How Knives Out Switches Genres (Twice)

[@JustWrite]

My next video is going to take a look at the movies that inspired Knives Out, so if you want to watch the movies before I talk about them, they are: ▶ The Last of Sheila ▶ Murder on the Orient Express ▶ Murder by Death ▶ Death on the Nile ▶ The Private Eyes ▶ The Mirror Crack'd ▶ Evil Under the Sun ▶ Deathtrap ▶ Clue ▶ Gosford Park. In for a penny, in for a pound🤓

[@kabulzhan]

Are you from Canada?

[@hankjones7054]

If you're gonna talk about Agatha Christie you should learn how to pronounce Poirot. Here's a hint, it's not 'pwhy-ro' lol

[@thomasgeorge8563]

I want to ask a question , how do you say that a film has good or bad writing? From an audience perspective after a movie is over we say that it was a good film, an ok film or it was a bad film. And when i read reviews about a movie or a tv show i see this “ it has good writing “ or “ it has bad script” how can you watch a movie and say it has a good script or a bad one ?

[@talistheintrovert]

I can't believe you're making a video about all my favourite movies, it's like you're doing it for me specifically :')

[@pkchiu]

what about the Murder of Roger Ackroyd?

[@sudevsen]

WRONG! The story structure of Knives Out resembles a donut within a donut.

[@vitvel]

Hahaha!

[@MrSlidthunder]

Sudev Sen a hole within a hole

[@SamiShah2004]

@@MrSlidthunder "A doughnut hole in the doughnut's hole. But we must look a little closer. And when we do, we see that the doughnut hole has a hole in its center - it is not a doughnut hole at all but a smaller doughnut with its own hole, and our doughnut is not a hole at all!"

[@stoppls1709]

@@SamiShah2004 *brain left the chat*

[@theprofesser9797]

Sami Shah you’re just spit balling here aren’t you?

[@Wonton-the-Sea-Snail]

"That was the dumbest car chase of all time"

[@alex0589]

Seeing Bond being driven in an underwhelming hyundai was just beautiful.

[@---cr8nw]

Nah. You need to watch The Italian Job. The 1969 version. The car chase scene was so bad, it was later used in MacGyver (season 1, episode 3).

[@ginamicarts2077]

@@---cr8nw I think it was the quote from the movie.

[@Muzer0]

@@---cr8nw The Italian Job's extended car chase was about 1/3 of the film, and it was absolutely great, and I will die on this hill :D

[@eddiejc1]

That detective has never seen "Mitchell." Crow T. Robot: "This makes 'Driving Miss Daisy' look like 'Bullit'!" Seriously, do a Google search for "Hot Merging Action" and "Mitchell", and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[@speshnate4211]

I would’ve gotten away with it if weren’t for the detective that I hired.

[@silverdays2909]

Damn detectives, why can't they be bad at their jobs

[@irenemoonly9180]

Scooby doo in a nutshell

[@Dablimpleblorb1]

Tbf this video just explained to you that he’s not a super good detective. You should watch a video before commenting :P Especially if you’re just coming in to be a jerk about a movie you didn’t enjoy

[@rootbourne4454]

@@Dablimpleblorb1why u beefing with a 4 year old joke comment?

[@RRW2.05]

Behold the definition of Irony in a nut shell

[@romilrh]

Even at the very beginning of the movie, Rian Johnson tells us that things aren't going to go the way we anticipate. When the maid discovers Thrombey's dead body, instead of dropping the tray and shrieking like we've seen a million times, she kind of fumbles it, and says "shit". It's like Rian is taunting us

[@bencebotye3904]

"It's not gonna end the way you think!"

[@coachgoltzbizpro23]

Bad habit I guess...

[@MrUtubeize]

Did the director actually say this, or are people just looking too deep into things? I remember all these theories and stuff in Get Out, and Peele said he didn’t mean a lot of what fans had said he did

[@mini-bi8482]

Honestly, I even disappointed 🤣but yah, film good

[@Vircepresident]

Peele is not Rian Johnson.

[@jasongeorgis3483]

I really liked the way that Rian Johnson described Knives Out, the skin of a murder mystery with the engine of a Hitchcock thriller. Brilliant film.

[@FlymanMS]

Also a comedy.

[@MariaVosa]

That is a perfect description!

[@jasongeorgis3483]

@Geralt of Trivia You might say a murder mystery flavored doughnut with a thriller doughnut hole

[@mixxuie]

Jason Georgis and there is a hole in that donut hole that is also a murder mystery

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

Laced with SJW politics.

[@Chandasouk]

"Shut up with that Kentucky fried Foghorn Leghorn drawl!"

[@katherinealvarez9216]

Chandasouk why is that so hilarious to me?

[@sudevsen]

And your goddamn FAWWWRTS!

[@carsfan1995]

Katherine Alvarez I know right? Just can't get that line out of my head I love it!

[@katherinealvarez9216]

@@carsfan1995 I just really liked the actors in this movie, they were all so entertaining.

[@kairos5689]

lemme guess...CSI KFC?

[@MikeAben]

In the second flip, Blanche switches back to being the brilliant detective when he reveals that he knew what Marta did from the get go. Brilliant film!

[@Orenady]

SPOILER WARNING . . . At that point, we learn that his true opponent is Ransom, who is a better criminal than Marta, reaffirming the idea of two equals opposing each other (with Marta having sided with both).

