I will never forget seeing this movie in theatres in east texas and watching 5 different people get up and walk out at various points. It was DELIGHTFUL.
Every time Thromby gets likeable I remember the guys at Cinema Therapy pointing out "Sure he seems nice but... he raised all these horrible people soo" And man that whole bit with the baseball and the letter is so neat to watch back like this!
See, I don't feel like the ending is JUST trolling, although certainly it is. I think it's the film (and to some extent, Harlan) giving Marta the only meaningful thing she can be given by someone with more power: agency. The end of the film is open-ended because, for the first time possibly ever, Marta now has the power (read: money) to make her own choices, much less constrained by the coercive aspects of capitalism. She is no longer hemmed in by the need to protect her mother--she has the money to get an expensive immigration lawyer. She is no longer hemmed in by the need to make fiscally responsible decisions, like living in a small apartment--she has a whole estate to support her decisions. She can continue to be a nurse if she wants, but she also has the actual choice now to stop, if she legitimately wants to stop. And none of the Thrombys can do a damn thing about it. They no longer have either financial or social power over her. Which is the only truly good thing Harlan could do to improve Marta's life. Yeah, she could mess it up now, she could have her own family turn into the Thrombys in fifty years--but it's because of HER CHOICES, not because of being hemmed in by capitalism. (Even racism becomes less of a problem with money--it doesn't go away, but when you can actually afford to make a legal stink about discrimination and follow "the rules" by wearing the right thing etc, it's a lot easier to get people to think twice before they do a racism at you. Which, as you noted, doesn't fix the systemic problems--but it's a lot harder to fix systemic problems from within the system. Marta COULD devote herself to addressing systemic problems, but it would no longer be driven by immediate necessity.)
ive never seen your channel before and watched this as part of my knives out/glass onion youtube binge and i am very glad i did. you go further than simply discussing the movie and do what any high school english teacher begs you to do- apply the content to the real world and give us a reason to care. i dont really have much to say about this other than incredible work!
I love this movie and Rian Johnson. My real life is pretty much exactly like Marta's so my mom and I were completely shocked that she was a central character. It was really nice and cathartic to see her earn the house at the end, but it was also a little bit uncomfortable because I could tell the other people in the theater were not happy, or at least confused. Needless to say we got outta there pretty quickly. Its nice to see stories like ours at the movies, but its still very clearly coming from a white liberal perspective. I would argue that the film is guilty of a lot of the things it makes fun of its characters for. It seems disinterested in Marta as a character/human, instead making her an obstacle for the white characters. For example the film never bothers to answer where she is actually from. I think thats what seperates this movie from something like Get Out, Marta doesn't seem to be the real protagonist. She just ends up feeling like a pawn that somehow wins in the end (to everyones disbelief). A lot of the racism in this movie is played for laughs and the trauma of many real immigrants is reduced to a simple plot point. Just imagine how uncomfortable this film would be to watch if Marta was a black character. I do really love the troll aspect of the ending, but it feels weird when its coming from a white guy in hollywood who won't be able to defend you or even relate as you get dirty looks walking back to your car.
this is something i suspected and never could quite put into words because, obviously, i'm a white person who doesn't work in the care industry. thanks for this comment, you make an excellent point.
so i have a bunch of knives out videos on queue, and i just finished my rewatch of the movie itself. god it was a good choice to watch this video first. loved the whole thing, and your/your friend's read on the ending. that plus the general filmmaking analysis (and really everything else in the video) just made the movie experience retroactively better. kudos to (the both of) you!
I didn’t watch the separate videos when you first uploaded them, but I just watched Knives Out for the first time last week so it’s cool you’ve uploaded it in a different format! I really enjoyed the VHS style ☺️
27:46 It also literally puts Marta and the family on opposite sides!!, which perfectly represents how things pan out as soon as they learn about the inheritance
Martas vomiting when lying issue is flagged as unrealistic by a lot of people, but I don't find it is. Nausea and vomiting often accompanies anxiety and it makes sense for Marta, a thoroughly goodhearted character, to experience a surge of severe anxiety when she lies, to the point of throwing up.
