RIOTUS

My first Rian Johnson mystery was also his first feature film, Brick (2005). I haven’t missed his whodunits since. Flying to LA for the Netflix-hosted Hollywood premiere of his latest Knives Out Mystery,  Wake Up Dead Man, wasn’t a question. On a literal dark and stormy night at The Academy Museum, we watched the third film in Johnson’s enthralling franchise alongside the cast and the writer/director himself.

The mystery unfolds when the earnest but quick-to-throw-hands young priest, Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), gets exiled to a small Catholic parish in upstate New York. Bishop Langstrom (Jeffrey Wright) warns Father Jud he’ll be dealing with a charismatic but problematic church leader, someone he calls “a few beads short of a rosary.” In that regard, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) does not disappoint. And his central parishioners are equally filled with “what the hell.” 

When a murder happens under impossible, locked-room circumstances, the parish is thrown into chaos. Father Jud quickly becomes the prime suspect, and as suspicion and tension mount, he desperately seeks to clear his name. The local police chief, Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis), is drawn into the investigation, but she’s not equipped for this level of madness or the possibilities of the paranormal. Chief Scott calls in the undefeated detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), and things get even weirder. Together with Father Jud, who is actually our main character, Blanc navigates a web of bullsh!t, rivalries, and buried scandals among the parishioners—including Martha Delacroix (the great Glenn Close), the devout right-hand woman; Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), the abandoned town doctor; Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), the embittered church lawyer; Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), an ambitious failed politician; Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a best-selling author; Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), a former concert cellist dealing with chronic pain; and Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), the groundskeeper.

Blanc’s arrival marks a turning point, as he brings his signature deductive prowess to a case that challenges even his experience—the past rises, and faith is tested in this haunting, sublimely lit, and gorgeously gothic Knives Out Mystery.

In a press conference the following day, Rian Johnson noted the film’s thematic core—faith and its many facets—is deeply personal for him, as it reflects his own journey from a religious upbringing to a more complex viewpoint on belief. Johnson emphasized that the challenge was to look at faith “through this multifaceted lens and looking at all the different sides of it in a very honest way that didn’t feel like it was just trying not to offend anyone, but at the same time, though, that had a generous spirit to it. That was really important to me.”

Josh O’Connor, who appears in every scene in a star-making turn, spoke about the challenge and excitement of playing a character like Father Jud, who must “dance that fine line between comedy and grief and tragedy,” reflecting the film’s tonal balance of dark humor and profound emotion. He goes on to say, “There’s a line in the film which I love so much…Jud says, ‘God loves me when I’m guilty.’ This kind of closed-off character has found a way forward by opening up.”

Although Wake Up Dead Man is just a bit too long, I have no notes. Everything about this film is appealing, from the muck of the characters to the grace in Father Jud. The supernatural elements remind me of Agatha Christie—definitely an influence—but Johnson also credits The Hollow Man of Gideon Fell by John Dickson Carr for “breaking down the rules” of locked-room mysteries. However, for me, it’s the lighting and symbolism that make me want to watch this charmingly perverse whodunit again and again. Cinematically, the film leans heavily into gothic atmosphere, with cinematographer Steve Yedlin and David Smith the “intrepid gaffer” meticulously controlling sun rays, moon glow, and every form of light to create a feeling where “the outside world invades the inside,” of the church built by production designer Rick Heinrichs, with shifting sunlight transforming the mood of key scenes and shadows pointing at clues.

My only issue is a shocking one: I actually miss Benoit Blanc’s Foghorn Leghorn accent from the earlier films. He speaks with less pomp, going for something more refined. Give me the bumpkin back!

Knives Out grabbed us by the throat. Glass Onion was all about the spectacle. Now, Wake Up Dead Man digs in the darkness of those who mistake the powerful for faith. What they have in common is more than their creator and lead actor. Each of these mysteries is a study in setting and sub-genres, assailing how wealth can corrupt a family, the famous, or the faithful. 

Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig have a way with murder most scandalous, and I’ll confess, I can’t wait for them to do it again.