[@i-deni-i5138]

@@Orenady holy shit that is brilliant

[@jjpark98]

@@Orenady For me, I kind of had a feeling Ransom was the bad guy the second Martha got that "I know what you did" letter. The letter had to be sent from someone we've already seen in the movie AND it would've needed to be sent from someone who knew what had happened. The only person who ever knew was Ransom.

[@ew6483]

I hate to do this but it’s Blanc. Spelling (especially French spelling) really annoys me. Enjoy your day!

[@MikeAben]

@@ew6483 No worries. You should hear me when movies get physics wrong.

[@benw4409]

The most entertaining film of 2019 for me. Such a well written, funny and clever screenplay.

[@Kujakuseki01]

Ben W I haven’t had that much fun in a while.

[@unvergebeneid]

Also, brilliantly acted!

[@stonecat676]

i came in expecting nothing and was blown away, Daniel Craig just delivered the snarkness/smugness of the movie so well it even gave me quite a wholesome feeling that Parasite did not, that one is too real - amazing, but too real

[@jaxonmurtagh3265]

I mean it's good and all but Parasite is just something else all together

[@eggman5106]

Damn that's something not very easy to say for me since 2019 has alot of great movies, but i also might have to agree with you on that one

[@GreatFlamingEyebrows_]

The key to an engaging criminal in a crime story is that: 1. They can outsmart the detective 2. The audience doesn’t want them to be court What’s interesting is that Johnson split these two characteristics over two characters 1. Thrombey is a crime writer so knows how to cover the tracks of a crime 2. Marta is the criminal but is unwilling. It’s not her plan so she is, in a way, innocent. While the genre wants The Detective to find the criminal and solve the case, the audience wants the criminal to get away with it because they know that Marta hasn’t done anything wrong despite being the culprit. Knives Out creates tension by putting the audience at odds with the genre itself. Great stuff!

[@Leomendoncacampos]

Best comment I've seen here. Well said.

[@prisciliamellark95]

"Knives Out creates tension by putting the audience at odds with the genre itself." You just took the words outta my mouth

[@JudiChristopher]

Well put!

[@mchjsosde]

I don't think number 2 is always true. The Wire is a great crime TV show, and I wanted to criminals to be caught. I also wanted the system that created their poverty to be fixed, but I still wanted their crimes to be paid for.

[@cjtrules1]

It's not Marta's plan but she definitely doesn't think she is innocent. She thinks the exact opposite even though she thought she accidentally poisoned Harlan.

[@Lyndiloo]

I was so pleasantly surprised with this movie. Really hoping to see more truly original screenplays like this in the next couple years.

[@vijaz5559]

@@HaphazardJoy agreed, and his greatest of all, the last jedi

[@jjpark98]

I too was also very surprised. When I first saw the trailer, I just thought "it's one of those huh? meh", then reviews started coming out and everyone said it was amazing. Movie of the year type of shit, so I decided to give it a watch and MAN is it great

[@liteoner]

Same, I had a free cinema ticket and this was the only certified fresh movie playing, so I was like "yeah, okay, let's watch this I guess". It was pure entertainment for its entire runtime, loved it.

[@linas1677]

Yes his greatest of all, the Last Jedi! Such a master piece 😐

[@JudiChristopher]

I hope I am one of the ones that write it... (Smile).

[@thegustbag]

Knives Out isn't necessarily the best picture of 2019, but it is my favorite one. Such a delight to watch every time.

[@sjk8495]

Pretty much the same for me too! My personal favorite film from last year and still fun to watch despite knowing what happens!

[@SlipNJimmy]

Same. Not the best, but definitely my favorite

[@Ngamotu83]

Agreed.

[@rogueguardian]

Definitely

[@pythonjava6228]

This movie made me feel like I was reading an old crime novel, which I really enjoyed

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

This movie was fully cemented in 2017 twitter beefs, it date itself in all the worst ways. It's especially bad, if you actually understand what Rian was trying to say.

[@parkerdavis7859]

@@g.e.o.r.g.e... the movie calls you a dick, and it's right.

[@PlanetXerox]

@@g.e.o.r.g.e... it's still rounding up on Twitter. You just didn't see deeper.

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

​@@PlanetXerox I saw through it.

[@munfgunrj4324]

George lmfao how are you so mad about a bit character lmfao

[@alex0589]

I really regret not taking the time to see it with an audience. What an ensemble. It felt like every big actor in there was just having fun putting distance between their type-casting/classic character and their Knives out character.

[@HolyDaniel2008]

I felt the same way. It was great to hear that this was pretty much what happened from Rian himself.

[@Gemnist98]

You think so? As great as the cast was I don’t think they were breaking typecasting, aside from maybe Daniel Craig playing a comical oof instead of someone competent. Even Chris Evans played a lot of jackasses before playing Cap. Though I will say, casting a bunch of A-listers in the supporting roles and casting a relative unknown (Ana de Armas) in the lead was a stroke of genius misdirection.

[@jackcrowley2640]

Got to see it in an early screening; definitely worth it!

[@Joneedance]

I saw it thrice in theaters!!

[@JimmyBoots1986]

You can feel how much fun Craig was having with this role.

[@oki_pogi9376]

Jaime Garcia same thing with all the characters pretty much!

[@cjtrules1]

Rian Johnson said when they had everyone in the same room for the 1st time to film the scene right before the reading of the will, Jamie Lee Curtis was the 1st one to lighten the mood which made the whole cast loosen up and really have fun with each other. All those big actors in the same room could of had big egos and been drama queens but they weren't.

[@vaniellys]

First: "Wow, that detective is played by James Bond, he must be the best !" Then: "Okay, that dude sucks at his work, it's ridiculous." Finally: "Nevermind, he IS the best detective ever."

