The following content is the manuscript of the video explanation. The original video was originally posted on station B and Weibo account: Li Lixi on November 30, 2019. Original article, please indicate the original author
Serious spoilers, please read as appropriate!
Video review link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av77525679/
I will sort out the plot first;
An 85-year-old mystery writer suddenly cut his throat and committed suicide after having a birthday party at his home. After a simple investigation, the police determined that this was an ordinary suicide. However, without knowing who it was, he sent an anonymous letter to a detective asking him to investigate the author's real cause of death. Out of curiosity, the detective participated in the investigation of the writer's death, and bought two days from the police to investigate the truth. If he couldn't find out anything by himself two days later, he would close the case in the name of suicide.
Next, the detective questioned everyone who came to the party one by one, and found that four people had conflicts with the writer during the party. They were:
1. The writer's son
2. The wife of another son of the writer who has passed away --- the writer's daughter-in-law
3. The husband of the writer's eldest daughter --- the writer's son-in-law
4. And the grandson of the writer who is idle. In order to show respect, we will not call him grandson, just call him the US team.
The writer and his daughter-in-law clashed because they discovered that the daughter-in-law had been stealing money from the opportunity of sending her tuition fees to her daughter, so she decided to interrupt her financial assistance.
The author and the younger son clashed because the younger son did not respect his handling of the copyright of the work, so he planned to dismiss the younger son from the publishing company.
The writer clashed with the husband of the eldest daughter because he discovered that he was cheating.
The conflict between the writer and the American team is more because the two have never dealt with it, and quarrels have become commonplace. That day, the writer said angrily to the US team: his inheritance will be left to the caregiver who has been taking care of him, and never let those in the family who can only ask for money and are not grateful to take advantage of him.
In fact, the reason why writers cut off financial support for their children and grandchildren is only because they want them to become independent and mature, instead of relying on themselves to live like a parasite.
However, the children and grandchildren did not appreciate this sentiment. They unanimously hated the writers, especially the American team. He knew that based on the writer’s personality, those words were definitely not just for fun. He really planned to leave all the inheritance to him. The caregiver. The American team, who did not want outsiders to obtain property, suddenly thought of a legal clause called the Slayer Rule. This clause stated that the person guilty of murder is not allowed to obtain inheritance from the murdered person. Therefore, the US team intends to frame the nurse as a murderer who killed the writer, thereby depriving the nurse of the qualification to inherit the inheritance. First, he pretended to leave the party scene, then sneaked back to the house, exchanged the bottles containing common drugs and morphine, and wanted the nurse to give the writer the wrong drug, so as to embezzle the nurse and commit the crime of intentional murder.
However, because she is very familiar with the appearance and characteristics of different drugs, the nurse does not need to look at the labels when taking the drugs, so she did not mistake the drugs. However, after accidentally glancing at the label on the bottle, the caregiver panicked; she mistakenly thought that she had taken the wrong medicine and gave the writer a large dose of morphine, which would cause the writer to die within ten minutes.
The paramedic was going to call for an ambulance, but the writer stopped the paramedic and told her: "This location is too remote. Even if the ambulance rushes over, it will take more than fifteen minutes. I would have died by then. I really don’t want it. You go to jail, or your illegal immigrant mother will be deported. So, don’t call an ambulance. I will die anyway. You must do what I say to get rid of suspicion."
After that, the writer confessed that the caregiver pretended to leave, and then returned to the house according to a specific route, put on his pajamas and wandered around the house, in order to confuse the witnesses’ audition and set a time gap to clear the caregiver’s suspicion of murder. . After that, the writer cut his throat and committed suicide regardless of the persuasion of the nurses. In order to live up to the writer's kindness, the nurse had to follow the way the writer gave him.
What's interesting is that the writer told the nurses the route to return to the house secretly, which happened to be exactly the same as the route used by the US team to return to the house secretly. It's really the grandfather and grandson connecting the heart (or is there another secret? Let's explain later)--
The next day, the U.S. team learned that the writer died of suicide instead of morphine overdose. Knowing that there must be something tricky, he secretly found a detective to investigate the truth, hoping to expose the suspicion of the caregiver. Therefore, the anonymous letter received by the detective was sent by the US team.
When the writer committed suicide by cutting his throat, a drop of blood spilled on the shoe of the nurse. In fact, the detective noticed the drop of blood when he first saw the nurse, and knew that the death of the writer must be related to the nurse.
