Knives Out: A Complex Film about Simple Things

foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] let's start at the beginning [Music] Ryan Johnson cares about details details like which side of a car would a character see from a particular side of the road or which side of a pocket watch a character chooses to focus on it's those little things those little bits of character those details you don't even notice until they're suddenly the most important part of the story brick the Brothers Bloom Looper The Last Jedi that one LCD sound system music video that makes me cry they're all like this stories with a seemingly insignificant becomes significant and considering that something like Knives Out was pretty much inevitable written and directed by Ryan Johnson and released in 2019 Knives Out is a whodunit murder mystery an intelligent and lovingly crafted send-up 2 and subversion of the genre that Agatha Christie defined the kind of movie that only in Agatha Christie superfan like Ryan Johnson could have made and arguably more than anything else Ryan Johnson has made it's a film about details little details like the journey Harlan's baseball take throughout the movie or how Richard absent-mindedly hands Marta his empty plate while trying to use her as a prop for his argument about immigration or bigger more obvious details like how the painting of Harlan changes by the end of the movie or how each family member's story puts them at Harlan's side when the cake gets rolled out this is a film where almost every other line of dialogue is some sort of setup for some other payoff where every last bit of visual storytelling is essential to its ultimate Climax and conclusions Knives Out is a very complex movie with so many various threads that are all vital to the story's plot and thematics every detail matters however within that complexity within that obsession with the details is a very simple idea and by counting that simple idea in such a complex and intricate film Ryan Johnson manages to make it something extremely profound and Powerful I'm going to make an argument in this video that out of all these details out of everything this movie is doing on a craft emotional and thematic level there is one detail that matters more than any other and that is that at 24 minutes and 26 seconds Benoit Blanc looks down sees a drop of blood on Marta's shoe and says nothing about it and that detail that choice is the thing that defines this story a complex film about simple things simple things such as this the thrombies suck ass foreign let me just give you a brief overview of who the thrombies are as people there's a lifestyle Guru who loves to flaunt her own perceived moral superiority while obviously just regurgitating whatever she reads on Twitter I read a tweet about a New Yorker article about you a racist cheating douchebag who's probably said at some point in his life we should teach both sides of slavery in America a Real Estate Mogul who loves to talk about how self-made she is while leaving out the million dollar loan from her dad that got her started a fail son whose entire career is built on his father's success an educated granddaughter who seems to be kind and empathetic but only when she doesn't have to actually sacrifice anything and of course a trust fund jackass who has never done anything for himself or others in his entire life These are bad people and the movie makes no secret of that to the point where the movie spends over 15 minutes at the beginning giving you ample reason to dislike them they are liars they are defensive they are pretentious and they do not care about anything or anyone but themselves they are caricatures archetypes big personalities meant to diversify The Ensemble and allow the actors to chew the scenery like a well done steak and oh boy do they chew it but what I think is so remarkable about these characters is not the wonderfully entertaining performances from this stacked cast what I find so remarkable is this I was just thinking about Dad's games feels like one something he'd write not do in a movie where almost every scene is about propelling the plot forward setting something up to be paid off later a scene like this feels odd almost out of place it doesn't give us any plot information any clues about who the Killer really is any real details that we're going to need later it's just a scene of this woman grieving her father's death while her younger brother tries to comfort her and to me this is emblematic of what's so remarkable about this cast and about these characters that as much as they feel like characters they feel like people as much as they feel like pure archetypes they also feel like I could actually know them this could so easily have been that all the thrombies were just waiting for Harlan to Die the only reason they stuck around was for his inheritance and for some of them looking at you Joni that might have been the case but when you have a scene like this where Linda is so obviously actually hurt by the passing of her father you realize that yes these people do suck but they are still people and that's part of what makes them so engaging that's part of what makes these jokes hit so hard and it's an even bigger part of why these people can so easily get under your skin because it's one thing for a character to be designed for you to hate them it's one thing for a character to feel like they came directly from the mind of a writer director Ryan Johnson with the express purpose of you wanting to kick them in the teeth but it's another thing to see that they're human and that they still suck anyway I think