[@daviddenis4178]

"At the end, the criminal gets away with it, is arrested, or dies." Or in the case of Seven, all three at the same time.

[@guitarfan01]

LOL

[@mrfister1234]

Bruh LMAOO

[@tareklegrand7747]

and the irony is that Seven is a detective movie XD

[@AcetylsaliciIique]

@@tareklegrand7747 Well... maybe but it doesn't follow at all the structure laid out here. There is no cast of suspects, there is no epiphany and there is no explanation.

[@ItsAsparageese]

Ffs hide major spoilers like that behind spoiler warnings. It's obnoxious tacky selfish behavior not to

[@JasonDBG]

I disagree in one spot about him being a good detective. He is actually a really great detective and, though not a criminal mastermind, she is WAY smarter than anyone in the family gives her credit for and she stays ahead of the game and overcomes obstacles because she is smart. Helped by the fact he already knows she had something to do with it so gives her a bit more of ability to move around. They say a few times, specifically in the Ransom scene at the party that she wins at Go more than Ransom. I think this is in there to make of point that she is smart and beats people in games a lot, much like trying to get away with things.

[@cjtrules1]

The Go line also puts her on Ransom's level of intellect and since Marta beats Harlan more than Ransom does, that means Marta is smarter than Ransom. Marta's line about how she always beats Harlan tells us she doesn't play "the game" like everyone else.

[@kelalia]

I came here to say exactly that. Well said!

[@sjk8495]

Plus, Blanc already knew from the start Marta was somehow involved. We even see him looking down at Marta's shoes when they first meet. And I think he didn't rat her out immediately since he knew that there was more going on than meets the eye due to the anonymous client, and turns out he was right!

[@Bubaiel]

@@cjtrules1 right! Like Blanc said Marta prevailed because she stayed and called an ambulance for Fran instead of being selfish and running away which would’ve made her look guilty because she wouldn’t play Ransom’s game

[@lilybird6868]

I loved this movie. When I watched it, I honestly started writing along for the first thirty minutes, taking my own notes to challenge myself to figure it out before the movie did. The twist caught me off guard not once, but twice. It's brilliantly written and had my unwavering attention all the way through

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

I was glued to the screen, interested in how much of a lowlife crybaby Rian Johnson has become after positioning himself as the arch-villain of Star Wars...

[@kitsullivan1583]

Well your attention did waver. You were looking at and writing in your notebook.

[@josephkg8999]

@@g.e.o.r.g.e... you're the one who sounds like a crybaby, asshole.

[@lilybird6868]

@@kitsullivan1583 true, but it was also making me pay extra attention to the material and the delivery and fine details

[@YourMajesty143]

I simply looked for inconsistencies and places where the story was hiding its hands. They immediately showed everyone's one-on-one meeting with Harlan, except for Ransom's meeting. His grandmother was shown to be lucid enough to identify him when he stormed out after that meeting, which solidified for me that she was actually identifying him as he was sneaking in when she proclaimed "Ransom you're back again?", plus key elements like his absence from the funeral, the way the dogs barked at him, and his subtle confession "I could've killed him, but then I had a moment of clarity..." were red flags. Part of me wondered if they were meant to be misdirections, but there were too many to ignore. Also he was largely absent for the beginning of the film and with no interrogation, except exposing brief details of the meeting to the entire family at the will-reading. Another red flag was that he mentioned Harlan had brought up Marta's skill at playing the Go board game, indicating a scenario in which Ransom was threatened by her ability to gain Harlan's favor (and inheritance), thus establishing a motive. I also noticed that the "I Know You Did It" coroner's report was in an already opened envelope when Marta received it, but I wasn't 100% clear on what that meant yet. However, having Ransom as my #1 suspect didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film, bc although I knew the "who", I still was unsure about the "how".

[@sevenheadedmirror8505]

I agree with almost everything BUT this is a fight of giants. The first fight is the investigator v. the genius crime novelist, whether his plan worked. The second was the contractor of the investigator v. the investigator. Just because Benoit Blanc acts stupid doesn’t mean he was. He was after his contractor from the get go and figured out Ana did it in the first five secs.

[@silverkyre]

And Also Marta against Ransom since she outsmarts him into the confession in the end.

[@BehindtheCurtain]

If you want to hear more about Rian Johnson's process, they've uploaded a full director commentary on the official Knives Out website! Enjoy!

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

Does he complain for two hours about Star Wars, because that's what I got when watching this movie. It was transparently about that.

[@noahreisner5199]

@@g.e.o.r.g.e... omg u commented on like everything. Even if there was some minor criticism of his opposition, this film I primarily about immigration, class, and the way certain groups of people let these things blind them, plus like a lot more. Rian Johnson wether u like his star wars work or not Is an artist and whether or not he ever works on star wars ever again he will continue making the art he feels is necessary to make, especially after the success of knives out.

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

@@noahreisner5199 Knives Out was predicated on his controversy with Star Wars... it wouldn't exist without his bitterness towards the critics of his sabotage. The political messaging in the film is laughably flimsy, and presented in a really imbalanced manner.

[@nicholson2054]

The first directors commentary I’ve ever listened to. Found it very enjoyable especially listening to Rians explanation of the baseball’s importance

[@noahreisner5199]

@@g.e.o.r.g.e... okay can u please explain how u viewed the film as a giant f u to those people because I'm genuinely confused now about what u are even referencing other than two or three jokes.

[@mistertea603]

I'm glad people are talking about Knives Out, I hope we can get more unique movies like this from Hollywood in the future...

