19 December 2019

Recommendation

Three people had separately recommended "Knives Out" to me in recent weeks. This afternoon I went to see it without much idea of what I was about to witness.

It enjoys a star-studded cast including Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis and Daniel Craig. It is mostly set in a grand country house somewhere in Massachusetts. That house is owned by a successful murder mystery writer called - almost bizarrely - Harlan Thrombey.

Why did Harlan Thrombey die on the night of his 85th  birthday party?

It is a clever, sometimes amusing modern take on the traditional "whodunnit". There are twists and turns, an intuitive private investigator (Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc) and a surprising conclusion. Some of it verges on the unbelievable - deliberate melodrama by the writer/director  Rian Johnson.

When it comes to the world of film we all have different preferences. If you enjoy crime drama and "whodunnits" in the vein of Agatha Christie you will probably be blown away by "Kinves Out".  However, it simply was not my cup of tea.

I get sick and tired of film dramas and TV shows that are built around murders and the activities of clever detectives. To me it is a tired, rather boring formula that I have difficulty relating to. I prefer gritty realism or films about everyday life that are either tender or disturbing. Why does there always have to be killing? I don't come across killing in my real life so why should it keep cropping up in cinema listings?

Good stories do not have to include  death  and rich drama that truly resonates with audiences can be drawn from the unlikeliest of situations by talented film makers who avoid opting for the lowest common denominator.

30 comments:

  1. It is funny how so many dramatic productions center on a murder. I guess it's the most dramatic thing most writers can come up with, unfathomable as it is in most of our daily lives. (Fortunately.)

    I think I heard negative things about this movie, but I may be confusing it with another one.

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    1. Its reviews are mostly four or five star...but in terms of my own enjoyment I would give it a two star rating.

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  2. Agatha Christie could have written this movie. Loved it, except for the miscasting of the main character - Daniel Craig was just wrong.

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    1. As I say, different strokes for different folks Jaaney.

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  3. I understand your review x

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  4. I used to act some and one of the things we did yearly was to do a completely farcical murder mystery. They were comedies of the lowest order, absurd and ridiculous but with all the usual tropes of the genre. They were always done as dinner theater and the audience would be involved. I liked them because they WERE so absurd and they allowed for great gobs of improvisation. We had so much fun doing those shows! I remember once we'd been in rehearsal for a week or so before the "murderer" figured out that she was indeed the killer.
    But that was entirely different.
    I doubt I'll see "Knives Out" unless it's on Netflix and I have a lot of ironing to do. And then...maybe.

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    1. A real life actress! May I have your autograph when next you waltz down the red carpet?

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  5. I suspect that the genre which you dislike so much is popular simply because it is generally unreal escapism. I rarely watch it. Life is so full of gritty realism that many find the sheer volume of it overwhelming. I rarely watch it. To me the films made by people like Ken Loach or Room at The Top and so on or Le Jour Se Lève (I loved Marcel Carné's films) were ground breaking and socially important but if I want modern gritty realism I'll just watch the news.

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    1. To continue my thoughts - I think that what I mostly like is films that speak to me about what it is to be human. Murder mysteries just don't do that.

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  6. I don't enjoy movies anymore; they're too loud at the theatre and I have too many books to read at home! But to justify my commenting at all, I will just say that I agree with Graham that real life is disturbing enough; I don't want to spend my leisure time taking more of it in, not just the murder genre but also the gritty realism to which you referred. That's just my personal preference and clearly other folks prefer other things

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    1. Perhaps my use of the term "gritty realism" slightly missed the mark. I like films that sing to me about what is to be human...like "The Last Picture Show", "Nebraska", "Papillon", "Once Upon A Time in America", "Titanic" and even "La La Land".

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    2. Ah. I never thought of them as "gritty realism" so I misunderstood you. I thought you were referring to the myriad of programmes on television which, from their trailers, seem to vie for the most mind-chilling way of exposing human weakness or unpleasantness. I've not seen nor heard of Nebraska but all the other films you've mentioned are, in my mind, pure escapism. So we all have totally different ways of interpreting things, don't we?

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    3. You and I agree on the definition of "gritty realism", YP, but I'm wondering if it's simply the movie format I don't care for, not the topics you mentioned, because I will read a book like that - I just don't care to see a movie. I do find that I can't stop thinking about how the actors are just acting. Rarely do I see any kind of movie or TV show in which I can really believe in the story. I guess that's a different problem altogether, isn't it?

