Harlan Thrombey is dead. The world-famous mystery writer cut his own throat in his attic on his 85th birthday. This suitably complicated way of going out shocks the entire family, but when the suspicion arises that it could‘ve been murder, all of the potential inheritors of Harlan‘s considerable wealth can point to a person with a motive. This is why master detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig as a southern Columbo) is there to shed light on the countless family bonds and conflicts and find the guilty party if it was, indeed, a murder. Harlan is supported by South American caregiver Marta (Ana de Armas) who knows almost all of the family secrets and can‘t hide anything from Blanc because of her allergic reaction of lying.

After Rian Johnson‘s first film BRICK, which transplants a hardboiled detective story onto a modern high school, KNIVES OUT is a whodunit that balances the fine between a crime thriller and a satire. KNIVES OUT is full of excess: the an all-star ensemble (with the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, and Toni Collette) which shows a rich, white family in the 21st century in all their facettes, the house that is decorated to the brim, and the plot that first amusingly contrasts the statements and memories with the truth and then takes a turn in an entirely different, confusing direction. Some of the traces and clues are dead-ends, but the film has has such a big arsenal up its sleeve that the question of who killed Harlan Thrombey soon becomes the least important one.

Christian Klose

Translation: Elinor Lewy