Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2019)

SPOILERS...
Saying anything about Knives Out risks being a spoiler, including saying that "saying anything about Knives Out risks being a spoiler." So don't read anything about it before your first viewing.
Here I will say just a few words, focusing on one significant aspect of Knives Out which is an extraordinarily entertaining and clever film.
What recent films can Knives Out be compared to? Coincidentally (and I think it is coincidentally but remarkably) it is Get Out. Get Out took horror film ideas and played them masterfully, but also made us uncomfortable by using them to look at ourselves. Get Out definitely changed how I saw the world, and I hope it changed how I behaved as well.
Knives Out similarly draws attention to how we interact with those less well off than us. It begins in the home of a rich family, with a wealthy author who has really produced something of worth, and his no-good family who have coasted on his wealth but believe they are deserving of that wealth. There are two servants, forgettable people who float around in the background and are sometimes very patronisingly treated as "friends". The similarity between the treatment of these two, and the treatment of the boyfriend in Get Out is striking. You no doubt remember "I would have voted for Obama a third time if I could", In Knives Out you have "I thought you should have come to the funeral, but I was outvoted". This line is funny, but it is powerful too. It shows how even when the servants are treated as friends, they are "servant friends", they are dependent on us (we hope) and so we can interact with them when we want, we can throw them a few minor rewards (a joint, an offer of a stipend) and they will keep running back to us.
I live in Europe now but have lived many years in the USA and this treatment of servants, meaning immigrants who are extremely dependent on us, is precisely as depicted in Knives Out. (Europeans do this too, but this is an American film). By no means is this anthropological precision the main source of interest for Knives Out, but it intrigued me how well Rian Johnson (really a genius) was able to capture this aspect of American life. And, as you will see, it is very important to the film. It can be appreciated for the first time without observing any of this, but it becomes much richer once you do.
It is noteworthy that Sleuth, one predecessor of Knives Out that is perhaps its equal was also deeply concerned with class and entitlement.
I think Knives Out is a masterpiece.