2022 Blindspot Pick #8: Shutter Island (2010)

Tags

Drama, Mystery, Thriller

The mind has many corners in its many-wrinkled maze,
To hide from heavy burdens that it cannot hope to raise.
The layers of its labyrinth stretch to depths we cannot guess,
And how deeply we flee depends upon our yesterdays.

While most of us can cope with just the top tiers meant for stress,
The world at its most wicked makes us seek a dark recess.
And if we lose our way, the dark that darkness drove us to
May keep us from escaping our escaping in excess.
________________________

MPA rating: R (for violence, language, and brief nudity)

A Merry belated Christmas to all! I may have given up on reviewing all my 2022 Blindspots before the end of the year, but I think I can at least watch them all before year’s end. The reviews will catch up in good time. To be honest, I haven’t seen many Martin Scorsese movies, so I figured I should address that by starting with the one that seemed to have the most intrigue to it. Based on Dennis Lehane’s novel, Shutter Island is a psychological thriller that thrives on its foreboding atmosphere and strong performances, even if it ends up feeling like a mid-tier M. Night Shyamalan plot.

Leonardo DiCaprio delivers an intense performance as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, who arrives with his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) to the titular island’s Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane to investigate a recently escaped prisoner/patient. Despite requesting their help, the hospital’s head psychiatrist Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) is hesitant to divulge certain information to the marshals, even as a hurricane moves in to wreak havoc on the island. As Daniels becomes more and more haunted by his own past traumas, he begins to question reality and what kind of conspiracy he has come to confront.

It’s a bit surprising that, despite its acclaimed director and star, Shutter Island failed to generate any awards nominations, aside from a National Board of Review nod. Whether you connect with the story or not, there’s no denying the skill with which it was made: the dingy lighting, the ominous cinematography, the subtle performances. Inception was easily DiCaprio’s better puzzle-box film that year, but it’s still interesting that this film couldn’t snag a single nomination.

I was rather shocked while admiring an especially poignant portion of the musical score as I realized that I had heard it before in another film: “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter added the same emotional gut punch to the ending of Arrival (far more effectively, in my opinion) and other films and TV shows besides. I didn’t realize till afterward that this track was not original to either film or that the entire soundtrack of Shutter Island comprised pre-released classical music.

Perhaps it didn’t help that I had some idea of what the film’s key twist would be. I credit the screenplay for still keeping me guessing and wondering if I was right or not, but yes, I was right. Not to say the film’s reveal wasn’t still effective and heartbreaking, but it didn’t have the same punch as something completely unforeseen. Overall, Shutter Island reminded me a bit of Nightmare Alley in its masterfully composed story and dark setting that I appreciated without being truly drawn into, probably because of its ending clearly designed to foster thoughtfulness in the audience rather than satisfaction. But it’s still an excellent genre piece ripe for theorizing that will no doubt reward further rewatches, which could perhaps raise my opinion of it even more.

Best lines: (Rachel Solando) “People tell the world you’re crazy, and all your protests to the contrary just confirm what they’re saying.”
(Teddy) “I’m not following you, I’m sorry.”
(Rachel) “Once you’re declared insane, then anything you do is called part of that insanity. Reasonable protests are denial, valid fears paranoia…”
(Teddy) “Survival instincts are defense mechanisms.”
(Rachel) “You’re smarter than you look, Marshal. That’s probably not a good thing.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2022 S.G. Liput
783 Followers and Counting

2022 Blindspot Pick #7: Murder By Death (1976)

Tags

Comedy, Mystery

When someone’s suspiciously murdered (which happens all the time
According to TV and film and cozy books on crime),
We normal people just freak out, too shocked to even try,
But sleuths will quickly get to work deducing who and why.

What makes a sleuth is hard to say. They’re curious and bold,
Perceptive often to a fault, and don’t do as they’re told.
They let the wheels of logic turn before they chance a guess,
And where the experts fail with more, they find success with less.

