Rian Johnson drove us crazy in his latest film still starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. After his superb and surprising Knives Out, which relaunched the genre of puzzle and mystery films, the director offers a delightful follow-up that is even more critical of the current world and especially that of influencers and other tech magnates. To continue in this state of mind, we have selected twelve films for you where the story and the direction take us from suspect to suspect, rewriting the narration at each scene for a whirlwind of false leads and a labyrinth of thoughts. Perfect gymnastics of the mind very appropriate between the holidays and a real fluid pleasure of images and dialogues. Let’s go! The Last of Sheila, by Herbert Ross (1973) Surely the film closest to those of Rian Johnson, with a lot of derision, social criticism and pitfalls. Sheila dies in a car accident at a party in Hollywood. A year later, his widower invites six Hollywood personalities present on his yacht to participate in a game that will be the subject of his next film. See also on Konbini This feature film is convoluted, very 1970s and signed Herbert Ross, the friend of screenwriter Neil Simon, whom we then saw directing the very good The Goodbye Girl or The Sunshine Boys. It is not free from faults but is very pleasing and a little different from the adaptations à la Agatha Christie. Don’t be fooled by the horrible French name: Dangerous Invitations. Gosford Park, by Robert Altman (2001) This great ensemble film is one of the last very good works by the great Robert Altman. Halfway between the Dowton Abbey series (whose plot was to be a sequel to this film) and a giant game of Cluedo, Gosford Park focuses on the operation of an old English aristocratic building in the 1930s, dealing as much the wealthy who meet for a hunting party than the army of servants present to organize daily life. low masses almost “Ivorian James”, all with an impeccable cast. A treat from the boss Altman, five years before his death. The Thin Man, by WS Van Dyke (1934) Let’s stay in the 1930s but this time with period films, true ancestors of Glass Onion. In 1933, W. S. Van Dyke begins a series of six incredible mystery films with Nick and Nora, a couple of amateur detectives who will solve many murders. The first, The Thin Man (in French: L’Introuvable), is a real success, written by Dashiell Hammett, between drawer thriller and comical scenes of the irresistible couple composed of William Powell and Myrna Loy, also married in real life. A tone between humor and death à la Glass Onion but ninety years earlier. The suites are all really good, the picture is always magnificent… A good way to spend the winter in the warmth. In the same genre of old-fashioned mystery films, we also recommend the beautiful series of feature films Miss Marple from the 1960s with Margaret Rutherford, a success all along the line.Le Nom de la rose, by Jean-Jacques Annaud (1986)Let’s go to France now, with this film by Jean-Jacques Annaud combining mystery and philosophy, based on the writings of Umberto Eco. A mixture of criticism of the feudal world and the various religious currents in the 14th century, the film is based above all on the investigation by Sean Connery and his disciple Christian Slater carried out following a series of suspicious deaths of monks in a remote abbey. in the mountains in northern Italy. Everything is there: the false leads, the real-fake bad guys, the brilliant historical reconstruction, the learning novel, and even the inquisition. A great classic of the genre that goes far beyond the mystery film. Indispensable.The Mirror Crack’d, by Guy Hamilton (1980)Impossible to talk about the inspirations of Glass Onion without mentioning the ensemble films based on the books by Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient-Express, Death on the Nile , Murders in the sun, their multiple adaptations and sometimes more or less happy remakes. With Death on the Nile by John Guillermin in 1978, we choose The Mirror Crack’d (in French: The mirror broke). Already because we find Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, the best possible investigator as she told us proven in Arabesque and which also has its wink in Glass Onion, and also because the film is quite wobbly with its old stars on the return, like Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson or Tony Curtis, true critic of Hollywood aging, exploring the cracks of tinsel. Funny fact: the director Guy Hamilton was then a James Bond specialist, four to his credit. However, in a scene opposite Liz Taylor, we see a mute Pierce Brosnan, in one of his first roles, years before he resumed the James Bond costume. Here. Watch this film, it’s less good but it’s better. Cluedo, by Jonathan Lynn (1985) We’re back again in a very Glass Onion style, but this time for the comedy side, with this very atypical Cluedo by Jonathan Lynn . Taking up the very concept of the board game that Rian Johnson dents several times in his film via his character Benoit Blanc, Cluedo is carried out with a masterful hand by the performance of Tim Curry as a delicious butler. All the shots are then put in place for this