that's at least why I hate the thrombies so much because they feel like they could be good decent people if they wanted to be it's not like they don't have the means it's not like they are completely lacking in the humanity necessary to care these are characters who have a choice and the more you look into them with that in mind the more you realize just how deeply insecure these people are how much Walt wants so badly to make his father proud but doesn't believe he could ever make something for himself and has to rely on doing something with his father's work that his father doesn't even believe in how much Joan he is trying so hard to put out this message of being a loving moral and wise woman because she's so afraid of being considered anything else and how she has in many ways passed that down to her daughter the thrombies are so concerned with how they appear not only to the world but to each other that they have made themselves into these caricatures transformed themselves into these archetypes anything to win the game that is being viewed as a worthwhile member of society because that's what this all is isn't it a game that word gets tossed around a lot and knives out the idea of games in another of Linda's more humanizing moments she says of her father we had our own secret way of communicating you had to find that with Dad you'd find a game to play with him there's this implied distance between Harlan and if not just Linda than with all of his children that however he supports them financially he's failed to support them nearly as much emotionally this idea that Harlan communicated in the form of games and shocking twists and most importantly winners and losers and I think that's one of the biggest reasons the thrombies are the way that they are they are essentially self-centered cynics obsessed with winning against perceived adversaries perhaps not because they want to win but because they don't want to lose they can only look at things through the lens of loss and gain that you must gain everything that you can because everything ungained is lost and when we take all this into account it only makes sense then that when Harlan realizes he's going to die his first instinct is to turn all of this into a game putting someone else at the center of that game someone who never had any interest in playing foreign [Music] Cabrera is so noticeably understated quiet human she's so much less expressive than everyone else so much more normal at first glance she should be the least interesting character of the bunch definitely the least entertaining surely the last option of who the story should be focused on and yet after the opening scene of Fran finding Harlan's body who do we cut to but Marva out of everyone Marta is our focal point for a vast majority of the narrative we see most of this story through her eyes not detective extraordinaire Benoit Blanc as he quote anticipates the Terminus of gravity's rainbow no we're following the least likely character to follow and it's because as unlikely as it is she is the most important character in the film because technically as far as she knows she's the killer 32 minutes into this two-hour murder mystery we seemingly learn who done it Marta in an unfortunate medical era resulting from an unfortunate game of Go gave Harlan an overdose of morphine and considering the undocumented status of Marta's mother Harlan decides to do what he does best and turn it all into a game rather than listening to Marta calling an ambulance and trying to save his own life he stages his own suicide and has Marta takes steps to ensure that the average cop will entirely dismiss her as a suspect Marta is seemingly revealed to to be so soon into this movie The Killer we're looking for and just like when Luke threw that lightsaber over his shoulder every single audience expectation is completely and utterly decimated and everything you think this movie is going to be isn't even what it could be anymore and the movie as many others have pointed out before switches genres at this point and suddenly this whodunit turns into a cat and mouse Thriller where we are now following for all intents and purposes the killer as they try to elude our Master detective and I'm rooting for her because for as much of a straight man Marta is to the thromby's eccentricities as uninteresting as she seems at first glance compared to all these other characters there's something about Marta that not only completely separates her from everyone else but makes her exceedingly likable Marta doesn't want to play the game Harlan had good intentions in turning this into a game something for Marta to beat but in everything we see of her her quiet understated nature has never tried to beat anyone or anything she has no interest in winning any game in fact in comparison to everyone else Marta seems surprisingly content with the way her life is she's humble and kind and emotionally intelligent she seemed to really enjoy her job because her job was essentially just being there for a friend she cared about he needed more help medical help he needed a friend that exchange comes right off the heels of that 15-minute Montage of the thrombies lying and posing and just being the general scum of the earth and after that this kind of authenticity and honesty is so refreshing in the midst of all these extreme and extremely dislikable personalities someone like Marta who you would pass on the street without a second thought is suddenly someone it's hard not to get attached to a source of selfless sincerity in an environment that is so deeply ingenuine in part because she literally