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  7. Oh dear, it is the season for confession so I must admit to a more than fondness for the murder mystery series . It started in my youth with Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford and progressed from Midsomer Murders and Heartbeat to Morse, Lewis, Endeavour, Foyle's War, Vera and Shetland with a side trip to France and Italy for Maigret, Brunetti and Camilleri among others. Yes they are formulaic but they all deal with relationships, choices and consequences. However the murder and who dunnit aspect is not what keeps me watching, but the characters, the language and the landscapes do.
    Down here in the Antipodes we are surrounded by natural beauty but my city following our earthquakes now has few buildings more than 100 years old. So to fill this gap many of us fly north in search of the man made history our forebears left behind but which we have a longing for.
    Those TV series and books inspired a longing in me to wander the streets of Hastings and Oxford and breathe the wild air of Northumberland and Shetland for myself. Donna Leon's Brunetti series gives an insider's look at the struggles facing Venetians today from excess tourism ( a problem facing NZ too) but mostly they're about the man, his family and what his wife will be serving for their evening meal.
    I too like the grittiness of Ken Loach but I also grew up on All Creatures Great and Small and I love the way a series like Call the Midwife portrays the changes in our social history and attitudes. A reminder that they weren't all good old days.
    Do you by chance transform on the 24th from Yorkshire Pudding to Christmas Pudding?

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    1. Thank you for your honest reflections Adele. You must have witnessed a whole lot of fictional murders over the years! Each to their own. A book I loved in the the 1980's was "The Bone People" by Keri Hulme. Have you read it? I don't think it has been turned into a film but it sang beautifully of New Zealand.

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    2. P.S. I turn into a flaming Christmas Pudding...so watch out!

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  8. I have read positive reviews of this film and I do want to see it just as an escapism type movie. I also like the cast in Knives Out. This is not my favorite type of movie but it looks like it could be a fun movie as opposed to a more serious murder mystery.

    You say you like gritty realism and disturbing movies. Have you seen Joker? You will definitely see gritty realism and it is disturbing. It's a hard movie to watch and I can't say I enjoyed it but I can say it has some of the best acting I have seen in a long time. Joaquin Phoenix is an amazing actor in this dark movie.

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  9. I like Jamie Lee Curtis so if that film should make it to German TV at some stage, I may watch it. It does not sound attractive enough for me to go to the cinema for it.
    What Graham says about the genre being so popular because it is unreal escapism for most people is exactly what an article in my weekly paper said about the subject not long ago: In eras (and areas) of peace, murder mysteries and thrillers are very popular as entertainment, exactly because they do not mirror people's real life. When, on the other hand, you look at what types of films were popular in the 1930s and 40s in Germany, they were "Revue" films, with huge glamorous dancing scenes in sparkling settings, beautiful men and women and great music - the opposite of what people had in their daily lives.

    Like Peng, I love series such as Midsomer Murders, Lewis, Vera and others, but I also like "feel good" movies and am not ashamed to admit to my ongoing love of all things Harry Potter.

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    1. Interesting what you say about German film preferences in the 1930's. We can learn a lot about the progress of humanity through people's leisure and artistic choices.

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  10. I should have made it more clear that I used to enjoy Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Lewis and so on very much. I just don't watch them any more.

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    1. I don't watch "EastEnders" any more.

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    2. YP, it never even occurred to me that you might watch a soap. I think that the last time I followed one was when Ena Sharples was still alive. Those were the days.

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  11. Like Peng, I too enjoy the same murder mysteries. Not having watched TV for many years, they are still new to me so I haven't yet tired of them. I don't watch TV in the summer, so I haven't yet tired of them.
    Gritty realism isn't something I'd look for as entertainment, but perhaps we're all after different form of escapism.

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    1. I don't think I am seeking escape CG. I am seeking better appreciation of what it is to be human and murder mysteries simply don't do that for me. Interesting that your relationship with TV is rather different from most people's.

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  12. I'm looking forward to the movie; it looks funny.

    And why do people enjoy murders? I don't know if they enjoy them or maybe it's a way of dealing with mortality. What Peng said makes sense too. It's not so much about the death as it is about how people respond to it. It's about relationships, values, beliefs, morality. The list goes on.

    That being said, I still like a good comedy the best. If you make me laugh, the writer always has me. I watched "Thor Ragnorak" because I listened to an interview with the director and he made me laugh so much I wanted to watch the movie. Loved the movie.

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    1. Another genre I tend to avoid like the plague is science fiction. I have never seen a "StarWars" film and all the hype surrounding this franchise is quite perplexing to me.

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    2. As a young friend of mine says, you do you:)

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  13. Well we all seem to enjoy the daily fodder of murder and mystery. I think we go to these old dramas because they have become habit-forming. We are used to the stories and the faces are familiar. Perhaps it doesn't say much about our adventurous side in exploring 'avant garde' stuff. But it is a bit like reading favourite old books.

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    1. You are probably right Thelma. Many people take comfort from familiarity...but as the saying goes - in others it can breed something else!

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