Backstabbers

Rating: 8/10 (12 March 2020)

There is a very good reason why I mean "backstabbers" and not "backstabber" despite the fact that, for those who watched the movie, this whodunit resumes to one miscreant. It is because with "Knives Out", director/writer Rian Johnson created a cast of really unlikable characters--in a good way. If a noire is known for casting evil shadows over everyone, including men who are not inherently evil, then this movie, by definition, is not a noire--it is the opposite: everyone is evil and there are no shadows, but cheeky attitudes and bleakness.
The title is adequate--after Harlan Thrombey, the patriarch of an eccentric, combative family and owner of a large publishing company dies in mysterious circumstances, very few of his family members mourn his passing. They are all metaphorically armed with knives, ready to stab each other in the back for the opportunity this arises. To legendary and aptly named private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) and to us, they all look capable of murder. His family is so well-written, and the movie introduces them all alongside with clear motives in such a way that by the end, whoever's done the deed is as good as anyone else. Not even the innocent caretaker of the family who has befriended Harlan more than anyone else, Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) is completely eliminated from suspicion and this makes the movie work. For de Armas, this is the role to make her career. She proves through her performance she can handle the pressure of the leading act.
"Knives Out" is an entertaining movie to watch and it's all due to its characters more than anything else. Blanc is such a charismatic man! His flamboyance, his Dick Tracy style, this is essentially James Bond if he was born in Mississippi and done police work instead of secret service--he is the kind of guy in cartoons sniffing around with a magnifying glass (something he almost does at one point). Daniel Craig shows off some really comedic chops, all while Johnson is careful not to ridicule him and turning the character into a parody. He is nearly perfect. His Scooby-doo untangling of the case at the end is mesmerizing. And even if you might figure out some of what will unfold--as I did, it is impossible to come up with the entire package. Johnson really went over-the-top with this, almost to a point of paranoia, making sure everyone will be satisfied and surprised with the ending.
Granted, "Knives Out" can be pretty cold. Its attitude resumes to legislative justice and it doesn't go in-too deep about morality or mourning except the usual "be your own man" and "be kind and you will be rewarded" novelties. It does go a bit into racism and migration. Marta, the South-American immigrant whose actual country each member of the family mixes up, is at one point drawn to a dispute about illegal immigrants. The hypocrisy of the Thrombeys is visible as they synthetically pat themselves on the back for the simple fact they accept an immigrant into their midst. It's an ignorant and intriguing form of racism which involves privileged ignoramuses being aware and proud of the fact they accept "lower" people.
Through its circle of knives--both metaphorically and literally--Johnson does manage to find a soft spot of humanity in a scene involving Thrombey's elderly mother Wanetta--who says only about two sentences the entire movie and Blanc. He sympathizes with her struggles with old age and her mourning. Even if his poetic play-of-words is only done to withdraw information, the scene is great in the sense that it draws our attention towards a character who we might've taken as comic relief up until that point.
This movie is for your mind more than for your soul. Even the epic, multi-leveled final shot evokes politics more than human understanding. But I won't argue. Both the former and the latter are necessary.