Tag: jeffrey wright

Scooby-dooby-doo. “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” (2025)

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directed by Rian Johnson
© 2025 Netflix. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome to day 4 of 2026! How many of your resolutions are already postponed to 2027? Come on, be honest, we know how things work. I just hope that you’ll be regularly checking my blog and watching lots of good films. The rest can be done later. Let’s begin the year with something funny, thrilling and mysterious – so retired 007, Daniel Craig, playing Sherlock Holmes. This is the third film of the Knives Out series, where we follow Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who each time has a different crime to investigate. If you haven’t seen the previous two parts – no worries, because it’s made in a similar way like other detective stories, so each part is a separate story. In this one, I’m taking you to church (just like Hozier wanted – wink, wink), where a young priest Jud (Josh O’Connor) becomes an assistant of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Since it’s a little town they serve in, new things aren’t very welcome here. Still, Jud notices Jefferson’s strange behaviour that influences the parishioners and he tries to make some changes, which is difficult on many levels. One day, Jefferson gets murdered in an unusual way and, obviously, Jud is the main suspect. However, here comes our mastermind Benoit Blanc whose job is to learn about this village’s secrets and find the actual murderer. I’ve seen all three parts of the series and as much as I enjoyed the first one, the second film wasn’t that exciting. So I didn’t feel like checking out the third part, but somehow I did out of boredom and actually got surprised. In my opinion, it’s almost as good as the first one. The mystery is so weird and complex that it makes it even funnier to be solving it. Not to mention the magnificent cast that you could watch for hours. I guess I had extra fun because not that long time ago I took part in a city game where the main task was to solve the mystery of a stolen object in a church. It was all made up, obviously, but we had to analyse how the thief actually managed to hide, steal and escape. So this film reminded me of that game and I was watching it thinking “yeah, Blanc, I know how you’re feeling, been there, done that.” I believe this is an awesome title to begin your year with. Let’s just hope you won’t need to wake up any dead men in 2026. Crossing my fingers for that.

My rating: 7/10
S.

People want to feel absolved. “American Fiction” (2023)

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directed by Cord Jefferson
© 2023 Orion Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Boy we needed such film so badly! If you’ve seen this title among the nominees and thought “mhm whatever, something else will win”, you’re probably right, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see this one. Since I try to see as many nominated productions as possible before the big night, I obviously watched “American Fiction”. Simply because it was on the list. And you can’t even imagine how glad I am it’s there, now. We get to meet Monk (Jeffrey Wright), a writer and professor. He’s incredibly intelligent and whatever he writes is appreciated by the academic society, but the man has bigger ambitions as wishes to be seen as a great novelist all over the country, or even the world. A lot happens in his personal life, but you’re not here to read about that, you will see everything in the film, so I’ll get to the most important part – Monk decides to write a satirical novel. Why? Because he’s Black. I know, you’re probably wondering what’s going on here, but it’s true. He’s Black and whatever he does, all those common stereotypes are following him everywhere, so he decides to write the most Black-ish novel by a “very Black author”. Since this stereotypical narration about the Black is so popular, why not mocking it and earning some extra money, right? And how surprised he is when the book turns out to have a huge potential for a bestseller… And now, what is this film about? I feel like each person that has seen it and talked to me about it has a totally different opinion. But since it’s my blog, I’ll gladly share my own: to me, this film is about the ridiculous social situation we’re living in. Monk is a guy, who could embarrass you with his knowledge, yet he cannot get rid of the label purely based on his skin colour. Even though times have changed, certain behaviours haven’t. I believe this story shows something that has been bothering me (and hopefully not only me) for a long time – stigmatisation of people. Here, we’re focusing on a Black character, but we could really make a similar film about millions of other people. Why can’t we just appreciate someone for what they do and who they are? But not “who they are” meaning where they’re from, what colour their skin is or who they like dating in their free time. Who they are as a person. And I have a small task for you – mention one book or film which tells a truly positive story of a Black person. Not a success story where the main character has to go through hell in order to reach their goal. I’m talking about an honestly positive or at least neutral story where the main Black character isn’t presented as miserable and unprivileged. None? Well, no surprise. This film points that out, in my opinion. That’s exactly what Monk is mocking in his book and what he’s tired of. And you know what? That’s exactly what’s happening with Oscars. We force ourselves to diversify the nominees just for the sake of diversity. Are those people good artists? Of course, no doubt. But are they all that great and there aren’t better ones who got disqualified simply because they are too “ordinary”? Answer yourselves. And the fact that this film is nominated as the Best Picture is such a beautiful roast The Academy has done to themselves. Congrats. I’m glad, because it’s authentic and of good quality, so no matter what pushed them to nominating this production, in the end, it was a surprisingly marvellous decision. Applause!

My rating: 8/10
S.

We will fix you. “Atrabilious” (2023)

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directed by William Atticus Parker
© 2023 River Styx Productions. All Rights Reserved.

Today, I’d like to put a spotlight on the film that may not only entertain you or/and confuse a lot, but also let you look at the concept of grief from another perspective. Or perspectives, depending on how much you’ll be overthinking. The beginning already puts us in “look out, you may not fully get what’s happening” mood, but then we are introduced to the story of Steven (Leon Addison Brown), a man who has recently lost his son. He’s trying to move on with his life, but the horrible grief doesn’t make it easier. Soon we get the first plot twist, which is a spark of hope – Steven’s son might not be dead at all. Why? How? That’s for you to see, no spoilers as always. But here comes the most important place that will be the centre of most unusual events of this story – Steven goes to Atrabilious, a bar. Well, not just a bar – the bar where everyone struggling with some personal loss of theirs may find support. And the longer Steven stays there, the more he starts believing that his child might still be with us. If you expect me to tell you what genre this film is, I have to say: all of them. Obviously, we have some mystery to solve, but then, what happens in the bar is sometimes quite surrealistic. Add a pinch of dark humour and voilà – here’s your cinematographic drink called “Atrabilious”. I have to say that I got intrigued by the story from the moment Steven went into the bar for the first time and then my overthinking process began. I feel like I wrote hundreds of possible scenarios in my head and was just waiting for the final scenes to tell me which one was right. Fun fact – none of them. Or maybe not? You see, I can’t reveal how it all ends – that would be brutal – but I can guarantee the ending is for you to create. For sure, you may reflect a lot on the topic of grief and how one may deal with it. Is it even possible to move on? This film will not give you answers, but definitely throw even more questions at you, which later you need to analyse yourselves. I am indeed shocked that such a young director (who’s not even 20 years old!) has managed to tell a story that really burns your brain and is full of hidden elements to be put together by the viewers. This film is like a box of puzzle which, in the end, may show different pictures depending on who was doing it. And I like it! I also have to add that I noticed quite unusual camerawork in some moments (which is a plus) and good music (which is another plus). Also, here’s a cherry on top for older cinephiles – we may see Hunter Parrish and Will Parker playing together in one production, which to me, a fan of “Weeds” series, was a heart-warming experience. Anyway, make sure to remember “Atrabilious” and stop by for a cinematographic drink one day.

My rating: 7.5/10
S.