murderous comedy which offers itself the luxury of having three different endings, a last snub to the bad players and the cheaters of the board game. The film is really enjoyable like At Knives Out and Glass Onion, and the characters and the dialogues pulling towards the theater are of a dizzying rhythm: a real beautiful successful bet. In the same genre a little pastiche of the mystery film, we recommends Murder by Death, by Robert Moore (1976), where the cream of the (false) detectives of the time meet at the table to investigate together. Peter Falk is superb there. The Private Eyes, by Lang Elliott (1980), where two (false) Holmes and Watson take over a somewhat haunted mansion to investigate the death of their owners, is also a great film. We can also quote But who killed Harry?, by the boss Alfred Hitchcock, not always in the enigmas, rather in the suspense, but it was absolutely necessary that he be quoted in this article.April Fool’s Day, by Fred Walton (1986) After black comedy and pastiche, the other branch of mystery film is the more horrifying part. Indeed, the Scream and Saw series are real puzzle nests, false suspects and endless tracks. The film of this category closest to the universe of Glass Onion remains April Fool’s Day (in French: Week-end of terror). Directed by Fred Walton in 1986, it stages a birthday in an isolated house on an island . It’s April 1st, and for her birthday, Muffy has prepared some jokes for her invited friends. Some are just schoolboys, others archi-creepy. And there, people start dying one after the other, in a more or less dirty way. It’s very 1980s, fun and sometimes gore, and the puzzles are funny: a very nice ancestor of Scream rather forgotten. To review. The List of Adrian Messenger, by John Huston (1963) Here, we touch on the purest spy film, with an incredible mystery: Adrian Messenger gives his friend Anthony Gethryn, a former British secret service, a mysterious list of names. Shortly after, he dies in a very suspicious plane crash. Scott and Kirk Douglas but also Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra… The critics hated it when it came out but with hindsight, we surely have here the craziest mystery film ever invented. A UFO to see again very quickly. Sleuth, by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1972) Here, we touch on a pure masterpiece of the genre. In Sleuth (in French: The Bloodhound (why?)), everything is evasion, lies and enigma. Based on the play by Anthony Shaffer, the entire film is a giant battle between two big names in the genre, Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. The author offers him to fake a burglary to get the insurance money. The hairdresser accepts but of course, nothing will go as planned. The hunt for riddles begins. With Joseph L. Mankiewicz directing his latest film, we get one of the craziest feature films in the history of cinema, referenced many times by Rian Johnson in Knives Out and Glass Onion . In the same genre, avoid the 2007 remake still with Michael Caine, much less good, but rush to Deathtrap, a fake sequel signed Sidney Lumet in 1982, still with Michael Caine and accompanied by Christopher Reeve, just crowned with his success as Superman. The result is almost at the level of Sleuth. A wonderful update.Witness for the Prosecution, by Billy Wilder (1957)Another type of detective film with drawers, the trial film. Alongside Autopsy of a Murder, this Witness for the Prosecution is surely the greatest filmed labyrinth in history, skillfully orchestrated by the great Billy Wilder. We run from twist to twist for our greatest pleasure, with an indecipherable Marlene Dietrich from beginning to end. The quintessence of the mystery film.DOA, by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton (1988)This is another nugget completely zapped from the collective unconscious (we can’t blame you, the directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton are behind the Super Mario Bros. movie disaster a few years later). Yet DOA (in French: Death on Arrival) has it all. Dennis Quaid plays a man on borrowed time, he has twenty-four hours to find the truth about his poisoning. It’s already too late to find a cure, but he wants to find the culprit. Remake of a film noir from 1950, this electric version is truly the pure guilty pleasure of video clubs at the end of 1980-beginning of 1990.L’Heure Zero, by Pascal Thomas (2007)The French are not to be outdone in the genre of the enigmatic film to a charming ensemble. Note the saucy adaptations of works by Agatha Christie by Pascal Thomas, with the couple André Dussollier/Catherine Frot, including this film, L’Heure Zero, very close to Knives Out or Glass Onion. We find there with delight actors and actresses like Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni, François Morel or Laura Smet. A beautiful French vision of the immeasurable work of Agatha Christie. In the French versions, we can also mention the very good mysteries of Gaston Leroux adapted by Denis Podalydès, Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (2003) and Le Parfum de la dame en noir (2005), very poetic, ethereal and spectral.
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