Thanks for watching! And if you’d like to help me make more videos like this, support over at www.patreon.com/c/pillarofgarbage makes a huge difference. You also get access to 20+ exclusive videos – including a new one contextualising the Disney-OpenAI deal I posted last week – and other perks!

For me, the most important scene in the film was the phone call with the woman from the construction company. Stopping the break neck momentum of the investigation for a moment of grief and compassion...

The reason Knives Out is my favourite modern series is the honest delight they take in the joy of telling a good story.  It's something that's missing from many movies.

Wicks despises Jud for the same reason he refuses to replace the Church’s Crucifix: because their mere presence is an inherent challenge to his position within his congregation’s faith.

Wick’s is an usurper who has abused his power and authority as monsignor to supplant Christ as the object of his flock’s devotion. To replace the cross would be to remind his flock that he is not the ultimate spiritual authority.

I like how Samson's main characteristic is his love for his wife and his facial hair.

When they’re going over the possibility’s for the impossible murder and they nix the first 3 options and father jud says “ what’s option number 4 ?” And the very next line of dialogue is “Martha!?!” After u hear her scream in distress. They’re giving you hints the entire movie Samson saying he’d do anything for his sweet Martha

My favorite scene is when Blanc stops in the middle of his big detective speech and simply lets Judd do what he's been yearning to do the entire movie. Blanc, in all three movies, has had a sort of ego, slowly being deconstructed through the events of Knives Out and Glass Onion, and finally breaking down fully at the end of Wake Up Dead Man to the point of him giving up the glory of solving a mystery.

The use of light, particularly through the church windows and doors, is just amazing throughout (if occasionally  maybe a little on the nose)

i was lucky enough to catch a limited showing in theaters a couple of weeks back, but that scene with josh o'connor's character talking on the phone (vague for spoilers) was such an important moment. haven't been able to stop thinking about that scene in particular

Another good example of the power of stories is with Samson and his sobriety, which is being (perhaps subtly, perhaps not) used as a metaphor for Christianity as a whole. There is no literal truth behind the story Samson has put his faith in. Wicks isn't sober and he isn't even trying to be. However, the story still gives him the strength to do what he knows is right even if it is difficult, and even if it remains difficult every day he needs to make that choice.

The thing that struck me about Wicks's confession is that his talk about masturbation feels like the movie is telling a joke at first. Very quickly, though, it becomes clear that it's not a joke. It's a hostile act, a means of intimidation. Wicks is sexually harassing Father Jud, and he does it repeatedly throughout their sessions. That it happens between two men doesn't change that it's sexual harassment.

Considering this alongside the film's treatment of Grace (and the fact that Martha's final act is to ask Grace for forgiveness), it becomes clear this movie has a subtle but strong feminist theme, which is especially surprising given that this is the first movie in the KO series where Blanc is partnered with a man and not a woman.

I love this movie so much, it's been a long time since I've seen a real priest represented in film like father Jud. As a Catholic, I didn't expect this film to hit me as much as it did, especially on the Road to Damascus scenes

the only bit that's wrong here is that Sampson is not Martha's husband. Sam is just a man who's in love/enamored with Martha

I consider this movie as subtle as a cement truck to the face.
Still a 10/10 movie.

Think another important element of truth’s purpose in the film is how it differs from Knives Out. Like in your Ransom is Trump video Ransom is defeated by the truth being revealed as a natural consequence of “gravity’s rainbow” whereas in WUDM Wicks is defeated by the creation of a narrative/story. Martha has to willingly tell how she was using Wicks to tell her own story without Blanc revealing it himself for the narrative to be compelling.

To me, that reads like Rian Johnson seeing the different eras of Trump and the political climate. We live in a post truth media environment, just pointing out Trump for the a hole he is isn’t enough, we need a compelling story.

I think what was super interesting about this film was just how, even the crazed with power Wicks, the pastors felt like actual people who are existing within our world. Jud talking on the phone with someone to take their confession and taking it just as seriously as an in person confession, priests joking around about real world events, talking shit about each other, internal politics. Wicks talking about Japanese catgirls and masturbation while in pious robes. Everyone felt human and it made Wicks feel so much more terrifying and Jud feel so much more beautoful as a human being.

17:22 what I like about this scene is that it’s Blanc’s and Jud’s first meeting. Blanc admires the architecture and stories but then he talks about the bigoted ugly nature of it and the scene goes from bright to cold gray. The Jud agrees with Blanc about this being storytelling but he focuses on the meaning it brings and it goes from gray to sunlight. I like that detail a lot.

I really like the way this film manages religion and atheism (especially in Blanc's introduction). I have a lot more time for recognition of the sins of the Church and that that can drive people away with no other arguments needed than I do for the back and forth of trying to 'prove' events for the pure purpose of being technically correct, and I think it really nicely shadows Blanc's own realisation, as the solution requires him to step back from the technicalities of objective events to think about the uses people put them to.

Something I find interesting is the film’s relationship to the other two. Where the first film ended by essentially saying “Trust the system” as the guilty is carted off to jail, and the second called for disrupting the system, this one seems to question the efficacy of what Blanc does altogether. While both Ransom and Miles Bron are exposed for what they really are in their films, as far as the world is concerned in Wake Up Dead Man, the mystery of Wicks’ death and apparent resurrection is completely unresolved when Blanc doesn’t bother telling the world.

SPOILER WARNING:


One thing I realized by watching this is that in the scene where LeBlanc is talking about the four potential options for how the stabbing in the closed room could have happened, the interruption before he explains the fourth option (which would incriminate Jud) comes from Martha because she does not want the blame to fall on him. She is saving him since she knows the officer will not grant him that same grace.