Rian Johnson

Charlie Cale can spot a lie, but she still has to work out what it means. In Poker Face (2023), Natasha Lyonne makes that process funny and companionable, and Johnson, one of the programme’s writers and directors, understands the pleasure of watching her work. The weaker episodes spend too long on the crime before getting back to Charlie, by which time we are waiting for Lyonne rather than following the case.

Before the whodunits came the neo-noir debut Brick (2005) and the science-fiction thriller Looper (2012). Johnson took his taste for upsetting expectations into an established series with Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Knives Out (2019) brought him back to original mysteries, followed by Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022). He likes to start with a kind of story we recognise, then change what we expect from it.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) gives Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc someone worth arguing with: Josh O’Connor’s young priest, Jud Duplenticy. Blanc trusts evidence; Jud has built his life on faith, and their disagreement actually drives the case. O’Connor makes Jud’s desire to be liked funny and touching without making his belief look foolish. It is the strongest partnership Johnson has written for Blanc, although too many of the other actors are left sitting in pews with little to contribute.

Cinematographer Steve Yedlin gives the church grey daylight and candlelit faces, a useful change from the brightness of the earlier Blanc films. Production designer Rick Heinrichs’s tall, bare nave makes the congregation look small, while Nathan Johnson’s heavier score is effective partly because it knows when to stop. Editor Bob Ducsay’s patience suits the opening hour better than the repeated interviews that follow. We grew restless during those interviews because they kept telling us things we had already understood. Start with Poker Face for the company, and forgive the occasional wait for Lyonne.