A Haunting In Venice

As a life-long devourer of mysteries and an admirer of all things Agatha Christie, I'm always stoked when a new film adaptation inspired by her work comes out.

Both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple have a prominent place in the entertainment seeking realm of my brain, and I have to say I have really enjoyed Kenneth Branagh's portrayal of the man who uses his little gray cells to solve crime.

A Haunting In Venice is a take on Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party, and it really is a lose take on it, but the adaptation was so superbly filmed and acted that I didn't mind that the only thing the two film and the story really shared was the characters and a children's Halloween party.

Because you see, Christie's stories have to do with psychology. Even when there are what appears to be supernatural elements in play, reality is ten times scarier.

As a person who loves to enjoy being scared by the morass that is the human psyche, I found the movie so incredibly enjoyable for a number of reasons. The setting, the tone, the acting, the narrative, all of the aspects that make a great film were delivered in a heart-wrenching, nail-biting way.

The film opens with Hercule Poirot going about his routine, a routine of self-imposed exile. It is two years after the War had ended and the opening theme encapsulates the wound-licking aura that encapsulated the world after World War II ceased.

Poirot though, he's done with humanity and its ways, preferring to go about his day eating pastries and not being bothered. Then Ariadne shows up.

Ariadne Oliver is a character who shows up in many Hercule Poirot stories and I have to say Tina Fey did a bang up job portraying one of my favorite literary characters. The vivacious mystery author ensnares the self-exiled Poirot into a mystery at a palazzo owned by a tragic opera singer.

Enter an old horrible tale about the children of the palazzo, a terrible death of a girl, a medium (played superbly by the amazing Michelle Yeoh), a cinematographer who had to have developed their style by watching a ton of Hitchcock and The Shining, a storm, all manner of human idiosyncrasies, and you get a film that keeps you jumping, guessing, and overall feeling.

If you know Christie's writing and watch closely, you can spot what is herring and what is clue. I had a blast examining what little tidbits were granted to us, the audience, throughout the unraveling of the tale.

And unraveling is probably the word that could describe it all. That and the dangers of attachment. There is such a fine line between healthy love and obsession, and great stories help us examine the dangerous intersection of such things.

Human minds are beautiful and terrifying. The power of suggestion and thought can create greatness or enslave us and others in its grasp. A Haunting In Venice thoroughly captured me during its running time, and if you like thoughtful suspense, fantastic acting, beautiful cinematography, and delving into the vast world of psychology, then I think you'd enjoy the flick.

I know that I sure did!