my Movie

Movie Details

Title:   Knives Out
Director:   Rian Johnson
Year:   2019
Genre:   Whodunit
Times Seen:   1
Last Seen:   09.26.19

Other Movies Seen By This Director (5)
- Brick
- The Brothers Bloom
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
- Looper
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Notes History
Date Viewed Venue Note
09.26.19Alamo South LamarThis Screening is part of event: FantasticFest 2019
And that brings us to the final closing night film! Man, that was quick! It's a weird feeling where the first few days feel so long then the final week just flies by.

Rian Johnson mentioned in his Q&A that he loves the whodunit genre but agreed with Hitchcock that all whodunit movies have a problem where there's basically one surprise in the entire movie. So he tried to fix that by making the film more into a Hitchcock-ian thriller but still keeping the framing of a whodunit and, most importantly, keeping the final scene where the detective lays out the whole explanation of who did it. I think he was successful with this. The movie feels very aware of what it is but plays with the audience as it unfolds so you often feel ahead of the characters but sometimes you're behind them and each plot twist isn't completely telegraphed. Or at least it wasn't to me.

I liked this one a lot. It was really fun to follow along, but I never felt like anything was cheated or full of holes (ahem, Looper). Plus every single member of the cast is great. Some have more to do than others, but they all fill their roles perfectly. Johnson also mentioned taking inspiration for the house from the Michael Caine Sleuth which makes perfect sense. The movie feels like a celebration of the genre without subverting or changing any of its rules. Before watching, I was afraid he would "elevate" the movie by having some stupid shit happening like having everyone be guilty or no one or not having a murder or whatever. I was glad to see that not happen.

Afterward, I did not go to the party so this is the end of my fest. I got out of there without crashing my car, breaking my phone, or getting sick so I'd say it's a clear upgrade from last year. Really I have very few negative feelings about this year. I had a lot of fun, spent time with good friends, saw some good movies (none of them really blew me away but I only saw 2 i outright didn't like), so I count that as a success.

Top 3
-Dolemite is My Name
-The Vast of Night
-Knives Out

Bottom 3
-Random Acts of Violence
-Lyle
-Blood Machines