But on the other hand, detectives feel that the kind-hearted nurse is not like the real murderer of the writer, and there must be something hidden behind it. So, he deliberately took the nurse to investigate the case, and took the opportunity to dig the truth.
By the way, there is one more thing that must be mentioned, and that is: the nursing staff has a very interesting problem. If they lie, they will vomit. This setting, in the end, also became the key for everyone to find out the truth.
As for the US team's murder plan, it is not foolproof. When he took the opportunity of everyone to attend the writer's funeral and turned back to the house to exchange the two medicines that he had previously exchanged in the bottle, he happened to be seen by the butler.
The steward knew that the US team was not a good person. After seeing the US team changing the medicine bottle, the steward took it for granted that it was the US team that poisoned the writer. The butler’s cousin happened to be working in the forensic center that did an autopsy for the author, so the butler asked her cousin to get a copy of the author’s autopsy report for herself.
In fact, the content of this autopsy report only shows that the author did not die from an overdose of morphine injection; this also means that the existence of the autopsy report can prove the innocence of the nurse, because the nurse did not get the medicine wrong.
However, the butler who didn't know the inside story and at the same time couldn't understand the professional medical terms in the autopsy report all thought that the autopsy report was evidence that the US team had poisoned the writer. So, the butler sent a copy of the autopsy report to the US team anonymously, and asked him to come out to meet and confront him; at the same time, he hid the original autopsy report under the big clock where he usually hid marijuana.
At this time, the lawyer announced the writer's will. After everyone learned that the caregiver was the only heir to the property designated by the writer, they started attacking the caregiver madly, and the caregiver was also frightened and at a loss. The U.S. team took the opportunity to pretend to be a confidant elder brother, telling the cause and effect of the writer's death from the mouth of the nurse, and learned that the nurse did not actually use the wrong medicine because he changed the medicine bottle. Therefore, he directly changed his strategy, pretending that he would help the caregiver cover up the crime, and asked her to share part of the inheritance to himself as a thank you.
Therefore, after receiving the copy of the autopsy report sent by the butler, the US team, who thought it had control of the whole situation, didn't panic at all. He first set the forensic center on fire according to the address on the photocopy of the autopsy report. In this way, the evidence that could prove the innocence of the nurse disappeared.
Immediately afterwards, the U.S. team used the copy of the autopsy report as the basis. After modifying some key information, it made a blackmail letter and sent it to the nurse, making the nurse mistakenly believe that the wrong medicine for the writer had been taken. People found out; at the same time, the US team also sent an anonymous email to the caregiver, leading her to the place where the butler asked him to meet, so that the caregiver thought it was the butler who had discovered the truth and wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail her. In fact, the US team had already met the butler at the agreed place in advance, and injected a large amount of morphine that was enough to kill her after being stunned. In this way, he could plant the caregiver who came afterwards as the murderer of the housekeeper.
But what I didn't expect was that when the nurse came to attend the appointment, the housekeeper was still alive. She told the nurse: Hugh did it. Means: the American team is the real culprit who killed the writer.
Here I want to explain: normal people don't call the US team Hugh. The arrogant US team only asks the servants to call themselves by this name, so the housekeeper will habitually call the US team Hugh. However, because of his weakness and unclear pronunciation, the nurse mistakenly thought that the housekeeper said: You did it. It means: You are the real culprit who killed the writer. This scared the nurse into a cold sweat.
In fact, from the point of view of the nurse, the housekeeper was dying at this time, and as long as she died, no one would know her secret. However, the paramedic did not hesitate to call an ambulance for the housekeeper. Her kindness helped her escape the trick set by the US team.
After the housekeeper was sent to the hospital for rescue, the nurse confessed all the truth to the detective. She also gathered all the writer’s family in the house, intending to tell the story of the writer’s death in public and give up the inheritance right. Before all this was announced, the nurse also turned over the original autopsy report that the butler had hidden under the clock and handed it to the detective.
As for why the nurse can easily find the original autopsy report, the answer is simple, that is: the housekeeper always likes to hide things in the same place. This is known to both the nurse and the daughter-in-law's daughter.
However, just as the caregiver was about to announce everything, the detective suddenly rushed over to interrupt her. It turned out that the detective had seen from the author's original autopsy report that the caregiver did not give the author the wrong medicine, and at the same time deduced all the conspiracy of the US team. The caregiver who finally realized it also echoed the detective and said to the US team: The butler has been rescued, as long as she regains consciousness, she can immediately prove your crime.
