With all the entertainment choices available, it is easy to forget how fantastic a well-crafted movie meant for the theater can delight our senses. A HAUNTING IN VENICE is just such a movie. Kenneth Branagh returns in this classic Agatha Christie mystery as the seminal detective, Hercule Poirot, this time retired and living in Venice. Hercule is coaxed out of retirement by his friend to debunk a psychic planning a séance to contact the dead. Sounds like a slam dunk, but murder interrupts the séance, and that is when our detective really hits the ground running.
Kenneth, who also directed, creates a lush, deeply creepy environment of an ancient house supposedly haunted, but Hercule knows there is no such thing as a haunted anything. The art direction and cinematography are stunning and immediately immerse us in this strange new world. Tina Fey, as Poirot’s friend and confidant, is surprisingly snarky and is a worthy foil for Hercule’s ego and self-indulgence, along with a great supporting cast that will keep you guessing until the very end.
I may go see this a second time, just for the visuals!
A HAUNTING IN VENICE is in theaters now.