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

It takes a special process to produce this level of film. First, you have to aggressively pursue the destruction of a piece of pop culture that is beloved by millions... then antagonize the fans when they push back... THEN make a spiteful and thinly veiled hate-letter to them all, in the form of a feature film, where you portray them as "alt-right trolls" who feel entitled with "white privilege".

[@name-tn2or]

George ughhhh shut the fuck up. The Last Jedi wasn’t bad, you just wanted it to be the same as episode V, the same way episode VII is basically a copy of episode IV. The Last Jedi has nothing to with each other, except its the same director. You’re literally replying to every comment that praises the Knives Out. You’re not changing anybody’s mind.

[@sprfede]

George lol firstly, TLJ and Knives Out are fantastic. In KO, the privilege to me was more about rich people with no real knowledge of the society that surrounds them. I mean, you can feel attacked all you want, but the movie leaned a lot more on The characters being spoiled than on their political views (I liked how members of the family started in opposing sides and then, little by little, regressed into the same xenophobic opinion. The attention to detail on this theme was incredible too, it wasn’t as blatant as you make it up to be.) The only character I didn’t particularly understand was the alt-right boy... he was there just to get shit on, although, similarly to Hux, I can’t complain about shitting on a shitty kind of person. An example of far worse political storytelling is ‘Shape of Water’, which just made all the ‘goodies’ into minorities, and the ‘baddie’ into this shitty, evil, white, powerful man who doesn’t care for anyone but himself, and particularly thinks less of non-white people. Can’t believe you’re still angry for SW8 being not how you liked, when the trainwreck that was SW9 has been released for a couple months now.

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

@@name-tn2or Are Rian's balls as round as his head?

[@g.e.o.r.g.e...]

@@sprfede If you can't complain about a writer crafting deliberately shitty strawman caricatures for his ideological opponents, then you can't really make much of an argument for why the "attention to detail" was incredible and not blatant. The entire undeserving family was as you put it, a singular xenophobic opinion, propped up to be easily trounced by the hard-working immigrant narrative. I'm not angry that SW8 was bad... I'm angry that it was allowed to be sacrificed on the altar of WOKE. They wanted it ruined, and I hate them all for it. I'm at least glad that you saw The Shape of Water for the filthy propaganda that it was. Another layer to the movie is that the pervert writer/director saw the movie Paddington, and ripped off numerous scenes and plot elements while making his perverse mess of a movie. He took the main actress from the children's movie he plagiarized, and made her do full nudity and have sex with an anthropomorphic fish.

[@blokey8]

I do have one gripe with the notion of how fallible Blanc is, which is admittedly his easy-to-miss remark at the end about the drop of blood. All along he's actually been investigating the mystery of the murder through pursuing the question of who hired him, waiting for the truth to come to him. Damn, even his description of his method checks out.

[@LeonardoKlotz]

Though Parasite was great I really wanted Knives Out to win the Best Original Screenplay oscar

[@benw4409]

I wanted Daniel Craig to get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Playing a hilarious character who is never actually intentionally funny and completely serious requires insane levels of talent.

[@upg5147]

100% agree!

[@theomegajuice8660]

@@benw4409 Ana de Armas deserved a nomination too. She was brilliant throughout.

[@katherinealvarez9216]

Look at this way: it lost to Parasite. It's not a shame when one lose to a worthy opponent.

[@LookOutGuysItsBrennan]

It honestly should have won Best Editing

[@TheRealKLT]

Just one nitpick: They do clarify that Blanc knew it was her, or that she was involved, the entire time, which puts a bit of a dull edge to one of your points.

[@princessthyemis]

he did??? How did he know that?!

[@fatima_hussein]

@@princessthyemis the blood stain on her shoe

[@TheSilverNoble]

It does seem like Blanc is missing the obvious for most of the movie, so I think it still works overall. He seems a bit more inept than he really is.

[@TheRealKLT]

@@TheSilverNoble Yeah, that interpretation is fine. You could also argue that he was purposely playing dumber than he was to keep her around and reveal more about the mystery, which wasn't who the killer was, but who hired him. Either way.

[@francescobruno418]

Does having a blood drop on my shoe makes me suspect? Like, couldn't I just get it from a scratch?

[@aishas4818]

I've loved reading true crime for years, but have never been interested in watching films/ series on them. Until Knives Out. Rian Johnson is such a brilliant storyteller, because he doesn't just recycle typical stories, he turns them on their head and weaves in different genres all whilst challenging our complacency for a basic film. I especially love the focus on Marta's family situation, because most detective stories don't give you time to have empathy and understanding like this one did.

[@alanpennie8013]

Making a servant the protagonist is a real subversion.of the Christie mystery. In those snobbish days it was taken for granted that servants could not be suspects because they were too stupid.

[@freya1132]

@@alanpennie8013 I've read some of her books and whilst I'm not denying your interpretation of perhaps her other works because I am nowhere near reading them all. Often, they more seem to be discounted because they don't have a motive

[@mori6434]

I watched it with my mom and brother and all three of us didn't buy it that Marta was the real murderer, not even accidentally. The beauty of this movie though was that you didn't HAVE to think Marta did it, the fun came from the great characters, whacky shenanigans, and the mystery of what REALLY happened. Fantastic movie, I'd recommend it to anyone.

[@blackbot7113]

It was the same for me, honestly. Marta being such an overwhelmingly nice protagonist combined with the fact that the countermedicine went missing made me think "Double Switch" immediately - mainly because the film just seemed to "friendly" to stick an accidental killing onto her. What I did NOT expect was that her picking the morphine bottle wasn't just "because otherwise we wouldn't have a movie", but "because the substances are slightly different and she identified the medicines by appearance, not label". It's nice to see the twist coming but getting surprised by the reasoning.