can't lie without throwing up she is such an honest and genuine person that the mere thought of being anything else causes her to literally vomit even in the situation that she is in where she is being forced to lie or at least withhold the truth it is done not to protect herself but to protect her family I don't care if I go to jail but my mom my sister we Marta is a selfless person acting selfishly to meet selfless ends much unlike the thrombies who could be said to be the exact opposite selfish people acting selflessly to meet selfish ends they claim at multiple points that Marta is a part of their family that they're going to support her no matter what and then when Harlan's will is read and everything Harlan had is given to Marta their immediate reaction is to fight it because they are more than willing to help others but only when they don't actually have to give anything up that would make them losers in the game after all even though most if not all of them would probably be absolutely fine without this inheritance ultimately it all comes back around to playing that game for the thrombies it's all about doing whatever they can to not lose while Marta is only playing this game because she's been convinced that she has to that the only way for her to get through this is to play which is of course the biggest reason why she takes the help of arguably the biggest [ __ ] eater of the family Ransom because he ends up being the one who seems to be on her side even if his motives are less than selfless you could use to remain right now and still get your cut of The Inheritance bye it's [ __ ] my family even when she's forced to work with someone she's never liked even when it makes her uncomfortable even when she feels the guilt piling on the guilt of lying and withholding the truth she keeps playing the game and this all comes to a head when Marta gets a blackmail note in the mail someone knows what she did they've seen the talks report that would prove that Harlan had been overdosed with morphine before he died and she resolves to get that report back with the help of the only other person who knows the truth Ransom after realizing that this blackmailer has the only copy of the report after the coroner's office was burned down and then partaking in the dumbest car chase of all time Marta goes to the Rendezvous point after Ransom has been taken into custody because great Nana Juanita says she saw him climbing down the trellis which Marta assumes to be her being mistaken for ransom and it's there that she finds the body of Fran Harlan's housekeeper seemingly having overdosed on the morphine she stole from Marta's medical bag and when Fran is still alive but obviously dying Marta takes a step back and she hesitates for 10 full seconds she hesitates and in those 10 seconds I can only believe she thinks about what happens if she just leaves she could go no one would be able to tie this to her but after all the lying after all the running around after spending all this time trying to play this game her Victory is in sight all that she could gain but she chooses to call an ambulance and try to save Fran's life that hesitation that detail is key this isn't impulse this isn't her not thinking she knows what happens if she tries to save Fran but she does it anyway and it's that decision that brings us to the Terminus of gravity's rainbow [Music] foreign [Music] let me just skip to the end real quick if I explained every little detail of what happens at the end of this movie it would take like 10 minutes with a safety copy of the talks report found in Fran's weed stash block figures out that Marta didn't actually overdose Harlan that night and with that final piece of the puzzle he's able to deduce that it was actually Ransom who tried to kill Harlan by switching the vials in order to reverse the will being the only person who knew everyone was getting cut out and everything was being given to Marta not accounting for the fact that Marta was a good nurse and knows the difference between morphine and Harlan's regular medication which throws ransom's whole plan out of whack causing him to hire Benoit Blanc to discover that Marta killed Harlan only to realize later on when Marta confesses to him that she didn't give him morphine at all and eventually in his scramble to cover his tracks he's the one who killed Fran only he didn't kill Fran according to Marta and now that he knows The Jig Is up because Fran is going to be able to talk he confesses to trying to kill Fran but whoopsies Hugh Marta actually lied to lure you into confessing and then blue chunks all over you Fran is actually dead and you're undoubtedly going to prison for a very very long time Marta gets the inheritance Ransom is arrested and all is well but it's not that whole explanation that I want to talk about as much as I want to talk about the way this all feeds back into an idea posed by Blanc much earlier that being the complexity and the gray I'm not in the truth what you do with the truth once you have it Knives Out is a film about truth about what people do with the truth once they have it there are three characters who by the end have truth that no one else has Fran Ransom and Marta and each of them does something different with their respective truths Fran has the truth that Ransom had something to do with Harlan's death from her witnessing him rifling through his medical back and what she did with that truth was attempt to Blackmail Ransom and get money out of him Ransom had the truth that Marta didn't overdose Harlan and he attempted to do everything in his power to cover his tracks including