MsTrial at New World Stages

Dep Kirkland wrote and stars in “MsTrial”. He portrays a high profile attorney who commits sexual assault while drunk. The first act is difficult to follow as he and his colleagues are preparing for a trial, but there is so much legal jargon that it’s difficult to follow. The action does begin to pick up in the second act. In the second act, it is revealed that he raped his female colleague in a drunken celebration after winning their trial. 

Kirkland’s play is relevant to these times, but the first act spends too much time setting up the story. Kirkland is John Paris, a lawyer with his own firm and working under him are his nephew Dan (Alan Trinca) and Karen (Christine Evangelista). They are preparing a difficult high profile case. Act one is all about this trial preparation with glimpses into their dynamic including inappropriate language when talking to and about Karen, which she doesn’t seem to mind though that’s never clarified.

Most of the dialogue comes from the preparation and not the glimpses into these characters and with so much legal talk to process the audience is left trying to figure out the ins and outs of the law rather than getting attached to the characters. The firm wins the case and celebrate at the office late into the night. The second act picks up as Karen packs her things from the office after accusing John of sexual assault. John makes Dan his lawyer and the two team up against Karen to prove John’s innocence. During the initial hearing, John presents evidence that paints Karen in a bad light and while Karen’s lawyer Cathryn (Janie Brookshire) knows the circumstances aren’t Karen’s fault, the evidence would make it difficult for jurors to take her side in an actual trial. At the end of the play, John admits his wrongdoing to his nephew and is genuinely upset by his actions, but there’s no point in admitting it.

John hits on Karen and speaks inappropriately about her from the beginning. Kirkland doesn’t make it clear is Karen is truly okay with this or simply puts up with it in an effort to keep peace in the office. Dan is gay. There’s no reason for Dan to be gay other than to make him a target for jokes from his uncle and for Karen to text his sexuality. Trinca is fantastic in the role and is able to capture the conflict of being caught in the middle of his uncle and his friend. Evangelista also does a great job as Karen skillfully showing her disgust and anguish at being told she wanted to have sex with John.

The play starts off with a slow start, and while it does get better in the second half, it’s difficult to fully get back into the play after intermission. The scenic design cleverly takes us from the legal office to a cold room in a courthouse.

Knives Out (2019)

Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” was hands down one of the best films of 2019.

The murder mystery is a fun whodunnit that had me trying to solve the crime all the while catching me off guard in the end. It was like Agatha Christie only much better.

This has me eager to watch more of Johnson’s work. The only other film of his that I’ve seen is “The Last Jedi” and I thought that was fantastic as well.

This has all the necessary components of a great whodunnit. The cast was fantastic, the family drama surrounding the murder was juicy, and a final revelation that catches you off guard. This was done incredibly well. “Knives Out” did take a bit to get the action fully rolling, but once it did what a fun time was to be had. It all culminates into a satisfying ending.

The film opens with the discovery of a body. Famous mystery writer Harlan Thrombey appears to have committed suicide by slitting his own throat in his room. An intriguing way to begin a film as We are introduced to the rest of the cast.

Thrombey is extremely wealthy and the rest of his family benefits from his wealth. Now that he is dead, the rest of the family are mainly concerned about receiving their inheritance. The main members of the family consist of Thrombey’s daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her husband Richard (Don Johnson), Thrombey’s other son Walt (Michael Shannon) who runs his father’s publishing house, Thrombey’s daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) who continues to stick around despite being widowed and his outcast grandson Ransom (Chris Evans).

The other major player involved with the family is Thrombey’s caretaker Marta (Ana de Armas). She’s treated as merely the help despite the family’s assurances that she is part of the family. Their true feelings begin to show for her as the mystery gets more complicated. There are definitely political overtones in the film.

The setup for the film is now in place. Johnson does everything to keep the audience from solving the mystery. There are plenty of flashbacks to explain the locations of the family before, during and after the crime. This continues with the final revelation of who committed the crime and how it was done. It helps that the whole cast seems to be having fun playing off of each other.

Of course in order to solve a crime detectives are needed. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is a private investigator hired anonymously to solve the crime. Craig is unlike the characters he usually plays as a detective with a strong Louisiana dialect. He is an absolute riot in this role. Blanc quickly becomes attached to Marta and decides to make her his (unwilling) assistant as she has the unfortunate ability to vomit any time she tries to lie.

There isn’t much else to be said without giving away the mystery. Johnson found a fun way to update the classic mystery. There are plenty of laughs which adds to the experience.

Watch “Knives Out”. That’s all I can say. I’m also excited to see what becomes of Ana de Armas. I had never heard of her before this, but I think she definitely has more successes coming her way. She holds her own amongst the more well known cast. She’s the leading character you didn’t know you wanted.