) is the Spanish-speaking nurse of bestselling author Harlan (Christopher Plummer). Marta is unable to lie and vomits when asked to do so. This characteristic reaps rich dividends after Harlan is found dead in his study, and is especially lucrative if you ignore the niggling question about why a nurse wouldn’t seek treatment for her own peculiar condition.

Harlan’s warring wards makes for easy suspects. His daughters Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Joni (Toni Collette) and son Walt (Michael Shannon) are polished dispensers of platitudes and shedders of crocodile tears. Harlan’s grandson Hugh (Chris Evans) is a dissolute playboy, while son­-in-law Richard (Don Johnson) has a skeleton in his closet that pops out in most spectacular fashion.

The stellar cast is toplined by a superb Daniel Craig as private investigator Benoit Blanc. The name is a hat-tip to Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot. Benoit has Poirot’s sang-froid and self-regard but also a hilariously earthy American accent – an early indication of the way in which the movie is both respectful of Christie as well as irreverent.

Several Christie devices litter Benoit’s investigation – the significance of seemingly stray remarks; the unreliability of witness testimonies and flashbacks; the small clues that add up to important discoveries; the detective who is part-conjurer and part-psychologist. Poison, Christie’s preferred mode of killing, gets a contemporary update. Harley’s mansion resembles a wealthy prop manager’s storage unit, and perhaps the most striking item on the sets is a chair made out of glistening knives that turns out to have an important cameo in this game of thrones.

The sharp writing never feels dated even though the murder mystery is resolutely old-school. The tone is light and easy, and the critique of class prejudice and snobbery cuts sharply but not deep. Household help made significant contributions to Christie’s plots, and this contemporary rewrite provides new, imaginative ways with which to regard the small army of butlers, cooks and caretakers who watched their affluent employers kill or be killed. In Knives Out, the best joke is the constant misidentification of Marta’s country of origin. Is she Paraguayan? Brazilian? That’s like asking whether Hercule Poirot was French.

Agatha Christie Film 2019 Knives Out