“Daughters of the Domino” is a Super Sleuthworthy Whodunnit
In the early aughts, the Kristen Bell-led television series Veronica Mars blended the teen drama genre with the world of crime procedurals. Bell played the titular Veronica, daughter of a private investigator, who used her dad’s connections and her own talents to solve the small- and large-scale issues that plagued the seaside town. In many ways, the main character of Jesse McAnally’s Daughters of the Domino feels like a spiritual sister to Veronica, carrying on the mantle of teenage sleuths becoming full-blown detectives as they grow up.
Courtesy of Fosca Features
Detective Nina Rose (Miranda Moffat) has been heralded as a Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century thanks to the fact that she cracked the case of The Domino serial killer when she was younger. It just so happens that The Domino was none other than her father, Michael (Tony Semanik). Years after the fact, Nina still tries to ride on the fame of this massive bust, but it has come at the cost of the relationship she had with her sister, Laura (Lucie Gillespie). The estranged siblings are forced to work together when a copycat killer of The Domino strikes, kidnapping Laura’s daughter, Jules (Ashley Poulin).
Daughters of the Domino is as much a thriller as it is an interpersonal drama about two siblings fractured by the actions of their father. We are all the sum of our life experiences, but some leave a larger scar than others. Nina and Laura took the knowledge of their father’s extracurriculars in different directions. Nina dedicated her life to solving crime, while Laura became a bit of a helicopter parent to Jules. Both are reasonable reactions, but also put the sisters at odds with one another and harm their relationship. Moffat and Gillespie play the frosty-yet-eternally-sister dynamic extremely well, sharing a smile one moment and a scowl the next.
Courtesy of Fosca Features
Family, for better or worse, is like a ghost that hangs over the heads of Nina and Laura. In the back of their minds, they likely wonder if they’re capable of doing what their father did. If they would be able to callously kill someone. Their father is both their burden and their blessing, although it’s only Nina who sees it that way. As much as she hates what her father did, it’s the reason she has the life she does. Daughters of the Domino also touches on the morbid fascination the general public has with serial killers. Even though Nina judges the fan girls who idolize The Domino, how different is she from them? They get tattoos to match his, while she plans to write a book about the case to profit from her proximity. How different are any of us when we, like Jules, listen to the true crime podcast of our choosing? Daughters of the Domino is more focused on the story of these sisters and their father rather than on the thorny, real-life repercussions of society’s obsession with grisly murder. At times the film lingers on how uncomfortable it is that an entire industry has been built on death and suffering, providing moments of reflection for the audience. Why does true crime have its hooks in us so deeply?
“Each domino is both cause and effect,” explains The Domino about his choice of name. He’s not referring to the game of dominoes, but the toppling of these small rectangles. In order for them to fall, the domino must react to the one before it to impact what comes after. The same can be said for Laura and Nina. They’re the dominoes forced to react to the actions of their father in order to influence Jules, the domino that comes after. Serial killer father or not, we’re all a domino in the process of falling, both in our families and beyond. We have to take our past and react in a way that’s best for the future. As for what comes next for Daughters of the Domino, the film makes a strong case for a Veronica Mars, Knives Out-type continuation of the sisters’ crime-solving abilities. Even if this is the only case Nina and Laura get to the bottom of, it sure makes for a fun murder mystery.
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