[TrueFaith77]

73.The Glass Onion (Rian Johnson); grade: F

Who pulls the strings in The Glass Onion? Director Rian Johnson obviously. He withholds information and flashes back to show what he didn’t previously show (which is also the m.o. of the film’s killer—its only straight white male). As with the previous Knives Out, these narrative layers mean to disguise this propaganda film as an entertaining puzzle. Yet, the solution to the mystery is obvious (if you didn’t guess the killer immediately, you will fall for anything). Equally transparent: Johnson’s ideological project to destroy culture. In lieu of justice, Johnson promotes the vengeance of young climate activists desecrating humanity’s artistic heritage. Here, Johnson establishes the destruction of the real Mona Lisa as a movie’s big crowd-pleaser moment. It’s the low-point of the brutalizing 2022 awards season at the movies. Peel the onion and weep at people accepting Johnson’s totalitarian escapism. He replaces the Mona Lisa with his own: Janelle Monae as twin sisters, but really it’s the same character. Monae, in the year’s worst performance, lacks the expressive skill represented in the sublime moment of the beginning of the smile of Da Vinci’s muse. Johnson films Monae in 3/4 profile vacuously almost-smirking at the camera. Her jaw is too small, her country and “rich bitch” accents too playacting, her grandstanding too short. Behind Monae’s smirk is the question: Is she and her sister one person, after all? The dead twin brought this Clue-like cast together, relying on the privileged access of her straight white male avatar (Ed Norton) to form a successful company and engage in influence peddling (a politician, unethical scientist, social media pundit, sweatshop industrialist). Ultimately, she or her surviving twin manipulates activist, disruptor super detective Benoit Blanc, as well. By exposing the stupidity of the suspects in the film, such a sweatshop owner who thinks a sweatshop makes sweat pants, Blanc also lets the real-world power classes off the hook. Johnson glorifies their willingness to lie for the truth. To Johnson, they are manipulatable morons, just like us.