A movie that truly came out of nowhere that I unfortunately - and you’re going to hear me say this alot - missed in theaters, See How They Run is a solid directorial debut from Tom George and a very cute entry in the modern whodunit genre.
SYNOPSIS: In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When world-weary Inspector Stoppard and eager rookie Constable Stalker take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theater underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril.
This film started out very simple and plain, and I was worried it would never progress past that. Oftentimes, movies will introduce concepts or characters, and abandon them halfway through the run time. Characters will lose their developments, and all interest is lost by the third act in a happening of poorly constructed writing; but THIS movie just kept getting better and better!
Tom George has taken IMMENSE inspiration from Wes Anderson in his directorial debut, but I wouldn’t necessarily discredit See How They Run on that alone. Yes the characters are immensely quirky, yes the production design is flashy and the shots are hyper-centered, but it manages to be it’s own thing frequently enough. At times, it felt a little derivative, and used in a way that left me feeling the choices were more style over substance, but I never found it over abundantly plagiarized.
I think what this movie does so well above everything else, is evoke a sense of warmth and charm. It’s the kind of movie that ends with a neat little bow on top of all the story elements and characters, but leaves you wanting more from the characters you’ve come to know throughout the run time. Despite the very tight pacing of the film, I wouldn’t have been bothered by a few extra minutes tagged on to the end of the film to wrap things up in a bit more of an effective way, but I admired the stylistic choice they made.
Despite being incredibly on the nose, I quite liked the homages to classic murder mysteries in the movie. The third act was a very fun surprise, and I think it’s meta-approach was handled quite well, surprisingly so given the location of the third act. I also enjoyed how in a lot of scenes, the blocking of the characters was very playlike, as they would stand facing the camera giving exposition, sometimes even being physically on a stage play. There was a lot of subtle choices like this that show a lot of promise in Tom George’s ability as a director, save for one quite out of place dream sequence that I didn’t find fitting or adding to the story.
See How They Run might take a moment or two to get its legs under itself, but once it does it really takes off for me. I had a really fun time watching this and was sad to see it end. If you can, support this movie on HBO Max, and tell me what you thought!
7/10
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