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Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

A Classic yet Macabre Whodunnit

‘Young, dumb and full of Christ’ is how Father Jud (Josh O’Conner) describes himself to sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in this third outing for the murder-mystery franchise Knives Out. Wondering if you can plough your way through a religion heavy story? Yes you can! For Rian Johnson gives us a rollicking rollercoaster of a whodunit with a stellar cast, a sharp script and a wonderfully wicked sense of humour.

This is the funniest film of the series, but the story is also heavily mired in the macabre, so it’s no surprise that Johnson cites Edgar Allen Poe as one of his inspirations for this film. He also admits he looked to the queen of murder-mysteries Agatha Christie for inspiration (https://t.ly/Deadline). As an avid fan of Agatha Christie I had a lot of fun with this classic mystery set up, where ‘…in the first act you meet all the suspects, you meet the protagonist, who’s not the detective. Then the murder happens, and the detective shows up’. https://t.ly/Deadline

We meet Father Jud (a star turn from Josh O’Connor) when he smacks a fellow priest in the face at his seminary. .The knowing references start here and they dont let up. It’s no accident that Jud is a shortening of Judas and Johnson continues in this vein as he playfully names the priest Father Duplencity, (way too close to duplicity and that’s no accident either). It seems, despite his priestly calling, Jud can’t keep his rage under control, echoing his earlier life as a boxer when he murdered a man in the ring. His Bishop, (played with deliciously dark humour by Jeffrey Wright) takes pity on him. Instead of being defrocked, Jud is sent to what should be a sleepy small town in upstate New York. He is to assist the notoriously difficult Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a truly dastardly man of the cloth who mesmerizes his tiny congregation.

But this is no sleepy town and violence and murder are afoot. Johnson cleverly uses a letter from Father Jud to sleuth Benoit Blanc to unveil events leading up to the grisly, seemingly impossible murder of Wicks whilst treating us to a cavalcade of weird and wonderful characters who make up the congregation under Wicks’ spell.

Not until 45 minutes in are we made aware that Jud will play Watson to Blancs’ Sherlock Holmes and boy are we in for a treat. Josh O’Conner in the pivotal role of Jud treats us to a stunningingly sensitive portrayal of a man on the cusp of religious despair, the perfect foil for Blancs’ sarcastic sceptic who gleefully describes himself as a heretic. As Wicks’ adherents do all they can to lay the blame for murder at Jud’s door, we see Benoit’s softer side as he strives to protect Jud and prove his innocence. Blanc is not the hardboiled detective he might have us believe.

Johnsons’ world is rife with religious allusion with Marta (Glen Close) and her service to the church echoing her biblical alter ego. Similarly, Steve Yedlins’ cracking cinematography treats us to beautifully executed religious tropes like sparkling shafts of light heralding the entrance Wick’s entrance.

Despite this dark portrayal of a congregation in crisis we can never forget this is a clever murder mystery. We are deftly manipulated with jump scares and glaringly obvious clues that are of course meant to trick us, right up until the big reveal that we eagerly await from Benoit Blanc. Even in the final analysis, Johnson toys with us like a cat with its prey, as he plays his final trump card and, like most murder mysteries, we are treated to a tremendous plot twist that no one saw coming.