IMDb plot summary: In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Starring Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, and Jamie Dornan.
A Haunting in Venice is the newest Hercule Poirot story from Kenneth Branagh. In this one, he's invited to a palazzo to observe a famous medium attempt to speak with the owner's deceased daughter. Poirot attends to debunk the medium's performance but finds himself doubting his skepticism when a murderer strikes and he begins seeing strange visions. I enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express and was deeply disappointed with Death on the Nile in comparison, but this is a fun return to form. And by form, I mean "not worrying too much about the story, just pouring all the energy into the atmosphere." It does do that irritating thing Branagh likes where it insists on shoehorning in a Poirot tragic back story, when really a Christie mystery is all about the one-off side characters and Poirot's just there to tie them together. (Benoit Blanc gets this right in modern times, by the way.) But the eerie supernatural undertones and moody haunted castle imagery works for me almost entirely, even when the plot falls short.
How it entered my Flickchart:
A Haunting in Venice > Arthur Christmas
A Haunting in Venice > Dark Passage
A Haunting in Venice < Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
A Haunting in Venice < Spencer
A Haunting in Venice > Kismet
A Haunting in Venice < Judgment at Nuremberg
A Haunting in Venice > Flee
A Haunting in Venice < The Red Shoes
A Haunting in Venice > Holiday (1930)
A Haunting in Venice < Roxanne
A Haunting in Venice > Last Night in Soho
Final spot: #800 out of 3842, or 79%.
No comments:
Post a Comment