committing an actual murder and Marta had the truth that Fran was dead and chose to lie about it in order to trick Ransom into confessing and what I want to note about all of this is that while Fran and Ransom both use these truths in order to pursue their own personal gain Marta used it simply in self-defense there was nothing she stood to actually gain from lying about Fran's death the X extra copy of the tax report would ensure that she's cleared of Harlan's death and by that point I don't think anyone is considering that she's responsible for Fran's murder so ultimately all she's doing is protecting herself against Ransom Ransom who did everything he did because he couldn't see what he was being given by being cut out of the will even though it was right in front of him even though he could see it but still somehow didn't see it because the thrombies only think of things through the framework of gain and loss that gain is the ultimate good lost the ultimate Evil and even those outside the family someone like Fran aren't immune to this she could have spoken up blown the whole case wide open but she chose not to because she wouldn't have actually gained anything from doing that the way that she could by blackmailing Ransom but it's Marta who takes the truth she has and looks not at what she could gain but what she could ultimately lose what Ransom could do to her if he didn't confess and wasn't actually not she does by the end have to play the game but she plays it her way plays it not to withhold the truth as everyone else has but to ultimately inevitably reveal it ransom's plan hinged on Marta being as selfish and cynical as he and the rest of the thrombies are it hinged on Marta choosing to play the game the way every other thrombi would have thinking only of themselves and what they can gain but Marta shows a different option to be kind and to do the right thing and that brings me to the most important detail in knives out that at 24 minutes and 26 seconds Benoit Blanc looks down sees a drop of blood on Marta's shoe and says nothing about it can I ask when did you know I had something to do with heartland's death oh from the first moment you set foot in front of me I want you to remember it's very important you won not by playing the game all on his way for yours you're a good person do you want to know what my favorite part about Knives Out is throughout all of it Benoit Blanc does exactly what he says he's going to do he anticipates the Terminus of gravity's rainbow I determine the ark's path stroll leisurely to its Terminus and the truth Falls with my feet essentially Blanc didn't actually need to do anything in this movie except for the vinyl wrap up at the end he just followed the path and put the pieces together but it was never his actions that led to that Terminus the master detective isn't the one who beats the killer it's Marta when block sees that drop of blood on martyr's shoe at the beginning of the movie he could have said something about it could have interrogated martyr right on the spot and Marta would have coughed it all up the same way she coughs up on Ransom but the most important detail he takes into account perhaps even the only important detail he takes into account that so many others wouldn't have is the fact that Marta is a good person and therefore there must be more to the story does having a kind Hall make you a good news and in that he trusts that Marta the kind nurse will do the right thing when she needs to that she will tell the truth when she needs to the only major decision that Blanc makes is actually one of inaction to let gravity's rainbow go undisturbed and to trust that when given the opportunity people can and will be kind and in everything this movie is doing that's all I think it's really trying to say in an overwhelming complicated world full of nuance and details and a countless number of esoteric and confusing terms it can be easy to get lost to become cynical and detached to just give up and only ever live for ourselves and what we want trying to win this game that we've been convinced that life is trying to win this game because we've been convinced that somebody has to lose and in all of that it can be easy to forget simple truths for how endlessly complex Knives Out is on a thematic and craft level for how much every single line of dialogue is set up for some other payoff for how much every detail matters in some way it's actually a remarkably Simple Story with a decidedly simple idea at its core that when given the opportunity people can be kind and that kindness is not a weakness but a strength perhaps that kindness is all that really matters in the end Ryan Johnson cares about details the kind of details you don't even notice until they're suddenly the most important part of the story details like the person you want to trust more than anyone being the one person who's pulling all of your strings details like what motivates a man after a life filled with violence and Terror and fear details like the hesitation of a Kind nurse who still chooses to do the right thing the person you'd pass on the street without giving them a second thought these details weave themselves together into a beautiful pattern a single move that changes the entire game foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: StoryStreet

Views: 472,277

Keywords: Video Essay, StoryStreet, Knives Out, Rian Johnson, Looper, The Last Jedi, Star Wars, November, The Brother Bloom, Brick, Whodunnit, Murder Mystery, Film

Id: fOX7gOlb8xM

Length: 24min 11sec (1451 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 11 2022