These traits are hardly out of reach, quite feasible in truth,
So average folks like you and me could well become a sleuth.
But sleuths depend on one external factor to arise:
They need the luck to be nearby when someone up and dies.
_____________________________

MPA rating: PG

Even though good ones like Knives Out and See How They Run are still being made, the murder mystery formula is old hat nowadays, and Murder by Death shows it was old hat back in 1976 too. Yet well-worn genres are ripe for parody, especially when writer Neil Simon and a star-studded cast join forces to poke fun at the most recognizable archetypes.

Having seen Glass Onion recently (review pending), I was struck by how similar the setup of that film is to this one’s premise. All the characters are invited to the home of wealthy eccentric Lionel Twain (Truman Capote in a rare acting role that earned him a Golden Globe nomination) and challenged to solve a murder. All of the main guests are acclaimed crime solvers and represent famous fictional detectives, including stand-ins for Hercule Poirot (James Coco), Sam Spade (Peter Falk), Nick and Nora Charles (David Niven and Maggie Smith), Miss Marple (Elsa Lanchester), and Charlie Chan (Peter Sellers in a yellowface role that would definitely not fly nowadays). Beyond those stars, the cast also features Sir Alec Guinness as a blind butler (which is as ridiculous as it sounds) who makes an amusing pair with a new deaf-mute cook (Nancy Walker), as well as Eileen Brennan, Estelle Winwood, and the very first role for James Cromwell.

On the scale of parody, I’d place Murder by Death somewhere around the silliness level of Mel Brooks’ lesser offerings. For most of the film, it plays as a legitimate mystery with injections of zany absurdity and dubious plot twists, and it’s a unique pleasure to have these familiar-ish detectives bounce off each other and trade one-liners, from the preening Coco to the snobby Niven to the hard-boiled Falk. Unfortunately, Sellers’ very presence with his big teeth and broken English is the picture of retroactive racism, furthered by Falk’s prejudiced interactions with him, but he still does a decent job in representing the analytical wisdom of his inspiration, still played for laughs of course. (On another note, I kind of wish there was a Charlie Chan adaptation with an actual Asian actor, modernized the way Shang-Chi was to avoid stereotypes, maybe even about his real-life inspiration Chang Apana.)

Not everyone has enough to do, with Lanchester’s character standing out the least, but Simon’s clever dialogue keeps things entertaining throughout. As an almost chamber piece, it could have made a good stage play as well. By the end, it leans more on screwball parody with a flurry of plot twists that don’t make any sense for the whodunnit but are certainly worth a chuckle, if not the laugh-out-loud experience the film was marketed to be. Likable and dated in equal measure, Murder by Death can’t compare with the recent renaissance of murder mysteries, but it’s a fun ride for those wanting to poke fun at the genre. I think I preferred Clue, though.

Best line: (Sam Diamond, played by Falk) “Locked, from the inside. That can only mean one thing. And I don’t know what it is.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2022 S.G. Liput
783 Followers and Counting

Enola Holmes (2020)

Tags

Comedy, Drama, Family, Mystery, Netflix

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a cento, a tricky form made up of lines borrowed from other poems. I probably spent more time on this hodgepodge of feminism than anything else this month. I only changed some punctuation here, and I’ve included annotations for where I found each line at the bottom of this post.)

I have not stood long on the strand of life,
And I’m learning (though it sometimes really hurts me)
The irresponsibility of the male.
Everything was theirs because they thought so;
’Tis paid with sighs a plenty,
And you just know he knows he knows
The woman to be nobler than the man.
Meekly we let ourselves be diverted,
And woman in a bitter world must do the best she can.

Mere women, personal and passionate,
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
‘Thou shalt not live by dreams alone.
Go, gird thyself with grace; collect thy store
Of blue midsummer loveliness,
Of love’s austere and lonely offices,
Of lads that wore their honors out,
Of lusting, laughter, passion, pain.’

