So, what I'm going to do is have two pages relating to each movie, a runthrough of the plot in detail (with images) and a commentary alongside it on the other page. As I run through the story, I will number the paragraphs so they may be referred back to later for details I wish to talk about. This page relates to the first movie, Knives Out.
(1) The film opens with a shot of a large manor house while "Knives Out! (String Quartet in G Minor)" plays. This plays through the entire opening scene. We see Fran, the housekeeper, preparing a breakfast tray before heading up the stairs. We're shown some shots of books on a shelf, all written by Harlan Thrombey.
(2) Fran walks up the stairs calling out to "Mr Thrombey". She tries his room first, but doesn't find him in there, so she heads back to the hallway, kicks open a panel in the wall and walks up the stairs that are revealed behind it, still calling out as she's coming up to make her presence known.
(3) She opens the door at the top of the staircase, where she finds Harlan Thrombey. Lying on the sofa with his throat slit, a knife on the ground just in front of him. Dead. Fran nearly drops the tray. The Title shows on screen as the music ends.
1 WEEK AFTER HARLAN THROMBEY'S DEATH
(4) Marta (right) wakes up in her bed gasping for air, before heading to her window to get some fresh air. She lives in a terraced house on the street corner. In the kitchen, Marta's sister Alice is watching what seems to be the resolution to a murder mystery movie in gory detail, from what we can overhear. Marta's mother asks Alice to turn it off repeatedly which she protests, starting an argument. She tells Alice to be sensitive as Marta's just had a friend slit his throat open. After a little silence Marta tells Alice that it's fine, she can keep watching her show, but Alice says it's ok and apologises to her before walking out.
(5) Marta gets a call from Walt, Harlan's son, who asks her to come to the house early, as the police have some questions, which she seems a little shocked by.
(6) She drives up to the house and parks, when she gets out of her car, the police ask if she's with the help, which Meg, Harlan's granddaughter, takes offense to, telling them Marta's name, she was Harlan's nurse and she's with them. Marta says it's ok but Meg disagrees, and they hug because Marta seems sad.
(7) They walk up to the house together, Meg smokes. She's focused on Marta, with a look of concern on her face. She asks how Marta's doing, and she responds that she isn't doing great. Not sure what to do next and lots of tears. Meg says if she needs anything at all, they're here for her, "You're a part of this family."
(8) Linda, Harlan's daughter, greets Marta at the door with a pat on the back and asks her how she's doing, to which Marta asks her the same question. She sighs, saying the funeral helped, and she thought Marta should've been there, but she was outvoted.
(9) They overhear Richard, Linda's husband, swearing at someone through the phone. After Linda scolds him, he mentions it was Ransom, their son, who missed the funeral. He's decided to ignore the police and not turn up.
(10) Trooper Wagner steps into the corridor, they're ready for questioning, one at a time. Linda volunteers to go first, get this over with, assuming it will be done in time for the memorial that night.
(11) Richard asks Marta how she's doing, without looking up from his phone.
(12) Leiutenant Detective Elliot reintroduces himself and Trooper Wagner and starts recording the interview, which will discuss the events of the night of his death, November 8th. Trooper Wagner says he's sorry for her loss, she says that means a lot. Leiutenant Elliot inquires about Harlan's birthday party the night of the death, and asks how the party was. She responds sarcastically, the party before her dad's death was great.
(13) He asks if anyone other than the family was attending, Linda says Fran was there. Marta was there too, and she comments that Marta's a hard worker, and her family's from Ecuador. Wanetta, Harlan's mom ("Great nana"), was there too. Elliot asks how old she is, but they have no idea. He also asks if Ransom came too, he did but he left early. Wanetta asked "Ransom, are you leaving?" as he left.
(14) A man sitting in the back of the room plays a lone note on the piano. Elliot asks Linda if all three of them arrived at the same time, she says Richard arrived early to help the caterers but looks confusedly at the man in the background. Elliot says Linda and Richard work at a Boston real estate firm but she corrects him, it's her company. She built her business from the ground up, just like her dad.
(15) Elliot comments that she and Harlan seemed close, Linda responds; "We had our own secret way of communicating, I mean you had to find that, with dad. You had to find a game to play with him, and if you did that and you played by his rules... :)"
(16) We switch to the interview with Richard (this happens frequently in this scene and I'm not going to mention every time it switches, just who we are currently watching and if the interview is just starting). He says Linda idolises her dad, Harlan started with a rusty typewriter and built himself into one of the best-selling mystery authors of all time. Elliot comments that all Harlan's kids seem like self-made over-achievers. Richard stops, sighs, smiles and says sure.
(17) Walt's interview begins (Harlan's youngest son). Elliot says he runs the publishing company, Walt says yeah, it's his- it's the family's publishing company that Harlan trusts him to run. He starts bragging about the legacy, 30 languages over 80 million copies sold, and asks if their fans. Elliot starts to say he doesn't read a lot of fiction, but Trooper Wagner interrupts saying he's a huge fan and starts talking about one of Harlan's books.
(18) Walt says the plots just popped into Harlan's head, causing another lone note to be played on the piano by the man in the background. Walt looks confusedly at the man while Elliot continues his questioning