As soon as they heard that the butler was not dead, the US team panicked. He simply broke the jar and yelled: So what? Isn't it just killing someone? Lao Tzu is rich and can afford the best lawyer to fight a lawsuit. Lao Tzu is not afraid!
The US team's shouting is equivalent to confessing guilt. These words were also recorded by the police present and became hard evidence.
In fact, the butler has already died. The caregiver lied just to stimulate the US team to leak. However, don't forget that caregivers have a magical physique, that is, they will vomit when they lie. She vomited on the American team's face all of a sudden, the American team may feel too disgusting, so angry that they want to stabbing the nurse with a knife. Unexpectedly, the knife turned out to be a toy knife, and it couldn't even pierce a fly.
In the last shot, the nurse is standing on the balcony of the house, looking down at the writers and family members downstairs. She holds a cup in her hand, which says:
"My house, my rules, my coffee"
This cup also appeared at the very beginning of the film. It shows that the caregiver has officially accepted the inheritance left by the writer.
However, the film does not tell us whether the caregiver will use the family’s inheritance to help the writer’s family. We only learned from the plot that the nurse only promised that the writer’s daughter-in-law’s daughter would pay for her college tuition. The daughter-in-law’s daughter, even though she had betrayed the caregiver under the threat of her family, confided the secret that the caregiver’s mother was an illegal immigrant. This gave the family a chance to use this to threaten the caregiver and ask the caregiver to give up the inheritance. But she can be regarded as one of the writer's family members who still retains a little innocence and conscience.
The above is the whole plot of the movie. In order to make it clear, when I described the plot, I broke the order. The plot advancement rhythm in the original film is really methodical and unexpected, very, very attractive. Although the first half of the story progressed slowly, the details were well laid out, and the film’s expressiveness was also very good, and there was no sense of procrastination at all. It wasn't until the last ten minutes that all the truth was revealed explosively.
Before that, there were also many small hints that pointed out the identity of the big boss of the US team, such as:
The two dogs are very friendly to everyone, except barking at the US team;
When the writer’s old mother mistakenly identified the nursing staff as the US team, she said: "The US team, why are you back again?" --- The reason why she said "back again" is because she has witnessed the US team secretly Climbed the window.
There is also the behavior of the US team deliberately reminding the nurses to check the emails, which is also a bit artificial.
In addition, both the US team and the nurses have played chess with the writers, and the writers have always said: The nurses’ chess skills are superior to those of the US team. On the chessboard, the U.S. team is inferior to the guards; just as in reality, the cunning of the U.S. team is no match for the kindness of the guards. At that time, the two medicines whose bottles were replaced by the US team were first placed on the chessboard and then overturned by the writer. All the causes seem to be derived from the metaphors brought about by this small chessboard.
In addition, there are many ingenious paving bridges and interesting detail settings that echo each other in the film.
Here are a few examples:
1. It is precisely because the writer's family despise servants like the butler and prevent her from attending the funeral, the butler will discover the conspiracy of the American team while staying in the house;
2. When playing chess with the nurse, the writer once satirized the US team and said: This grandson can't even distinguish a toy knife from a real knife. In the end, the U.S. team really couldn't tell the difference...
3. The husband of the writer’s daughter once threw the ball on the writer’s table out of the window with his hand; it was precisely because of this that the writer’s daughter noticed the letter left by the writer to herself when she put the ball back in place and learned about it. The fact that her husband cheated;
4. At the end, the same Iron Throne of "Game of Thrones" appeared. When the caregiver was sitting in the center of the chair, all the knife points happened to point towards the caregiver. This also alluded to the disadvantaged position of the nurse as an immigrant in the whole family and even in the overall social environment. Moreover, the chair itself can also allude to a “game of power” triggered by the struggle for inheritance within the family.
Because I only watched the movie once, I couldn't restore all the details. In short, the film is full of uncertain hints everywhere, the truth seems to be within reach, but you just can't catch it. Until the end, it will suddenly come to light. Everything is very light, but also very solid. Every plot setting is responsive, with cause and effect.
"The Knife Out of the Sheath" is written and directed by Rian Johnson, who has directed "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" at the same time. As early as 2005, the director had the idea of making this film, and in the process of creating it borrowed heavily from the works of British detective novelist Agatha Christie, such as "Murder on the Orient Express" and " "Death Trap", "Private Detective", "Tragedy on the Nile", etc., combined many classic suspense elements into one, and on this basis, created a more complex, more rhythmic, more layered, more sophisticated Works that meet the tastes of modern people. The excellent soundtrack is just right; the luxurious cast also naturally endows this film with great entertainment value. The whole story not only contains rigorous thinking logic, but also contains a wealth of modern social information, which is witty, ingenious, sharp and interesting. The story that has been reversing is full of magic, playing out new tricks with the traditional story structure.