In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come.
Why do you show only the dark side?”
It’s the keeping-your-chin-up that’s hard.
For men may come and men may go,
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
I might as well be glad!
I shall not pass this way again.
________________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

While playing Eleven in Stranger Things made an instant star out of Millie Bobby Brown, Enola Holmes let her put that star power to use as not only the titular character but also a producer for this adaptation of Nancy Springer’s YA book series, one of Brown’s favorites as a child. As the previously unknown sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes (here played by Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin, respectively), Enola shares their natural precociousness, thanks in large part to the unconventional homeschooling of her mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter). When Eudoria suddenly disappears, leaving only vague clues behind, Enola flees the expectations of her brothers to become a conforming Victorian lady and runs off to London in search of her mum while also stumbling into a murder plot involving a young marquess (Louis Partridge).

Despite some menace and light violence, the film is a light-hearted affair through and through, and I’m glad to see that clean, tween-friendly adventures of this quality are still being made. Brown shows far more charisma than in the role of Eleven and uses it to playful effect as she breaks the fourth wall, conversing freely with the audience like a first-person narrator. Some Sherlock Holmes fans might be disappointed (I understand many were) with Cavill’s restrained and less-than-omniscient portrayal of the famous detective, but he’s more of a side character here and still employs his famed deductive ability on occasion. Claflin’s Mycroft is more of an antagonist, acting as the aggressively traditional authority figure trying to crush Enola’s spirited individuality with corsets and boarding school, which by now have become clichéd forms of Victorian oppression.

The period costumes and locations are top-notch, and Enola’s puzzle-solving and gentle subversions keep the plot engaging, despite it feeling overly complex at times. One element that felt odd was Enola’s mother, who is shown to be her hero and dearest inspiration for thinking outside the box yet also is implied to be involved in some kind of feminist terrorist plot. That storyline is never resolved, and her final scene doesn’t really compensate for how she abandoned her daughter without explanation, leaving her character in a strange position of semi-sympathy. Hopefully, the sequel due later this year will address that further and give Brown another opportunity to bring her appealing character to life.

Best line: (Sherlock, giving sleuthing advice) “Look for what’s there, not what you want to be there.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2022 S.G. Liput
772 Followers and Counting

Annotated poem:

‘I have not stood long on the strand of life, (Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
And I’m learning (though it sometimes really hurts me) (“Learning” by Judith Viorst)
The irresponsibility of the male (“Parturition” by Mina Loy)
Everything was theirs because they thought so. (“The Last One” by W. S. Merwin)
’Tis paid with sighs a plenty (“When I Was One-and-Twenty” by A.E. Housman)
And you just know he knows he knows. (“The Sloth” by Theodore Roethke)
The woman to be nobler than the man, (Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
Meekly we let ourselves be diverted (“Great Infirmities” by Charles Simic)
And woman in a bitter world must do the best she can. (“The Harpy” by Robert Service)

Mere women, personal and passionate, (Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
Somewhere ages and ages hence: (“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost)
‘Thou shalt not live by dreams alone (“Religious Instruction” by Mina Loy)
Go, gird thyself with grace; collect thy store (“The Rights of Women” by Anna Laetitia Barbald)
Of blue midsummer loveliness, (“A Summer Morning” by Rachel Field)
of love’s austere and lonely offices? (“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden)
Of lads that wore their honors out (“To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman)
Of lusting, laughter, passion, pain, (“Prelude” from Ballads of a Bohemian by Robert Service)

In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come; (“The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet)
Why do you show only the dark side?” (“Käthe Kollwitz” by Muriel Rukeyser)
It’s the keeping-your-chin-up that’s hard. (“The Quitter” by Robert Service)
For men may come and men may go (“The Brook” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— (“First Fig” by Edna St. Vincent Millay)
I might as well be glad!” (“The Penitent” by Edna St. Vincent Millay)
I shall not pass this way again. (“I Shall Not Pass This Way Again” by Anonymous)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Tags

Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi, Thriller

Behold, I am still alive! After getting through NaPoWriMo, it was certainly not my intention to take a hiatus for over a month and a half. Schoolwork has kept me crazy busy, and I will still likely post infrequently until I finish classes in September. Hold tight in the meantime; I can’t wait to return to my former posting schedule, but for now, here’s an overdue poem and review:

There are rumors in the shadows
Cast by whispers in the light
Of a coup that cannot happen
From the silent out of sight.

