電影《鋒迴路轉》影評：[Film Review] Knives Out (2019) 7.4/10

After his coveting stint of STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (2017), Rian Johnson returns to his indie mystery root with KNIVES OUT, a full-bore retro-adorned, modern whodunit a là Agatha Christie, appreciably bulked up with a stellar ensemble cast.

Estimable and well-to-do mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) is found dead, apparently killing himself by slitting his own throat, the morning after celebrating his 85th birthday with his whole family. Coming on board to aid the clueless police investigation is the named sleuth Benoit Blanc (Craig), under the behest of an unknown client, and the plot unwinds with the usual suspects galore, a patriarch surrounded by his spoilt, self-centered heir and offspring, only one person stands out like a sore thumb, Marta Cabrera (de Armas), the registered nurse hired to take care of Harlan, whose immigrant identity becomes a scathing running joke as her nationality is never ascertained (each family member thinks she is hailed from a different Latin America country), albeit every one claims she is one of the family.

Afflicted by the silly proclivity of involuntary vomiting whenever she tells a lie, Marta’s version of the incidence is laid bare really early on the way, which firmly shoves audience’s empathy and perspective on her side as experienced spectators know all too well, that version of the story is just a guise full of cracks and holes need to be exposed, Marta turns out to be the sole inheritor of Harlan’s massive fortune, which instantaneously prompts the Thrombey family to turn on her with venomous aspersion and threats. Johnson’s script craftily jumps on the bandwagon of the racial sensibility by pitting Marta against the whole bunch of white rich bigots, among which, Jamie Lee Curtis as Linda, Harlan’s firstborn, vehemently goes berserk with both barrels in her hypocritical outburst, but we should also feel sorry for her, as a business mogul, she is saddled with a cheating husband (Johnson) and a deadbeat son Ransom (Evans); Michael Shannon’s Walter Thrombey, Harlan’s youngest son, goes with a different approach, tentatively dragooning Marta with veiled menace. But, as empty vase makes the most noice, up till then, most audience would be confident that they’re all red herrings (Toni Collette is toothsome in her shameless freeloader mannerism as Joni, the widow of Harlan’s deceased son).

The third-generation gilded youth is no better, Joni’s daughter Megan (Langford) is easily pressurized to betray Marta for her own skin and also has the chutzpah to reclaim their friendship afterwards, Jacob (Martell), Walter’s social media-obsessed teenage son, is a nonentity in the plot, but you don’t want to be his friend for the obvious reason, then there is the smirking Ransom, not the prodigal grandson but a total self-seeker albeit the story hints he has a closer bond with his grandfather than anyone else in the family (barring Marta).

While the reveal of the culprit is less grandiose, no corralling all the suspect in one room to build the tension, once the mystery is unraveling by Craig’s excellent delivery with his amusingly wavering southern accent, it makes sense on the first impression, that settles the deal. It is also very funny in the end of the day, not least the through-line, an ultimately good-natured immigrant’s takeover of snobbish white American’s birthright and prerogative to procure her 「American Dream」, only it is too good to be true, when reality dourly indicates otherwise, that might be Johnson’s own wishful thinking and might not sit well with audience who holds a skeptical view on the dastardly matters, but, no matter, it is a honest-to-goodness crowdpleaser.

Besides the divertingly histrionic performances from Collette and Curtis, Christopher Plummer makes a remarkably spry patriarch and Craig finely nails the gift of the gob, but in the end of the day, it is a star-making showcase for Cuban actress Ana de Armas, who versatilely combines ridicule, earnest, guilt and mendacity into one hell of a character that tucks our heartstring even when a faint suspension rises from time to time to make the matter more intriguing. Like its ornate family mansion, as if it is directly taken from a museum of vintage furniture with its accoutements, Johnson’s KNIVES OUT is sumptuous to the eye but also salutary to the brain, a whole package for optimal consumption.

referential entries: Johnson’s BRICK (2005, 6.4/10); Robert Altman’s GOSFORD PARK (2001, 9.1/10).