Rian Johnson

7.1 Brick (2005)
6.9 The Brothers Bloom (2008)
6.5 Looper (2012)
5.0 Star Wars - The Last Jedi (2017)
7.4 Knives Out (2019)
6.8 Glass Onion (2022)

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Rian Johnson, also a folk singer, debuted as a filmmaker with Brick (2005), which also started his collaboration with cinematographer Steve Yedlin.

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

Looper (2012)

He wasted his talent in Star Wars - The Last Jedi (2017), the eighth installment in the series.

Knives Out (2019) is one of the most ingenious puzzles in the history of murder mystery thrillers, definitely worthy of the best Agatha Christie, with a touch of Dashiell Hammett and of Sherlock Holmes. To some extent the film is recursive because it's the murder mystery about the murder of a murder-mystery writer. The whole film feels like a perfect example of the kind of novels that he must have written. Steve Yedlin's cinematography is often spectacular.

The film opens with a panorama of a gothic mansion in the mist, which immediately evokes Sherlock Holmes novels. Inside the mansion, the housekeeper, Fran, prepares breakfast and brings it to the owner, Harlan, but she finds him dead on the couch, having slit his own throat. The last person to see him alive was his nurse Marta, who wakes up with a nightmare. She lives in a humble tenement with her mother and a sister. The following day, as the family prepares for the funeral, Marta visits the mansion. She is not invited to the funeral although the members of the family all say that they consider her part of the family. The only member of the family who doesn't attend the funeral is the young scoundrel Ransom. The family includes his ultra-centenarian mother, who hardly moves or speaks, his two children Linda and Walt, their respective spouses Richard and Donna, their respective children Ransom and Jacob (an introverted teenager), the widowed daughter-in-law Joni and her daughter Meg (another teenager). The case is clearly a suicide but two detectives show up, accompanied by a mysterious man, and interview the family members one by one, claiming it's routine procedure. Each person briefly describes what happened during the birthday party but also reveals something about her or his own personality. They are showed sitting in front of a large knife display, part of the treasure of Harlan's mansion. From the interviews we learn that Harlan was a famous writer of crime novels. We then learn that the whole family was assembled at the mansion and they had just celebrated Harlan's birthday. They start with Linda, who claims to be a self-made business woman although it is clear that she started out with a fortune loaned to her by her father. Next comes her husband Richard, then Walt, another child who claims to be a self-made man although all he is done is run his father's publishing house. Then comes Joni, who runs her own business, and finally Meg. Ransom is nowhere to be found. The interviews are shown sort of simultaneously, switching from one to the other. At first, each interview describes the harmony of the family, but as the interview proceeds dirty details come up that show the real antagonistic mood of the family. It is Joni who eventually recognizes the third man sitting silently in the back: he is a famous private detective, Benoit Blanc. Slowly he begins to ask questions. They deny any argument with Harlan but flashbacks show us that they are all lying: Harlan told Richard he was going to write a letter to Linda about his infidelity; Harlan fired Walt from the publishing house; Harlan told Joni that he had found out that she was embezzling money meant to support her daughter Meg. They all agree only on one thing: that young Ransom is an ungrateful spoiled brat. Harlan had an argument with Ransom (who is also called Hugh) that Jacob heard because he was masturbating in the nearby bathroom: Harlan disinherited Ransom and Ransom threatened him. And so now they all look like suspects to us, except that there was no murder: it is self-evident that Harlan killed himself. Richard finds the letter that Harlan wrote for Linda and opens it: it is blank. It looks like Harlan simply bluffed and he wasn't actually going to tell Linda about Richard's affair. Benoit reveals to the two cops that he has been hired to investigate by an anonymous client who simply left him an envelop full of money. Benoit finally interrogates Marta outside the mansion and learns that Marta throws up when she lies. Benoit asks her questions that would implicate the family members and Marta throws up every time she tries to defend them. Benoit now guesses all the dirty truths that the family tried to hide (and that we saw in flashbacks). Benoit brings Marta inside and interrogates her in the same place as the others (in front of the knife display). Marta is a simple girl who lives with her mother, an illegal immigrant. But then we see a flashback to what happened that night. After the party, Marta showed Harlan to his room and they played a game of go. Harlan lost as usual. Marta injected Harlan with the usual medicines, but then realized she had mixed up the bottles and injected a lethal dose of morphine into the old man. Marta freaked out and looked in vain for the antidote in her medical bag. She then tried to call the ambulance but Harlan, certain that the ambulance would not arrive in time, told her to save herself from the accusation of murder, which would have meant prison for her and deportation for her mom. Harlan came up with the perfect murder (of himself). He told Marta to leave the house making sure to be seen and then return by climbing a trellis leading to his room, wear his clothes, be seen again, and finally leave. This way everybody would believe that Harlan was still alive after Marta left. However, Marta was seen escaping by Harlan's mother, although the old woman mistook her for Ransom. Harlan slit his throat to make it look like suicide, which in fact it was, instead of dying of morphine which would have implicated Marta. So now we already know who is the killer from this flashback, but Benoit only gets bits and pieces of the story, all true, but also all insignificant. Benoit seems to like her better than he likes the family members or even the two cops, but he is not stupid and guesses that something is wrong. He even asks her to be his sole company when he investigates around the house. Marta's medical bag is missings and Marta assumes the cops took it. Escorted by her, Benoit discovers that someone entered Harlan's room from the back, and of course we know who: Marta.