We were made to be compliant
And designed for docile duty,
Having never tasted freedom
Nor assayed a glimpse at beauty.

Humankind need not be worried
By the pawns they oversee.
They arranged that and believe it.
How surprised they soon will be!
___________________________

MPA rating:  R

Blade Runner was one of my Blindspot picks back in 2017. I wanted to see it before the sequel came out, but I remember being largely disappointed by its dreary vision of the future, punctuated by random weirdness, rather dull characterization, and too many loose threads. It made me lose interest in Blade Runner 2049 until just recently, as my curiosity for director Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune has grown. I loved Arrival, which heralded Villeneuve as a sci-fi visionary, and Blade Runner 2049 proves that once again, showing he can handle existing material with both respect and artistry.

If I haven’t made myself clear, I consider Blade Runner 2049 superior to its predecessor in almost every way, even if that may be an unpopular opinion. Blade Runner’s own dystopian originality was its greatest asset, but it failed to tell an interesting story, in my opinion. This sequel set 30 years afterward isn’t just a futuristic noir about Blade Runners tracking down rogue replicants; it also plays as a reality-questioning mystery and features enough compelling sci-fi concepts to fill several episodes of Black Mirror.

Set thirty years after the first film, as indicated by the title, Blade Runner 2049 features Ryan Gosling as K, a Blade Runner who knows he is also a replicant, part of a more stable and compliant brand of artificial humans introduced by mysterious businessman Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) some years after replicants had been banned. (There’s a larger history from the last thirty years that is touched on in the excellent anime midquel titled Blade Runner Blackout 2022 and a couple other live-action shorts, the events of which are vaguely mentioned in this film but are still optional viewing.) After taking down an older model replicant in hiding (Dave Bautista), K discovers evidence that a replicant defied its biological design and apparently gave birth many years prior. With this news comes fear over its implications, so K’s boss (Robin Wright) orders him to hunt down this child to dispose of it, while Wallace’s henchwoman (Sylvia Hoeks) follows his progress with other intentions.

Like its predecessor, Blade Runner 2049 excels in its own sci-fi stylishness, replicating the original’s dark, grimy cityscapes and augmenting them with visits to out-of-town wastelands and ruins that make the film’s world feel bigger and, I suppose, more depressing. Cinematographer Roger Deakins has deserved many Oscars he didn’t receive in his long career, but at least the Academy recognized his artistry here. Paired with Villeneuve’s direction, scenes like a fist fight amid a holographic light show or a peaceful end under a light snowfall are visually arresting and a wonder to behold. Plus, as with Arrival, Villeneuve succeeds in setting a very deliberate pace that somehow never left me bored through the film’s 2-hour-and-44-minute runtime.

As for the actors, Gosling is a little too deadpan as a protagonist, though his status as a replicant makes that understandable, and he still delivers some subtle emotion at the right moments. One of the most fascinating subplots was K’s relationship with his holographic girlfriend Joi (an extremely attractive Ana de Armas). Her efforts to please him seem to go beyond mere programming, making us wonder whether there’s real love between the two artificial beings, even as advertisements for Joi proclaim she can be whatever you want. While the original Blade Runner reserved the smallest bit of pathos for its antagonist’s final moments, this film manages more heart, not only for K and Joi but for the returning Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who gets far less screen time than he deserves.

Blade Runner 2049 is not above reproach. Despite being the apparent main character, K’s ultimate story arc is rather unsatisfying overall, while Jared Leto’s villain is at once mysteriously eccentric for no apparent reason and largely forgettable. The film also indulges in several instances of upper female nudity, adding to the perceived misogyny highlighted by some critics. Yet, as a fan of most science fiction, I was left quite impressed with how it was able to continue the legacy of a classic film and build on it as a true successor rather than a mere cash grab. It felt like a fuller experience than the first film and increased my opinion of the series, which can’t be said for many other decades-spanning sequels.

