Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1192401
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 DECEMBER 2019 FILM FILM STAR Wars did not deserve Rian Johnson, and I say this as a card-carrying, crying-over- The Rise of the Skywalker- trailer Star Wars fan. Written and directed by Johnson, The Last Jedi (2017) is unequivo- cally the most interesting and challenging installment of the saga, and the hard-working, genre-bending filmmaker was pilloried for supposedly he- retical creative decisions by a large and vocal segment of the fandom pretty much the moment after that second in- stallment of the 'new trilogy' made its way to international big screens. Well, good riddance to bad rubbish, because Johnson has re-emerged from the drawing board to give us a drawing- room mystery to literally die for, and Knives Out stands as a testament to his erudite love of genre cinema, and his abil- ity to deliver a riveting piece of mainstream entertainment without dumbing down the proceedings even a little bit. Bestselling and ridiculously wealthy crime novelist Har- lan Thrombey (Chrisopher Plummer) is found dead the morning after his 85th birth- day party, in what appears to be a clear-cut case of suicide after a shocked housekeeper, Fran (Edi Patterson) finds him bleeding out in his studio, his throat neatly slashed open. And while Detective Lieu- tenant Elliot (LaKeith Stan- field) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan) view this as an open and shut case, they are not the only ones with a stake in the investigation. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a private detective of enough renown to earn his own New Yorker profile, claims that an anony- mous source has hired him to apply his impeccable deduc- tive insights to the case. So he sits in while Elliot and Wagner question this eccentric band of family members, freshly griev- ing the death of a patriarch with whom, however, they've all had something of a strained relationship. But Blanc's gim- let eyes – and the expository commentaries delivered in an unforgettable old-world southern drawl – soon zero in on Harlan's diligent immi- grant nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas), who's afflicted with a condition that's manna to any detective: if she tells a lie, she throws up. Beyond being a perfect piece of murder-mystery fun (made all the more perfect by a sprin- kling of postmodern humour that doesn't rock the boat too far into smug territory), Knives Out is a fully-rounded experi- ence of prestige cinema that in lesser hands would have just coasted along the clout of its decorated cast. But even if he may have the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, To- ni Collette and Chris Evans on his roll-call – along with rock-solid veterans like Plum- mer and M. Emmet Walsh and inspiring young 'uns like IT's Martell and Get Out/Sorry to Bother You's Stanfield – John- son keeps his eyes on the prize at all times. Because a good murder mystery demands un- Christmas has come early for lovers of lovingly crafted genre cinema, as The Last Jedi writer- director Rian Johnson returns to his comfort zone to deliver an impressively diligent and wildly entertaining 'locked room' murder mystery Teodor Reljic A fine-tuned family feud Sharpening the focus: Ana de Armas and Daniel Craig form an uneasy alliance in pursuit of the truth behind a suspicious murder-suicide situation at the affluent Thrombey household