The 2025 Philadelphia Film Festival opens with Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

And indeed, when the lineup was announced, Wake Up Dead Man was included, this time as the opening-night selection, with Johnson once again in attendance, sitting for a Q&A with Philadelphia Film Society artistic director Michael Lerman. It was also the first Film Festival event in the newly remodeled Film Society Center.

Benoit Blanc is back

Another mystery in which dandy Southern private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is brought in to solve a case among a new ensemble cast, Wake Up Dead Man is a bit darker than the first two entries, and much more concerned with big questions, especially about religious faith. It’s got a lot of the virtues of the earlier films, outstanding performances and witty dialogue, although this time, the plotting isn’t nearly as tight.

After the first Knives Out film was set within the New England family of an author, and the second on an island owned by a Musk-like billionaire, the third has a very different setting: a small-town Catholic Church in upstate New York. But it keeps some elements of the earlier films, including a sympathetic protagonist, and multiple characters motivated by greed.

Josh O’Connor plays Father Jud Duplenticy, a young priest transferred to a junior role in a church led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a powerful and charismatic priest who inspires intense loyalty from his small but devoted flock.

They include Glenn Close as the sort of church lady Dana Carvey parodied, Jeremy Renner as a sad-sack doctor, Kerry Washington as a lawyer, Daryl McCormack as Washington’s social influencer son, Andrew Scott as a sci-fi author, and Cailee Spaeny as a classical musician who is disabled. Mila Kunis plays the sheriff who, in a funny twist, happens to be Jewish.

Eventually, there’s a murder, and various people fall under suspicion, and Benoit Blanc shows up to try to solve the case. But as a man of science and not faith, he struggles as never before. Indeed, Wake Up Dead Man is consumed with questions of belief and faith, especially the struggles of O’Connor’s character.

Faith and power in Hollywood

The film takes on the values of most Hollywood movies that deal with religion: Faith, on its own, is both a good thing and a locus of fascinating storytelling, while churches and other religious institutions are very fallible. Meanwhile, those who cynically use religion to amass political power are vile villains.

Various aspects of the film speak to the modern political moment, especially McCormack’s character trying to reinvent himself as a Republican candidate for office, and Scott’s character seeming to pivot from sci-fi to red pill views. And Wicks as a Trump stand-in is a heavy subtext, which occasionally crosses over into text.

I’m not going to give away what happens at the end—honestly, the resolution of the plot is so complex and convoluted that I’m not sure I could explain all of it, having watched the film just a couple of days ago. I can understand wanting to make things unpredictable, but the first two Knives Out movies had resolutions that were both much tighter and a lot more satisfying.

Hearing from Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson showed up on the PFF red carpet wearing a very spiffy suit, although not quite as nicely tailored as the ones Craig wears in the movie.

In the Q&A after the film, Johnson discussed growing up in a religious milieu, albeit an evangelical Protestant one, which motivated his interest in the topic of faith, although he’s no longer religious. But he made the movie church Catholic for a specific, surprising reason: Catholic Church buildings are way more aesthetically pleasing than Protestant ones. Johnson also, in the Q&A, stated that while he had nothing to announce regarding physical releases of the Knives Out movies, such releases are something he absolutely wants to happen. You can watch the Q&A on YouTube.

The screening filled up the Film Society Center, with the film also showing across town at the PFS East at the same time. And while the recent remodeling did not touch the theater itself, the building’s new entrance looks fantastic, adding lots of wood paneling, as well as a new box office and concession stand.

The 2025 Philadelphia Film Festival continues through October 26. Explore the lineup here. Wake Up Dead Man will hit select theaters on November 26, and starts streaming on Netflix December 12.