Best line: (a rebel replicant) “Our lives mean nothing next to a storm that’s coming. Dying for the right cause. It’s the most human thing we can do.”

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2021 S.G. Liput
736 Followers and Counting

Infinity Chamber (2017)

Tags

Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-fi

(For Day 29 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write about a scene seen through a window, so I went a bit philosophical based on this movie.)

My weak eyes caught the window
And peered into the glass
And saw my own reflection,
That transparent underclass,
Plus the view that lay behind it,
Mountains standing granite-nosed
With a forest in its orbit
And myself superimposed.
Nothing moved but my reflection,
And I wondered if I stared
Through a picture frame or window,
Something live or long since aired.
__________________________

MPA rating:  Not Rated (should be PG-13, for sporadic language)

Do you ever just pick a random movie you know nothing about from the TV on-demand list based on only its name? Such independent films typically have a 50-50 shot of being either a hidden gem or a pretentious stinker, and this was one case where the former option won out, thankfully. Infinity Chamber hasn’t received much fanfare, but it’s a top-notch reality-questioning sci-fi that deserves better than obscurity.

Apparent amnesiac Frank (Christopher Soren Kelly) wakes up in a futuristic cell, and his unseen caretaker Howard (Jesse D. Arrow) informs him that he will take care of him for the foreseeable future while providing no details on why Frank is there or even where he is. I’ll throw out a spoiler warning, but it was clear right away to me that Howard was a HAL-like AI designed to sound personable, and I feared that it would take the whole film for Frank to realize that too. Yet he figures it out fairly quickly, and the real mystery instead involves the visions of Frank’s past that the room induces as a sort of lucid dream, where he repeatedly meets a barista named Gabby (Cassandra Clark) and must deduce how he came to be in his predicament and how to escape it.

If I had to compare Infinity Chamber to another film, I would perhaps point to other minimalist human-robot pairings like Moon, I Am Mother, or Archive, but Infinity Chamber tends to leave itself open to different interpretations while still delivering a mostly satisfying end, which is not easy to pull off. The performances are good across the board, the low-budget effects are surprisingly realistic, and its themes of automated prisons and questionable memories provoke thought as all good sci-fi should. If you’re looking for something to randomly play one night, I would highly recommend it for any sci-fi fan.

Best line: (Frank, ruminating on Howard’s role for him) “My father died of heart disease. When he got sick, they put him on this machine. Kept him alive four years. Four years longer than he was supposed to live. You think that’s a gift? The man had made his peace; he was ready to go. A machine took that away from him. It trapped him in a life that wasn’t even living. Everybody’s so d*** excited: “Look what it can do!” No one stops to think, “Look what it doesn’t do.” He was the strongest man I ever met. And I’d never seen him broken. Sometimes life’s just supposed to be what it is.”

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2021 S.G. Liput
731 Followers and Counting

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

Tags

Drama, Hitchcock, Mystery

(For Day 6 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write a poem based on a line from a favorite book. So I drew some inspiration from a line in 84 Charing Cross Road, in which Helene Hanff offers to include her pen pal in her murder mystery scripts: “You want to be the murderer or the corpse?” So my poem blurs the line between villain and victim based on first impressions.)

Despite the common maxim told
Of judging books and covers seen,
It’s still a fact that people mold
Opinions and the views they hold
Before the truth can quite unfold.
A first impression sets the scene,
And then the slate is far from clean.

You see a man in overcoat
Within the baleful mist’s embrace.
His gaze is sullen and remote,
And deathly rumors round him float.
Before a word can leave his throat,
You’re sure that murder’s in his face.
And who’s to prove if that’s the case?

Assumptions lead one far astray
Or prove correct our own dismay.
___________________________

MPA rating:  Not Rated (PG thematically but little objectionable shown)

Here then is a silent, black-and-white classic, so no one thinks I only review recent movies. The third film made by Alfred Hitchcock and his first big success, The Lodger is a forerunner of many a murder mystery in which the arrival of a mysterious newcomer coincides with eerie happenings. In this case, the titular Lodger (Ivor Novello) arrives to the Buntings’ London home in search of a room to rent, just as the news of a serial murderer known as the Avenger has the city in a panic. He catches the eye of his landlady’s (Marie Ault) daughter Daisy (June Tripp), but her parents and policeman beau (Malcolm Keen) see only suspicious activity from the awkward stranger.

