Knives Out: Sharpest Writing of 2019?
Knives Out doesn’t just defy the whodunit narrative, it uses the weaknesses to its advantage. It’s well aware of the genre’s faults and tropes

After the apocalypse on Earth, seven people find themselves in an unknown space without any memories of who they are, or how they got there. One of them is convinced that they are all in her dream, from which she is trying to wake up by all means.
Knives Out doesn’t just defy the whodunit narrative, it uses the weaknesses to its advantage. It’s well aware of the genre’s faults and tropes
Not a lot of people realize that being introverted is not always a permanent state of mind. Being considered an introvert by others is a complicated thing; not everyone likes being labelled “shy.”
"WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE?!!!!" "EVERYTHING!!!!!" This is but one of a multitude of highly emphatic questions, and subsequent answers, being asked in the newest feature film from one of the current masters of horror, Jordan Peele ("Get Out", "Us" and "Nope"). I must give Peele credit in that he continues to push the boundaries of specific genres and their associated tropes in order to provide what ends up amounting to subtly then jarringly intense, yet still character and story-driven, cinema that speaks more to indie stylings than mainstream.
In Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It (1986), we follow the love life of powerful female protagonist Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) and explore the relationship dynamics she has with her partners. She sees three men simultaneously: Greer Childs, (John Canada Terrell) Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee), and Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks). Though an 80’s film, She’s Gotta Have It is surprisingly progressive with its themes of female sexuality, although at some points in the film it is handled clumsily. Overall Nola is an incredibly compelling character especially for modern women, as we as a society acknowledge female sensuality more and more without the negative stigma.
In a post-Gamergate media landscape, it's ambitious to have a film confront the harsh reactions to women in gaming from a comedic lens.
Hitchcock is no stranger to innuendo, as was common in that era, but there was something so sophisticated about his approach to 'Rope', and it starts in the first frame.