[@silverkyre]

I knew immediately she wasn't the killer because Harlan had non of the symptoms that she was describing pit loud. Which immediately meant someone had already switched the medication, which made ore obvious that it's the reason she can't find the anecdote in her bag, someone took it, when they switched them to insure the person would die

[@sjk8495]

Also, for me, watching the Thrombeys destroy themselves is so fun to watch!

[@kevandre]

Clue is my favorite film of all time, and I'm a big fan of Poirot's novels (by the by- if you go the audiobook route I definitely recommend the Hugh Fraser recordings over the BBC Radio versions) So clearly Knives Out was right up my alley. Going into it I was like "yesss let's go murder mystery" What I didn't expect was for the movie to have my EXACT kind of humor, mixed with my EXACT kind of genres. I doubt anything ever supercedes Clue but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Knives Out gets close on my top list. I was THAT in love with the film and need to watch it several more times.

[@alanpennie8013]

Yes indeed. It should be mentioned just how funny this film is Easily passed the 6 laugh test.

[@TimeandMonotony]

Loved this movie, my favorite of 2019! Saw it in several times in theaters, and the entire audience was having a blast the whole time.

[@katzchen16]

Almost perfect video, disappointed with the lack of donuts

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

That donuts within donuts speech needs to become a meme

[@charlesphilips2045]

This movie was a masterclass from Rian Johnson. A perfect movie to start the weekend with. If you liisten to Star Wars fans, they make Rian Johnson sound like he is incapable of going anything good.

[@V4rya]

Charles Philips i’m a huge Star Wars fan, and i think Rian’s EP8 was great and i love him for what he made

[@sancturillore]

I loved this movie, but hated Star Wars episode 8. Rian Johnson isn't a bad movie director, he just either doesn't understand Star Wars or doesn't respect it enough to do it justice (instead prioritizing his many cheap subversions for the sole sake of subversion), or both. Heck, he's even himself stated that it was his goal to divide the fan base with that movie. So, in a way, he succeeded. He knew many people would hate it and that it'd harm the franchise (it has, even if many also like it, it still did harm the franchise) just so he could pull off his subversion film with a beloved franchise instead of making a standalone movie with a lot of subversions. Yes, the movie can be enjoyed, but for those who care a lot about the lore, episode 8 is akin to blasphemy for how much it discards and goes against the lore (I'm not even talking about the Old EU/Legends, just about the already established movie and Disney lore), and that's without going into the bad writing in many places in the movie. Just because someone can be a good director and screenwriter doesn't mean that they will always do good. Knives Out is an example of Rian Johnson's talent and is was very good and well written. The Last Jedi was neither.

[@V4rya]

sancturillore i highly recommend “the Director and the Jedi”, it’s the making of episode 8, and shows how much more respectful Rian was of the Intellectual property than J.J. While i totally respect people not liking movies, i do think Rian Johnson is a big Star Wars fan

[@shervinemohammadi8386]

you forgot quotation marks around the word fans

[@Ratchet2431]

He is a great director and writer, but I don't understand why The Last Jedi has so many writing problems.

[@Dumpknoedel]

Another movie that switches genres: Mulan. It stops being a misical after they find the burned down village

[@lorenzoshelby6061]

*musical

[@a1t3rmusic]

Your videos are highly entertaining and i can see all the effort you put into them...please do continue

[@LobsterSpecial]

I love mysteries, so when I watched Knives Out I was a little disappointed that it seemed to do away with the mystery so quickly. To be clear, I enjoyed the crime film middle , but I was ready to go home a little disappointed. . .right up until it took a hard right back into mystery at the end. It was the most fun I've had at the cinema in awhile.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

Just watched Knives Out and I'm still laughing. But (spoilers) when Marta administers the first dose, she describes the symptoms of a morphine overdose - fever etc followed within 10 minutes by death. Christopher Plummer doesn't show those symptoms so I knew she hadn't given him a morphine overdose.

[@jacoblyman9441]

One of the things my parents (both nurses) criticized of that film... the morphine overdose doesn't take 10 minutes to kick in... it takes 10 seconds. They kind of had to chalk it up to the film being subversive satire and swallow the fact that it should have been obvious within minutes that she didn't mix up the doses. A few other things... Morphine is never available in bottles that large IRL, it really is impossible to tell it apart from any other water based drug (no way to intuition it), and the dose of the other drug she was giving him would have had a large risk of causing kidney failure at his age due to the size of that dose. I really enjoyed the film, but I was kind of laughing (I am a big Star Wars fan) that my parents were dissecting the nursing stuff in Knives Out with the same intensity people debated over the stuff in Last Jedi... At least in their case they had real world experience to base it on while the people who were arguing the scientific logic of Last Jedi never paused to note its a sci-fi fantasy world with space wizards and laser swords. Or maybe its all like a donut... inside another donut...

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

@@jacoblyman9441 dammit Jacob I was about to go to sleep but now I have to watch this film again

[@jacoblyman9441]

My parents do this with all films with any medical scenes in them... you bet each IV, each EKG shock, all that is going to have to pass their scrutiny!

[@thecroseknows]

My wife, a PA, said the same thing. I think Marta was panicking so she didn't notice?

[@Ray03595]

@@thecroseknows I can buy that. She was certain she gave him morphine by mistake, and there was no reason to think anyone tampered with the bottles. And I doubt she's ever seen anyone overdose on morphine before.