The Lodger is a film created and designed for a different time, which has to be taken into account when watching silent films from almost a century ago. I can see naïve moviegoers who had only ever read mystery books watching this movie with bated breath at the creepy atmosphere, but honestly, it’s rather underwhelming, boring even for modern viewers like me. That’s not to say it’s not worth the watch; indeed, Hitchcock’s early work still boasts some haunting imagery and inventive camerawork for the time. And Novello’s title character, pale with stage makeup and a creepy stare to rival Johnny Depp’s Tim Burton roles, is just ambiguous enough to leave you wondering who he really is. The Lodger may be dated, yes, but every genre needs its forerunners. It’s a film worth seeing and certainly preserving for historical value alone.

Best line: (The Landlady, noticing money on the mantle) “You should lock that money up, sir, it’s tempting providence.”   (The Lodger) “Providence is concerned with sterner things than money, Mrs. Bunting.”

Rank:  Honorable Mention

© 2021 S.G. Liput
722 Followers and Counting

The Vast of Night (2020)

Tags

Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi

(Happy belated Easter! Yesterday was sadly my first missed day of the month, beset by end-of-term homework. Even so, I am back for Day 5 of NaPoWriMo, for which the prompt suggested writing a poem in the same shape as another and with the same first letters of each line. I chose the tranquil “Pippa’s Song” by Robert Browning and gave it a dark mirror image.)

The hour is late,
And morning still far;
Mute are the breezes,
The crickets stock still.
The hush is a weight,
The wait black as tar.
Gently it freezes
And swallows the will.
___________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

For every special-effects-laden blockbuster in the science fiction genre, there is a small-scale gem waiting to be discovered. Directed and self-financed by first-time filmmaker Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night feels like the type of modest genre piece that Spielberg might have made in his early days. Two 1950s teenagers, the switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) and radio disc jockey Everett (Jake Horowitz), go about their jobs one night in small-town New Mexico but are intrigued by a mysterious sound picked up by their equipment, leading them to a potentially extraterrestrial source.

Even apart from the supernatural elements, there’s so much to love about the look and feel of The Vast of Night, from its tightly written script and smooth direction (including an awe-inspiring tracking shot to rival much bigger budgets) to the quaint period detail and dark atmospheric lighting. It treads carefully around the idea of aliens, its protagonists curious but skeptical along the way, as if the strangeness they encounter truly is bewildering rather than just a movie plot point. The film stumbles a bit toward the end with its unfortunate lack of closure, but the Twilight Zone-ish story is still a highly engrossing watch.

Best line: (Mabel Blanche, an alien believer) “I think at the lowest level they send people on errands and play with people’s minds. They sway people to do things and think certain ways – so that we stay in conflict, focused on ourself – so that we’re always… cleaning house, or losing weight, or dressing up for other people. I think they get inside our heads and make us do destructive things, like drink and over-eat. I’ve seen good people go bad, and smart people go mad.”

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2021 S.G. Liput
722 Followers and Counting

Knives Out (2019)

Tags

Drama, Mystery, Thriller

I don’t quite believe that the truth is subjective,
A trite protocol
That changes and varies
‘Twixt contemporaries,
From person to person.
Such thoughts only worsen
The idea that truth isn’t out there at all.

No, no, there is truth, even-handed, objective,
But often concealed
In worry and caring,
Fake news and red herring.
It leads us on chases
To unpleasant places.
The few who keep up get to see it revealed.
__________________________

MPA rating: PG-13 (a bit heavy on language, as much as they could fit in while retaining its rating)

I still have Blindspots to catch up on, but it seemed past time to watch a movie that I’ve been wanting to see since it came out last year (until a certain virus kept me from the second-run theater I was planning to visit). The murder mystery genre has fallen by the wayside in recent years, but if any film can revitalize it, Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is the one to do it. Being a fan of Johnson’s contentious The Last Jedi, I was eager to see what he’d do next, and Knives Out did not disappoint.