Wow you're back! and with an hour long video. I was trying to work you know. Edit: 55 minutes passed and I got nothing done ... and I had already watched this when it premiered. love your work
idk how I haven't seen your stuff before (but also you look familiar?) but this is great. can't wait to go through your archive. I went to film school too though I haven't worked in the industry at all, and tbh I've fallen way far out of the habit of watching and critically thinking about movies. Catching this one in theaters was a really refershing moment and reminded me that I don't have to beat myself up for not producing anything in this world, the education was worth it on many levels even if only personally. Thanks for reminding me of that, intended or not.
oooh. You know? I would totally watch pan and scan pirate edits of modern movies. I would like that a lot. Couldn't possibly make it work on youtube but aesthetically I like the idea. Old school bootlegging.
I just need more of that man’s beautiful accent(???). And I’ve been waiting on this video since you mentioned it several times so I’m very happy it’s here!!
4:3 is way more convenient in a lot of ways, i think! i remember checking this video for a specific line a few months ago and it's so much nicer to have a 4:3 video playing in a window next to your primary browser window. more youtubers should do this i think
25:29 when you start breaking down the interview shots I noticed that Richard and Joni shots and thought that these meant that they were not of Thromby's blood. They maybe "family" but they were not blood.
35:46 "[...] Rich marxists, rich liberals, and rich nazis *are all RICH* before they're anything else and their material interests will always be more aligned among themselves than with those of the poor..." Thanks. I needed that
Just a note: Marta's mom is an undocumented immigrant. Marta's status isn't disclosed but she likely is documented. It is a thing that lots of people don't consider. How immigration laws split families.
Welcome aboard Lilith. Let's talk about stuff, any subject you want. Can you tell I am bored? Anyway, I have been trying to get back to content creating but am completely out of ideas. LMK.
I thought at the end of the Movie, Marta was going to retain the position that the patriarch for the Thrombey family himself gave up. Harlan Thrombey cleaned house, and artfully set up the scene for an eventual Murder mystery. That turned out to be rather eccentric attempted; -Suicide - Murder. And at least thats what I gor from how Blanc (or white) described Marta's position. Especially, with her almost sympathetic tone on her last line of the movie. It's interesting that Knives out was the director trolling the audience but you sort of undercut anything your trying to say in the video by saying "Subjectively, none of art matters." Which is a Crappy critique; but, great Troll. I hope your feeling less black pilled now that you've gotten some sunlight, probably.
When you said 2010s I was like 'this movie wasn't made a decade a go what' and then I stopped and thought for a moment and went 'oh' and I just felt like sharing that. Anyways, good video so far about 8 minutes in yeehaw cowboys I'm very tired and a product of the 90's and have to keep myself from shouting lol bacon so random both ironically and unironically and I really don't know what happened with this sentence it really has gone off the rails and I feel like I'm just letting Jesus take the wheel right now and typing the first thought that comes to in my head in a desperate attempt to somehow be relevant and funny in a society I feel beholden to somehow prove my value to. Anyways
Lovely video so far, big thing that I have to comment on is that where I agree in the rich definitely understand class solidarity, I feel like just leaving it that "rich Marxist rich liberals and rich nz are all rich" is kind of letting the nz off the hook don't you think, mainly when "rich marxists" do have a history of surrendering their own wealth, which cannot be said for nz. Like it just a pet peeve I guess to use marxist class analysts of a film then poopoo some of its followers with the same brush. And the ending isn't open ended. The movie is saying we need to redistribute the wealth. Marta is as much a symbol as the cup. She's a stand-in for the middle class. I do like the video, it just feels like you're really close and then just mixed the exit. I agree it's propaganda, I hope that's clear. But, possibly edgy take, not all propaganda is bad.
yeah as time has gone on, the "rich marxists" line is the part of this vid i disagree with the most. what i *think* i meant to refer to was, like, the failsons of rich capitalists who spend their 20s crowing about communism, then hard right turn into conservatism as soon as familial wealth comes under their control? but idk to what extent that has a place in this conversation
My problem is that i don't like meta analysis specially when you don't actualy have the necessary information to work with it. I like to think movies are a concise thing, it's an assumption i need to belive they make sense. The point being a meta shrug makes me lose interest in the movie or message. That being said, i don't think you are wrong.
![Knives Out: The Simple Art of Trolling Everyone [CC]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