[@prabhdeepsingh5642]

This video itself changes its genre two times. Act 1 - commercial advertisment (by youtube) Act 2 - movie analysis Act 3 - in-video commercial advertisement (audible) 😁😁😁

[@DanPurcell]

The movie (and your breakdown of it) reminds me a lot of old episodes of Columbo, in the sense that it's definitely a murder mystery, but we follow both the criminal as they try to evade Columbo after they commit the crime, and Columbo in trying to catch them and build evidence to make his case to arrest them -- what aspects of the crime feel "off" or "unusual" to him? All the while, Columbo kind of poses himself as a humble, bumbling homicide lieutenant to get closer to the crime and who he suspects to be the criminal. They apparently coined the phrase "howcatchem" for this kind of narrative structure and subgenre of mystery, as opposed to "whodunit," and I think(? not fully certain) that Johnson also took some inspiration from that show as well. Really appreciated your breaking down the narrative structure of this, seeing it play out visually really helped me draw the connections to the show a ton!

[@gonzalo9241]

You're completely right! Rian has mentioned in various interviews how Columbo served as an inspiration for him.

[@TimeandMonotony]

Yeah it reminded me of Columbo too. "Just one more thing...."

[@sjk8495]

@@gonzalo9241 I believe in one of his commentaries, he also mentioned how a key difference is that with Knives Out, we're in a sense rooting for the "killer" to get away.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@sjk8495 I generally rooted for the killer in Columbo. Once you know who the killer is you can sympathize with his/her desire to escape. I was recently thinking about Odo from DS9 (honourable servant of an oppressive regime) and realising that what I admire about a good detective is not the desire to punish the guilty but rather to exonerate the innocent.

[@AyoTech83]

Awesome video! Knives Out was easily one of the best times I've had in a packed theater, and was easily on my top 10 of 2019. Having said that, I'd like to add one other detail that wasn't mentioned in your video: Benoit is clumsy, but also cunning. When it comes to dealing with pursuits and standard detective procedures, he is very faulty and makes some really silly mistakes. But at the same time, he's the guy that enters a room and picks up all the minor details that other people don't see, the type of person that can sit to talk with you, and squeeze all the info he needs without a sweat. By giving him this gaping flaw, and at the same time a Sherlock-level of intelligence when it comes to investigation, we: 1 - underestimate him in the second act onwards, as Martha is trying to run away from him, and 2 - we don't see the second genre switch coming at the end, especially because we start to convince ourselves that our smart detective (and what we thought was our main protagonist) isn't that smart, at the end (the reveal of the crime on the end of act 1 also helps drive that notion forward). Which makes the climax all the more satisfying, when Benoit pulls the rug from under our feet and reveals that yeah, he was paying attention all this time, and he was on the right track, the one that neither the audience, or the characters, were seeing.

[@tripp8961]

genuinely one of my favorite video essays ever. the intro engages you from the very beginning and the rest of the video rlly doesn't disappoint. it's definitely been one of my favorites to revisit over the past year I've known of it.

[@elstcman5]

OH MY GOD, thank you for that little inclusion of the John Williams score. My heart FLUTTERED

[@ellaboehme6748]

can I just say that the first 2 minutes were so good . . . the scoring and the shots of all the cool stuff in the house literally gave me chills

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Great video, dude! Your editing is immaculate.

[@Limubi1]

Speaking of highly rewatchable texts: I watch your videos again and again and again. Your neat editing that doesn't draw attention to itself; your personable voice; your obvious knowledge of which you speak (that again doesn't draw attention to itself); you original, fun and informative takes all make your videos joys just to watch and revel in.

[@Kujakuseki01]

It was an instant classic. I loved it so much.

[@eliasgaydecka535]

And I now just want to appreciate how Well and creatively your video was made. As a person who does a lot of editing of videoessays, I can see just how many cool ideas and twists you applied to make an incredibly engaging video

[@MrEoxy]

I think an additional great thing the movie does is that it does the genre shift, but it still does have the mystery element where you know there will be more --- who hired Blanc? Felt like it could have been anyone just wanting an answer but you knew there was more to it. So it kept that in the background while the meat of the story is still progressing and helped keep you engaged

[@alanpennie8013]

It would have been a pity if it had been some extraneous character (like the family lawyer) who hired Blanc.

[@JudiChristopher]

"Bravo Darling"... This was a breath of fresh air... I have been writing for 20 years (not mystery stories yet) and had never thought of it this way. I am so glad I stumbled across this great video... This helped me so much. Thank you for sharing this video. My dream is for one day to have one of my manuscripts/book/screenplays on Audible...

[@d4mdcykey]

Another excellent synopsis. This is one of those films that I immediately decided to buy after watching it to have it in my library to rewatch and show guests that enjoy an engaging film.

[@despairdarkness2286]

It couldn't have been put better than this. Thank you for making this analysis and most of all, putting into words to what we all experienced.

[@o...o4144]

A great movie, from a great director. Thank you Rian for entertaining us in such an intelligent way!

[@evilotto9200]

Just here for the high future toxicity potential directed at an otherwise benign and inoffensive sentiment

[@Joneedance]

Loved this movie. Loved this script structure analysis. Subscribed 😊😘

[@DaybreakTownGSA]

I think you're not giving Blanc enough credit. The very moment he saw Marta, he looked at her shoe and noticed the bloodstain. You can see, during their first meeting, he looks down, seems to notice something, then back up like he's trying to play it off. Like he said, he'd known Marta had something to do with the murder from the very beginning, but lacking a motive along with info from the family regarding her "regurgitive reaction to mistruthing," he decided to sit down with her and ask her questions. Like sure, he's occasionally bumbling, but ultimately arrives at the truth

[@princessthyemis]

I love what you said about mystery stories formula so that they're hardly mysterious! That was great!!