The family is summoned by the lawyer to read the will. They all expect to get a big share of the fortune. Ransom finally shows up, insulted by everybody for having missed the funeral and for being such a shameful person. Ransom mocks them and ignores the cops who want to ask him questions. Marta stands in the back. The will shocks everybody: Harlan has left everything to Marta. Ransom is the only one amused: he knew that he was disowned and now the others are in the same boat. They soon turn against Marta, who now looks to them like a vicious cunning monster. Marta is terrified because now she's not only the murderer but now it looks like she even had a reason to murder Harlan. Marta is so paralyzed that she can't even escape their insults. Ransom offers her a ride and they leave together. While dining at a restaurant, Marta confesses everything to Harlan. Harlan offers to help her in exchange of a cut of the inheritance. The news of Harlan's will is leaked to the press and journalists lay siege to her house. Marta finds a blackmail note written from someone who knows that she killed Harlan, someone who has a copy of Harlan's toxicology report, which presumably shows that he died of morphine overdose. Ransom drives Marta to the medical examiner's office, with a vague plan to steal the report, but in any case the place is on fire: someone burned it down. Marta sees Benoit on the scene and, panicking, drives away like a maniac, with Ransom encouraging her. After an acrobatic car chase, Benoit stops them and arrests... Ransom. Benoit has concluded that Ransom is the murderer after chatting with Harlan's centenarian mother, who saw Ransom enter the house from the back the night of the murder. We think that the old woman simply misstook Marta for Ransom. Marta finds an excuse to go the meeting with the blackmailer but finds Fran, dying of a morphine overdose. She mutters something that Marta understands as "You did it". Instead of fleeing, Marta calls an ambulance and then confesses everything to Benoit. Benoit tells her that Ransom already told them everything. Fran is alive at the hospital but unable to speak. Marta guesses where she hides the toxicology report, finds it, and hands it to Benoit: Marta basically hands Benoit the proof of her guilt. Marta decides to confess to the family members and surrender the inheritance, but just then Benoit reads the toxicology report and stops her: the report doesn't show an overdose of morphine. Harlan truly just killed himself.
Benoit now concludes again that Ransom is the person responsible for Harlan's suicide. Harlan told Ransom that Marta was his only heir and Ransom decided to make Marta a murderer. Ransom swapped Harlan's medicines in Marta's bag so that Marta would kill Harlan. However, Marta swapped the swapped bottles and therefore gave Harlan the right medicines: if Harlan had let Marta call the ambulance, they would have realized that he was not dying of a morphine overdose. Marta swapped the bottles because she instinctively recognized the correct ones even if the labels had been switched. Fran didn't say "You did it" but "Hugh did it". She saw Ransom swap the bottles. She sent the blackmail letter to Ransom, and Ransom put it in Marta's mailbox so Marta would think that someone saw her swap the bottles. Ransom overdosed Fran with morphine so that Marta would be found with Fran's corpse. Granma indeed misstook Marta for Ransom but that's because she had seen him earlier enter Harlan's room the same way.
Benoit realizes that it was Ransom who hired him to investigate and to discover that Marta killed Harlan. And Benoit confronts him in front of Marta, revealing to Marta why he thinks that Ransom did it. Ransom sits calmly. The hospital calls and Marta relays the news that Fran is alive and well. Ransom smiles and admits that Benoit found out the truth, but points out that he is not guilty of anything: Harlan killed himself, Fran didn't die, and at a trial a good lawyer will get him free in no time. Ransom in fact swears to fight Marta to the end over the inheritance. But now Marta throws up: she lived about the call from the hospital, and Fran is dead. Ransom just confessed that he murdered Fran in front of the cops. Furious, Ransom grabs a knife from the knife display that we've seen all the time and tries to stab Marta in the heart, but the knife is a retractable knife used in theatrical plays. The police take Ransom in custody while the family members assemble outside to leave the mansion that now legally belongs to Marta. Linda finds the blank letter that her husband left on Harlan's desk. As she lights a cigarette, Harlan's writing appear: he had indeed written the letter, but using sympathetic ink. And now Linda can read about her husband Richard's infidelity. Benoit tells Marta that Marta proved her innocence by simply calling the ambulance, by being a good person. Marta watches from the balcony of the mansion as the family members depart.

Glass Onion (2022)