3+1 Short Paragraphs: Death on the Nile

2022, Kenneth Branagh (Frankenstein) -- download

This is the second of a Branagh directed, Branagh starring Hercule Poirot adaptations (Agatha Christie character) of which the spectacular Murder on the Orient Express (where is my post?!?! ohhhh, we watching it in 2018, the year of [one of] the Great Hiatus, and wow, that was a while ago) was the first. We watched this one just as it dropped, and two things still stand out for me: my uncomfortable attraction to the opulence of colonizing wealth at the beginning of the 20th century, and, "Wow, this movie just looks good !!"

This time round Poirot gets wrapped up in the drama surrounding wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman) and her engagement to Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name), who is not wealthy, after she "stole" him away from her close friend Jackie de Bellefort (Emma Mackey, Sex Education). Poirot is invited by his best bud Bouc to join them at the wedding party, which becomes murderous only after transferring to a Nile river boat. And then Linnet is murdered.

Part of me wonders whether the Poirot was the beginning of the "gather all the suspects together" motif so oft used in crime fiction. It definitely is a popular technique used in his stories, as he always gets to re-tell the events of the story, revealing how aware he is of each person's proclivities, before finally revealing the criminal themself. The movie itself also spends more time revealing the nature of Poirot, his distinct friendship with younger, more outrageous Bouc, some of his past (where the moustache originated) and doubles down on Poirot having a bit of OCD.

This movie was more grim than the last, if that is possible, or maybe it was just that Poirot was less enthusiastic about this case, especially during some rather tragic later turns in event. Again, we have quite the cast, a bit quixotic in using well known comic actors in reserved roles, but each performance is quite wonderful. I find myself pondering that this is a style of movie making I miss, more invested in style and performance and production, where a Branagh as director is not afraid to put his mark on it. In case you haven't guessed, I rather loved the whole thing.