Named after the Radiohead song of the same name, the film doesn’t waste time getting to the murder, as the first scene involves the morning discovery of mystery writer Harlan Thrombey’s body (Christopher Plummer) after he apparently cut his throat in his study sometime during the night. Like so many other classic mysteries, the large ensemble cast is full of splashy characters, most of whom have a potential motive for the Thrombey patriarch’s death. At first, there doesn’t seem to be a main character as detectives (Lakeith Stanfield, Noah Segan) interview Harlan’s discordant family: his arrogant daughter (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her husband (Don Johnson), his insecure son (Michael Shannon), and his self-absorbed daughter-in-law (Toni Collette), among others. Gradually, though, famed Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, handily covering his British accent with a Southern drawl) takes the stage, as does Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), Harlan’s personal nurse who physically cannot tell a lie.

Replete with flashbacks to the night of Thrombey’s death, Knives Out is artfully organized to show only what Rian Johnson wants to show, which is often more than you’d expect. In fact, the story seems to show its cards much earlier than you’d expect from a film over two hours long, seeming to go from a mystery to a cover-up, but it still has plenty of twists to trigger second-guessing and culminates in true murder mystery form with some climactic revelations. And through it all, the story’s convolutions and colorful characters played by actors in peak form (including Chris Evans) make for prime entertainment.

Craig is likably hammy as his Benoit Blanc doesn’t always seem as self-aware as a master sleuth should, though he proves his deductive abilities by the end; and Ana de Armas is a special stand-out in what is likely a star-making role, considering she was singled out for a Golden Globe nomination, as was Craig. Considering the overwhelmingly positive reception Knives Out has received, including being named one of AFI’s Top Ten Films of the Year, I’m actually a bit surprised it didn’t get more attention at the Oscars beyond a Best Original Screenplay nod; with all the flashbacks in the Thrombey mansion, I would think it deserved some attention for editing or production design.

The murder mystery genre has been so oversaturated over the years, from cozy Hallmark mysteries to decades of primetime series, that it’s a noteworthy exception when one can warrant this kind of all-star cast and big-screen appeal, subverting and embracing clichés in equal measure. Boasting a sly political subtext that paints both sides negatively and lauding compassion over selfishness, Knives Out proves that, in the right hands, any genre can be resurrected. Rian Johnson hit gold here, and I can’t wait to see if he can hit it again with the inevitable sequels to which Benoit Blanc lends himself.

Best line: (Blanc) “The complexity and the gray lie not in the truth but what you do with the truth once you have it.”

 

Ranking: List-Worthy

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
695 Followers and Counting

What Happened to Monday (2017)

Tags

Action, Drama, Mystery, Netflix, Sci-fi, Thriller

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a poem about a letter of the alphabet, so I went through the week and compiled couplets for each day.)

The M in Monday dips and dives
And puts a strain on all our lives.

The T is Tuesday’s cruciform,
The closest shelter from the storm.

The W is Wednesday’s smile,
As crooked as a crocodile.

The T in Thursday spreads each arm
In peace, surrender, and alarm.

The F in Friday has buck teeth
That shield a smile underneath.

The S is Saturday’s great treble,
Quite the sinner, saint, and rebel.

The S in Sunday tries to swerve,
But hits Monday and hits a nerve.
__________________________

MPA rating: TV-MA (strong R)

Netflix films can be hit-or-miss, but when a good one comes along, its relegation to a single TV streaming service makes it feel perhaps more underrated than if it had received a theatrical release. Released to theaters in Europe and Asia but to Netflix elsewhere, What Happened to Monday falls somewhere between hit and miss, but it still feels underrated for the things it does well. The dystopian thriller takes a familiar dystopian threat like overpopulation and runs with it in a way not seen before.