[@mpaulson4285]

The beauty of it is that while it is true that RJ is breaking the Crime rule by not having a genius detective and a mastermind criminal behind the murder, it's sort of a homage of different Detective tropes (in Detective stories, the detective is usually weird and not your typical genius). To me, Benoit Blanc is a perfect incarnation of Poirot because Poirot is often described as "anything but a detective". The people around him think he's not up for it and that he's a foreigner that couldn't be smart enough to solve the crime yet at the end, he does.

[@dereksalinas-lazarski6149]

Loved this video. Awesome structural analysis. To extend the analysis one step further, you could also read the ending as having shades of the crime story's final battle, except in the last act it shifts from Marta vs. Blanc to Marta vs. Ransom. Detective stories don't usually have conflict after the big reveal in the same way as Knives Out; the killer is caught and arrested after the explanation. But Ransom isn't really caught until Marta wins the final battle over him by finally overcoming her one limitation: she is able to lie. Masterful.

[@rohanimations]

Knives Out was easily my personal favorite movie of 2019. Can’t wait to rewatch it!

[@OttaviaBurton5893]

I'm starting to think this Rian Johnson guy might be into subverting expectations or something.

[@katherinealvarez9216]

It's more like he wants to see where he mix it up a bit and can get away with. And crime noir.

[@alanpennie8013]

It was a very neat technique to get round the rather dull middle act where the detective interviews the suspects. (We did get some of that). Agatha also often resorted to second and third murders to pad things out.

[@thomascarpenter6492]

He's a one trick pony. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

[@thinhvo3893]

@@thomascarpenter6492 All his works have been critically praised so for a one trick pony, he sure is very lucky.

[@MichaelCutts7]

Another movie I can thinking that KINDA does this is Seven Psychopaths. It’s even described directly in the movie: “I want the first half to be the setup for a perfect revenge thriller, but then our characters run away to the desert”

[@clarence5211]

i loved this movie so much!! the structure you outlined here really kept me hooked the whole way through, and combined with the performances and aesthetic just make it so fun!!

[@alexmooney388]

You're still one of the most intelligent and informed youtubers out there! Keep it up!

[@MagicCardboardBox]

I also live the fact that blanc's image of a not very good detective despite what we've been told is immediately flipped, not just by the speech where he figures out all the moving parts, but when he later mentions to Marta that he noticed the blood on her shoe the very first moment they met, that he kept her close because he knew something was up.

[@iwillworkharder]

Thank you so much for taking a closer look at this film! It was so good and I was so enraptured by it when I saw it. I was disappointed that it wasn’t as much in the public discourse as I thought it deserved to be.

[@lazyyfox7914]

My favorite part of this film has to be the last 10 minutes when every chekov's gun is firing. Especially the payoff for the prop knife chair set up in the very first scene.

[@ericlin7775]

I've told my friends this but I'll say it here: this is a movie that no matter how many times I rewatch it, I would not skip a single second.

[@ladyscarlette6289]

I can watch this movie over and over and spot a new detail, like how when everyone retells the birthday scene, the speaker is the one standing over Harlan's shoulder. And how you can actually see Blanch catch sight of the blood on Martha's shoe when she meets him. Also, can we talk about the eye shines that look like window and how saturated the light outside is compared to inside to give the house a dim but lived in feeling?

[@markparkinson6947]

Thank you for teaching me these genre combinations. Now I can use the same logic for any genre in any story structure I choose! 🤤

[@KootFloris]

One can also tell how great a movie was, at the speed that such video's are made about them, by people who don't get paid to endorse it. And that cleverness in scripts is endorsed is only wonderful. I loved this movie and its surprises. I want more of those, in every genre.

[@lravenl]

Nice analysis! And I love that you are crisp and concise

[@Richard_Nickerson]

The score for this movie is absolutely perfect.

[@schmecklez]

Thanks for the recommendations!

[@dwc1964]

_Columbo_ didn't follow the traditional "whodunit" structure either - we always knew who the murderer was right away, and Columbo figured it out pretty quickly as well, and it was all about putting the pieces together and playing off the murderer's hubris. Also lots of class stuff going on.

[@alanpennie8013]

That's true. A lot of the Columbo killers were wealthy scumbags. I was still on their side because Columbo was so annoying.

[@theomegajuice8660]

I'm really interested to see where Knives Out 2 ends up going.

[@PrincessScrivener]

As a longtime Agatha Christie fan, I’m very excited for the follow up. I reread Death on the Nile pretty recently and it’s just so good. -S

[@llouie4999]

I loved it was a very fair mystery. We technically knew "what happened" but there were enough loose threads the detective brain could feel something was off (that & the heart wished for a 3rd explanation so Marta could have a happier ending I think). Thanks for the analysis!

[@OoziHobo]

If you are like me, and you went to this movie fully wanting a mystery movie, because it was advertised as a mystery movie, and then the movie tells you the answer right away and you don't get a mystery movie, then you might not be willing to accept the new direction it takes. I know that I was shaking my head for most of the second act. The script is so perfectly put together it starts to feel unrealistic for how clever it wants to be.

[@PalaceDude]

The most brilliant analysis of this movie. Thank you.

