Marlowe Mysteries

Description

Marlowe is a 2022 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Neil Jordan, who co-wrote the screenplay with William Monahan. Based on the 2014 novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by John Banville, writing under the pen name Benjamin Black, the film stars Liam Neeson as private detective Philip Marlowe, a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, and features Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Alan Cumming, Francois Arnaud, Ian Hart, Danny Huston, Daniela Melchior and Colm Meaney.

It premiered at the 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival on 24 September 2022

and was theatrically released on 15 February 2023, by Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment.

In 1939 Los Angeles, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by glamorous heiress Clare Cavendish to find her missing lover, Nico Peterson, a prop master at Pacific Film Studios. Marlowe discovers that Peterson was killed after being run over outside the exclusive Corbata Club. When he informs Cavendish of Peterson’s death, he also meets Pacific’s owner, Joseph O’Reilly. However, Cavendish insists she recently saw Peterson driving past her in Tijuana. Frustrated by her secrecy, Marlowe leaves, encountering Cavendish’s mother, former film star Dorothy Quincannon.

Marlowe visits Peterson’s grave and encounters a grieving woman, but she flees. His friend, homicide detective Joe Green, declines to investigate the true victim as he was positively identified by the Corbata Club owner Floyd Hanson. Marlowe meets Hanson at the club, but both fail to extract information from each other. As he leaves, Marlowe spots the woman from the grave—Peterson’s sister, Lynn—and discreetly arranges to meet her later at the Cabana Club. Their conversation is observed by Hanson. When Marlowe arrives, he is ambushed by two men but manages to overpower them.

Quincannon attempts to hire Marlowe to find Peterson herself. She admits that her strained relationship with Cavendish stems from years of pretending her daughter was her niece, following the advice of her former lover, O’Reilly.

Quincannon discloses that Peterson was acting as a talent agent for actress Amanda Toxteth, who informs Marlowe that Peterson was a serial womanizer who frequently smuggled cocaine from Tijuana. With no other leads, Marlowe breaks into Peterson’s house and finds Lynn, but they are ambushed by two Mexican men searching for a woman named « Serena ». Marlowe is knocked unconscious, and Lynn is taken captive.

When Marlowe regains consciousness, he is picked up by drug lord Lou Hendricks and his henchman, Cedric. Hendricks reveals that he is searching for Peterson, his former drug courier, who stole a large amount of cocaine. Marlowe enlists his friend, police officer Bernie Ohls, to search for Lynn. Meanwhile, Cavendish visits Marlowe and attempts to seduce him. He rejects her advances but agrees to dance with her. Later, he secretly follows her to a rendezvous with O’Reilly and encounters Quincannon, who expresses her anger over her daughter’s relationship with the much older and influential O’Reilly. The next day, Ohls takes Marlowe to Lynn’s body, revealing that she was tortured, raped, and murdered. He traces the Mexican assailants to the Corbata Club and gives Marlowe his unofficial support to avenge Lynn.

At the club, Marlowe confronts Hanson, who offers him a drink. Suspecting it is poisoned, Marlowe disposes of it and feigns death. Hanson has Marlowe’s body taken to a hidden area where the Mexicans have been killed, Hendricks is being tortured, and Cedric has been restrained. Under duress, Hendricks reveals that « Serena » is actually a mermaid statue that Peterson hid in a nearby fish tank, containing the stolen cocaine. Marlowe frees Cedric, and together they kill Hanson and his men, inadvertently shattering the statue and destroying the drugs. When Hendricks threatens Cedric with lifelong debt to repay the lost drugs, Cedric kills him and aligns himself with Marlowe.

Marlowe returns home to find Peterson waiting for him. Peterson admits to feeling no guilt over Lynn’s death, and his « dead body » was a musician who resembled him. He asks Marlowe to arrange a meeting with Cavendish at the studio prop house.

Peterson meets Cavendish and reveals his intent to sell records of every drug deal made through the studio to the highest bidder, which would destroy O’Reilly’s reputation. As Marlowe arrives, Cavendish betrays Peterson, setting both him and the evidence on fire. Marlowe deduces that she hired him to find Peterson to ensure he was dead, and O’Reilly will now be indebted to her. He chooses not to turn her in, but takes her gun.

Sometime later, Cavendish has become vice president of the studio and is attempting to reconcile with her mother, who has returned to acting. She offers Marlowe a job as the head of security, but he declines and recommends Cedric. He later gives Cavendish’s gun to Cedric for security.