Knives Out (2019)
A lot of things can be said about a movie and much of it can remain undisclosed. Yes, I have an appetite for old movies. A few days ago I was asked why I watch such old movies and I could only answer "story". The atypical plot has always drawn my attention. It's not that the latest movies don't have great stories but in between special effects and other stuff, the story somehow gets suppressed.
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But this one is different.
I'm sure many of you already have watched this one and loved it; I too enjoyed it a great deal but then totally forgot all about it. Then I thought if I'm going to write about a movie of this century then why not this. I haven't watched a lot of movies of last year and this year; I was rather busy with "whatever". Many many great movies were released back in 2019 and the world before Covid-19 was quite different wasn't it? Anyways, back to the movie. Knives Out (2019) I had been waiting for it since the beginning of 2019 and ended up watching it during lockdown; good times. It's not one of the best movies of 2019 but I liked it. Why? If you have watched it you have liked it too.
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Should I narrate the story for you? Should I? Okay here goes. The story starts off with... Oh wait, I haven't yet given you the basics. This particular film is written and directed by Rian Johnson, and produced by Johnson himself and Ram Bergman. The movie cast is heavy although I'm unsure about bad casting. I have my reasons to mention that. However, I'll only mention just a few of this ensemble cast such as Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon,and Christopher Plummer. Oh the bad casting; I somewhat felt Captain America wasn't a right role for Evens and this movie was a proof. That goofy guy nailed his role as Ransom Drysdale, the rich spoiled brat who was once adored by everyone and now detested. Daniel Craig is the private detective Benoit Blanc and I hated his accent. Ana de Armas plays the role of innocent, heart-of-gold and honest nurse, Marta Cabrer. The movie is about suicide/murder/accidental death of the famous mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey played by Christopher Plummer.
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I'll admit I didn't have any intention of talking about the plot; not even now. But this is something that I have seen in the movie that has some semblance to real life I guess. Fame, money, greed have the ability to screw with people's minds. Parasites or leeches have the tendency to feed off of others and this tendency is also found in human nature. One person becomes famous and rich and all the family starts to climb on his/her back to get a taste of that glamorous life; once they get the taste, they never want to let go. Even without death and mayhem, the scenario, where one person is climbing the ladder and eventually it becomes his job to pull everyone up, isn't an unusual one. Add a shitload of money and property into that equation and the great-aunt's first cousin's gardener's ex brother-in-law will also be interested. Free money is great money and then there are things you can win just with compassion. But what happens when you're denied what is rightfully yours! The wealth that you know is supposedly yours, gets snatched away from right underneath your nose and you're helpless to do anything about it. Put the murder/suicide mystery aside, the story is quite a common one. I'm not criticizing the movie. It's been a while since I last saw a great murder mystery movie and even this I watched more than a year ago.
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I guess you can already somewhat understand how the plot story of the film was and the rest is a lot of family drama. Yes, the bigger the family the bigger the drama. And where there's a will, there are always someone who wants to put his name on it. You can say there's a message somewhere in this chaotic weave of deception and twists; but I'll let you find it on your own. Whether you watch the movie or you don't that's up to you.
If you have watched it then.....
