Film Review

Everyone has seen at least one whodunnit. From the many adventures of Hercule Poirot; to the “Murder, she brings” Jessica Fletcher and to Mr “just one more thing” Columbo; within the genre of whodunnit it’s hard to be innovative and come up with new concepts.

Knives Out feels like a breath of fresh air and is one of the best films of last year. Writer director Rian Johnson is well known for trying to subvert people’s expectations and this mindset really adds to what easily could have been an unoriginal and predictable film. Instead, you are on the edge of your seat as you try to figure how all the pieces fit together or how Daniel Craig explains it with a doughnut hole analogy.

Speaking of Daniel Craig, he is absolutely fantastic as Benoit Blanc and I love his southern accent - it’s a nice homage to Poirot. The rest of the cast is fantastic, Ana de Armes is a true standout as Marta. The film is a visual treat, it’s very well shot and the soundtrack that goes along with the visuals really adds to the tone of the film and is just excellent. The whole mystery is just so well done, they never hide information from the audience so that the mystery is smarter than it actually is. Knives Out is flat out fantastic. Even if you have seen every whodunnit, you haven’t seen one like this.

The Film Review is contributed by Robert Ewing. Robert is passionate about film as an art form, and shining a light on films that may not be on people’s radar. Robert is from Kirknewton.

A CINEMA NEAR YOU

PICTURE HOUSE is an emerging community cinema network across West Lothian for new, developing and existing community cinemas. Coordinated locally by Generation Arts and funded by Regional Screen Scotland this is part of a Scotland-wide two-year development programme titled A Cinema Near You - helping individuals and groups start their own community cinemas in their area. If you, your venue or your community group would like to regularly show films then PICTURE HOUSE can offer a range of support including: • Training day in your area with other new cinema groups • Financial support and advice to undertake a total of three initial screenings at your venue • Follow-on assistance and support from experts, during and after the screenings • Membership to both Cinema For All (for an initial first year) and to Film Hub Scotland, allowing access to Cinema For All’s film licence booking scheme and to Film Hub Scotland’s Bursary Scheme If you would simply like to test the waters in your community or venue, A Cinema Near You is able to offer up to £500 for a one-off ‘pilot screening’ - covering the necessary film licence, venue hire, equipment logistics and marketing costs (where applicable) involved in putting on a film screening. To discuss developing community cinema in your area please contact Generation Arts on generationarts.coordinator@gmail.com or call 07521 358 239. If you’d like more information on A Cinema Near You please read the latest update here: www.regionalscreenscotland.org/about-us We look forward to hearing from you!

This article is contributed by Generation Arts, a West Lothian charity working to improve the wellbeing of people over 50, their friends and families through creative participation. www.generationarts.co.uk