2023 Movie
Dir. José Manuel Cravioto · Mexico · Spanish
A Mexican whodunit that feels more like an infodump than a compelling murder mystery
With the success of Knives Out, many filmmakers have gone back to make new films in the whodunit genre, which reached its peak between the 30s and 40s with Agatha Christie. A Deadly Invitation is one of these new murder mysteries, based on the novel of the same name by Carmen Posadas. Unfortunately, this Mexican film feels ill-timed, releasing months after the Glass Onion. Even if the source novel has been released in 2010, this film feels like a pale imitation of the Knives Out sequel, as it possesses plenty of the same plot points – as an eccentric millionaire invites their potential murderers for a party in the middle of nowhere, along with someone to solve said murder. There are some differences, specifically, the death actually occurs here, but these differences, along with the careless way each info is revealed, aren’t enough to make A Deadly Invitation feel unique.
Eccentric millionaire Olivia sends her half sister Agatha, and a group of old acquaintances, a mysterious invitation for a weekend on her yacht, where they will discover the true motive behind this invitation: the celebration of… a murder?
Invited to her eccentric millionaire half sister Olivia’s yacht party, true crime podcaster Agatha and the other guests are shocked when Olivia declares that someone would die that night. When it happens, Agatha teams up with a rookie detective to figure out if this was an accident or a murder.
Murder mysteries depend on time and pacing to ensure the information that the viewers need to make their own guess can be easily remembered. However, A Deadly Invitation dumps many of the information about the murder that would occur, many of the possible means and motives in one yacht dinner party, where there’s plenty of opportunity to ensure a murder. Without a second rewatch, you might actually have to list down what’s being said just to remember and to make a guess on who’s the possible murderer. And it seems like the film doesn’t care about the victim at all. There’s nothing here to make us care about the foolish millionaire victim that invited every possible murderer, or even the true crime podcaster protagonist. It makes A Deadly Invitation feel like it’s just going through the motions, rather than feel like it’s a mystery worth telling.
Worst yacht party ever.
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
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