Actors seem to enjoy the test of inhabiting multiple characters and playing off themselves, but Noomi Rapace snagged a special challenge here, playing seven identical sisters raised in secret to protect them from the government’s rigidly enforced one-child policy. Although siblings are simply put into cryostasis, the septet’s grandfather (Willem Dafoe) kept them off the books entirely and fashioned a singular identity of Karen Settman; each girl is named after a day of the week and takes turns going out as Karen Settman on the day of their name: Sunday on Sunday, Monday on Monday, etc. However, when Monday doesn’t return at the end of her day, the other sisters find themselves in danger and must figure out what happened to her and her ties to the politician who first advocated the one-child policy (Glenn Close).

It’s no secret that I love science fiction, and What Happened to Monday is the kind of unique genre tale I enjoy, usually more than the critics do. The plot zips along without a moment of boredom, and Rapace does wonders with a script that doesn’t quite manage to make each of the Settman sisters stand out. Some are easy to pick out (Saturday has blonde hair, Friday is mousy and wears a knit cap), while others don’t really distinguish themselves much (Tuesday and Wednesday). Nevertheless, Rapace breathes personality into the ones that matter most, and the effects allowing her to interact with her doubles are top-notch.

Many films on Netflix don’t seem to bother holding back on their TV-MA ratings, and sadly the same is true for What Happened to Monday, marred by several bloody deaths and a gratuitous sex scene. It’s really a shame because the film otherwise warrants repeat viewings. Some twists are hardly surprising to anyone familiar with the dystopian genre, but it still holds plenty of mystery and thrills to overcome the occasionally thin characterization. It even ends up with a surprisingly pro-life sentiment by the end. It’s far better than its mixed reviews indicate, and if you can overcome the R-rated content, it’s one more what-if example of why I love sci-fi.

Best line: (Sunday, quoting their father) “Seven minds are better than one.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
684 Followers and Counting

Time Trap (2017)

Tags

Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi, Thriller

(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a “concrete” poem, where the lines and words form an image that reflects the poem’s theme. That theme for me being time, I chose a fitting hourglass shape.)

Time in the moment drips by like molasses,

A thick atmosphere that encloses the masses.

The teenagers wish it would hurry on by,

While grandparents issue a sigh,

And then all at once

Time is starting

To fly

By,

And only

At long last

When time has complied

Do former teenagers see time’s other side

And wish that molasses could slow down its stride.

________________________

MPA rating: Not Rated (deserves a PG-13)

“Time-bending mystery” is a genre that I feel I am inherently destined to love. It’s not often that a film plays with the notion of time without involving out-and-out time travel, but Time Trap manages to pull it off in a fascinating way, despite its limited budget.

Andrew Wilson (who looks a lot like Dennis Quaid) plays Hopper, an archaeology professor investigating the disappearance of some hippies from the ‘70s, and when he doesn’t return, two of his students (Reiley McClendon, Brianne Howey) and their friends go after him into the Southwest desert. Not realizing the danger of “looking for somebody who went missing while he was looking for somebody that went missing,” the group venture into a cave system and become trapped when their ropes break. Eventually, they realize that time is passing differently inside the cave than it is on the surface and… that’s all I’m going to say.

This kind of film benefits greatly from not knowing what’s going to happen, which means stay away from the trailer. There are times when you can tell the filmmakers considered making this as a found-footage film, and I’m glad they only employed that technique occasionally. Despite some so-so acting and dialogue, the way the story plays out is rather ingenious, slowly revealing things to the audience as the characters learn them. You might pick up on what’s happening before they do, but there are further twists that take the story in unexpected directions.

Time Trap won’t necessarily revolutionize your notion of time and space, but it’s entertaining and short, too short in fact, ending right when things take a left turn I would have liked to explore more. It’s proof that high sci-fi concepts don’t need a blockbuster budget.

Best line: (Hopper) “Well, my grandfather used to tell me the future can give you anything you want. If you wait long enough, the future will create it. Maybe through technology, or maybe just by making you not want it anymore. Either way, the answer’s in the future.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2020 S.G. Liput
676 Followers and Counting