[@chasertalk]

finally could get around watching this video having captured the film. I think there's two places I expected your argument to go that didn't end up in this video. You have a great second section about the skill and strength of our protagonists, and I like your argument that Blanc and Martha are equally matched as 'middle-weights'. Yet, in the closing, Blanc admits to Martha that he knew she had something to do with the murder because he had seen the blood on her shoe at the start. It allows Johnson to flip Blanc yet again. He goes back to being the sophisticated, skilled investigator - making all of his bumbling in the middle act an endearing act a la Columbo. The second thing I expected was to highlight the virtue of the crime story structure, particularly showing the duel of equally matched protagonists - it endears us to both characters. I'm thinking of Michael Mann's Heat and Collateral. In a detective story, audiences have little room to understand or empathize with the criminal. Using this twin structure, Johnson did something odd in that we develop an interest in both our protagonists. Admittedly, Hugh Ransom as a character still serves as a thin scapegoat for sparking our mystery story, but it works.

[@laurelarianeregibeau-rocke4874]

Omg I didn't notice that the flip coincided with the coin toss! What an incredibly well thought out movie!! I just keep noticing new cool things they did

[@WiqidBritt]

To be fair to Blanc, he knows Marta had something to do with the death from the moment she stood in front of him. its just that he didn't see her as a murderer and wanted to uncover more information about what happened.

[@alanpennie8013]

I can't think of a single mistake Blanc made. He's a great detective. And humorously self - deprecating with it.

[@veronicab15]

Man, Im glad I stopped the video and went watch the movie! Now I can fully enjoy your analysis too.

[@lucasmachado6447]

You mentioned some films that inspired Knives Out. I'd like to think that Rian Johnson took some inspiration from David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, since both movies feature Daniel Craig investigating a murder case and Christopher Plummer as a patriarch. Also, Plummer's character, Henrik, has a line where he acknowledges Craig (Mikael) for not dismissing him, whom hired the detective, as a suspect, which, **spoilers** is the case in Knives Out, and the fact that he does not know who hired him is mentioned multiple times by Blanc. I watched both these films within a few days of each other and couldn't help but to make the connection.

[@edisonlima4647]

To be fair to Christie, some of her most creative novels were never adapted properly into a movie, such as "Endless Night", which also changes its genre twice late on.

[@alanpennie8013]

Endless Night is a pretty good movie. And possibly the best of her later stories. I'm surprised it's generally rated mediocre. It's a pretty tight little movie which certainly doesn't outstay its welcome.

[@imayeti.4674]

My favorite part was how much I thought I knew and how much was still revealed.

[@Vlam1]

Love all the great book recommendations on this great video about a great movie!

[@FredMendo]

Haven't watched this video yet. Just writing to let you know that I love your content, your voice, the way you write these essays, the themes and I'm glad that you keep making videos. Here's a like. Hope you keep it up.

[@lucylucina4253]

My mother needed to have surgery and i had a couple of hours to kill. this was the only film in the cinema (besides a kids film) that fitted my time window. i was blown away by how much i loved it and was kicking myself that i would have missed it.

[@OlgaKuznetsova]

Thanks so much for posting this video, I felt that Knives Out was soo good for a detective whodunnit, but I couldn't see why, this explained it perfectly!

[@johnrobinson2228]

Seen this movie 5 times. You see more each time, it’s great.

[@danielwareking]

Great video! Though I would argue that Gone Girl actually operates in three separate genres; Mystery > Thriller > Satire

[@pogonolagododipopopo]

really appreciate those subtitle, we never acknowledge them. 10/10

[@HighLevelPlayer]

The thing is, I could tell the morphine and the other drug had been switched just from the fact Harlan wasn't acting anything like he'd been juiced with a lot of morphine. He didn't even mention getting a high. So that stretched my disbelief at how neither of them, but especially Harlan, were fooled.

[@peacechickification]

Whyyyyy did you have you put that unsettling ass shot from parasite in here? I only just got peace from the image in my brain, and now it’s back in there. But great video. Thanks for the breakdown :)

[@meow-px6kk]

I just wanted to say how awesome you are. Getting an Amazon sponsorship, then subtly informing us that you don't like Amazon by bringing up the class warfare book. Love it. Get that money, hell yeah. Video's great too, incredible analysis.

[@harrisonfackrell]

This was one of the first things that stood out to me when I watched this movie, and it blew my mind.

[@Bayuuk]

I loved the way it almost reinvented the murder mystery genre, it was phenomenal

[@knicks8099]

the music was also what made the film great for me. especially in the end, with the whole family falling apart and the piano playing

[@barbarnyak]

A great video. Thank you soo much for this. Keep up the good work :)

[@klatte3351]

Love your insight and good book rec!

[@sarahjunker6584]

Thanks for explaining this, very interesting to think about.

[@MissCookieThief]

Great video. I agree with everything except one point: Benoit Blanc is *not* a bad detective. That idea is subverted at the end, when he reveals he knew Marta was involved with the crime from the beginning, as he had noticed that spot of blood on her shoe. It also explains why he chose to keep her close to him, instead of just working with Lieutenant Elliott and Trooper Wagner. From the start, he didn't believe she was the sole criminal, probably because she had no apparent motive (they didn't know about the will yet) and because it didn't explain other things (like who hired him). By keeping Marta close he was able to prevent her from potentially fleeing, and use her to learn about the others who may have been involved. I think it was done to subvert the audience's expectations (in a way that wasn't awful) about both the characters at the end. We'd been lead to believe that Blanc was an idiot and that Marta was a murderer, and in the end both these things were proven false.