For example, the deceased in the story is indeed not a homicide, but a suicide. However, behind this suicide, there are complicated reasons.
However, the caregiver who was directly revealed as the murderer soon after the beginning of the film became the only innocent and positive person in the end. The people who didn't kill people were all accomplices one by one. Before the truth was revealed, the sympathy shown in the film for the "murderer" of the nurse created a different kind of humanism.
In addition to being suspenseful works, "The Knife Out of the Sheath" is also a full-scale satire, which viciously satirizes racism, money worship, and white supremacy, and reflects realistic social and political issues such as immigration.
All the writer's family members are white people, all wearing the mask of stupid, exaggerated, and pathetic whiteism. Initially, they were very friendly towards carers, and most people also had relatively moderate views on immigration and racial discrimination. However, all their morals and principles need to rely on the worship of money in order to be maintained. Therefore, when they learned that the Latino immigrant, the caregiver, had obtained all the inheritance, they immediately revealed their true shape and showed their fangs to the caregiver regardless of dignity. ,
Just like the name of the film, "The Knife Out of the Sheath", everyone has a hidden knife, ready to stab anyone who threatens their own interests at any time. They believe that what belongs to them now will always belong to them, and they will never be satisfied. Even if the inheritance has been left to the caregiver by the writers according to their personal wishes, they still feel that they should own the things that belong to others.
However, they forgot that the author’s inheritance belongs only to him, and he has the right to make any arrangements; as for the immigration issue, the entire country is made up of immigrants; everyone’s ancestors were also immigrants. (Only normal immigration issues will be discussed here, not illegal immigration. After all, the word "illegal" already means illegal immigrants.) Just like the US team shouting at the nurses, "This is our house, which should have always belonged to When we", the detective immediately laughed at him with a disdainful look and said: "What does "should belong to you?" "This house was also bought by the writer from a Pakistani."
These people have long forgotten the truth of history and society, and forgotten the basic principles of resource allocation, and because of this they are not sure who is the real enemy. Under this premise, their reasons for attacking others simply cannot be established, and the knife in their hands cannot be taken out of the sheath at all. Because everyone is thinking about it for a kind of pseudo-logic. Just like the US team, angrily stabbed out with a knife, but got a soft joke.
Finally, there is another question: Does the writer who has written mystery novels for a lifetime really know that someone is planning to murder himself?
The writer changed his will a week before his death. Is this prepared?
Why is such a smart person to single out all the conflicts with his family at once? And why do you want to tell the US team about their inheritance arrangements? Is it really okay to be so scared and hate yourself?
At that time, the writer insisted on pulling the nurse to play chess, and also deliberately overturned the chessboard. Was this operation a bit artificial?
Since it is necessary to commit suicide to exonerate the carer, why doesn't the writer spend more than ten seconds, write a simple note, and directly characterize himself as suicide? In this way, won't the caregiver be completely suspicious?
The writer explained that the route for the nurse to return to the house was exactly the same as the route chosen by the US team. Is this really a coincidence?
At that time, when the nurse mistakenly thought that he injected a large amount of morphine into the writer, he once said that the writer would die within 10 minutes, and various symptoms would appear within 5 minutes. However, it should have been more than 5 minutes from the end of the injection to the author's suicide. Didn't the author discover that his body did not show the various abnormalities mentioned by the caregiver? After all, if you call an ambulance directly as the paramedic said, the writer doesn't have to die.
Moreover, in the film, there are many close-ups for the portraits of the writers. Does it imply?
There is also the cup that says "My house. My rules, my coffee." Does this mean that the writer also set up other bureaus in accordance with his own rules in the incident? Maybe he knew that the US team had a bad plan, so he just went along with the flow and had other plans?
After all, detectives once described this case as "like a big doughnut, with a ring of rings and a very clever structure." Is it possible that the writer himself is the biggest part of this? The whole movie may be an infinite game in the middle game in the middle game in the middle game in the middle game...
Watching a movie, you can just open your mind at will. After seeing the ending, there is still room for further interpretation. This is the cleverness of the screenwriter.
All in all, this movie is really exciting and it is definitely worth your movie ticket money.
The above content is the manuscript of the video commentary. The original video was originally posted on station B and Weibo account: Li Lixi on November 30, 2019. Original article, please indicate the original author
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