Rian Johnson’s newest Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man, cast two priests as murder victim and murder suspect. I loved it. My review for Word on Fire.
In Wake Up Dead Man, as in his television show Poker Face, Johnson turns out to be interested in a deeper mystery than “whodunnit” or “howdunnit.” Even if a murderer is caught, what, if anything can be set right? Blanc can speak for the dead, but he cannot raise them and restore them.
It is Fr. Jud who is the miracle worker here. While other characters aim to stand in the Lord’s place and say “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” Fr. Jud takes God at his word when he promises, “I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.” While much of the mystery revolves around the possibility that a dead man has walked out of his tomb, it is Fr. Jud who is present when a heart, paralyzed by pride and contempt, begins to beat again.