A famous mystery novelist is found dead the morning after his birthday party, and a private detective is hired to investigate. The film reveals the answer early, so the rest of it deals with a completely different problem. This is Johnson's most entertaining film. He uses the usual whodunit rules to make you look the wrong way, like a magician does.
Knives Out is a 2019 comedy, crime and drama film directed by Rian Johnson. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (4 narrative), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Grand Budapest Hotel uses several of the same techniques.
Giving the audience the mystery's solution before the main character finds it. The film stops being a whodunit, and the tension comes from watching them stumble toward what you already know.
How this film uses it
Johnson shows you what Marta did in the first act, so the mystery looks solved. The rest of the film is about how the truth will come out, who gets hurt and what the Thrombey family's reactions tell you about them. Because you get the answer early, the whodunit turns into a study of the characters.
Where to see it
Marta's account of the night's events. You learn what seems to be the solution while the detective and the family still don't know it, and the film's second mystery starts.
Introducing a large cast only through what they say and do in the present. There are no flashbacks or explained histories, yet each character feels distinct.
How this film uses it
The Thrombey family is a large ensemble, each with a distinct personality, agenda and style of comedy. You learn who they are only from how they behave during the investigation. Johnson gives you no flashbacks and no long speeches explaining anyone's past. Each character shows you who they are by what they do under pressure, and I feel like the film is saying that's how you get to know anyone.
Where to see it
The family interview sequence. Each Thrombey gives their version of events, and the way they tell it shows you who they are. No backstory is needed.
Wrapping the story inside another story that turns out to be a trap or a deception. The listener, or you as the viewer, gets locked into the teller's version before realizing what it is for.
How this film uses it
The investigation is the frame, meaning the outer story that holds the film together. It promises a normal whodunit ending, and Johnson uses it as a trap. It gives you a solution, then reveals a different problem, then gives you another solution that is also incomplete. By the end, the film has used the investigation to ask why wealthy families investigate crimes and what they do with the answers.
Where to see it
Blanc's final explanation. You get the resolution the investigation promised. At the same time, you find out that the mystery the family wanted solved was never the point.
Showing extreme, violent or surreal events while the characters react as if nothing unusual is happening. That mismatch is funny and unsettling at the same time.
How this film uses it
The Thrombeys are casually cruel, entitled without noticing it and theatrical in their grief. The film plays all of this completely straight, and nobody on screen acts like any of it is funny. That is deadpan. The film is mocking the hypocrisy of upper-class liberals, and it works because the characters fully believe in their own show of decency.
Where to see it
The family's political arguments, interrupted by the investigation. Their self-righteous opinions clash with how they behave. Because it's played deadpan, you see the hypocrisy yourself and the film never has to comment on it.
Questions
Knives Out: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Knives Out use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Knives Out (2019): Pre-Revealed Mystery, Ensemble Characterization Without Backstory, Frame Narrative as Trap and Deadpan Absurdism.
Who directed Knives Out?
Rian Johnson directed Knives Out, released in 2019. CineCode also covers Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).
What films are similar to Knives Out?
Films that share techniques with Knives Out include The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Bugonia (2025), 12 Angry Men (1957), Harakiri (1962).
