I haven’t rooted this hard against rich white people since the election.
Get Out is written and directed by Jordan Peele, who you might know from the hilarious sketch comedy show Key & Peele. It tells the story of Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams) who are an interracial couple who are taking the next step in their relationship. Chris is about to meet Rose’s family. Her father Dean (Bradley Whitfield), her Mom Missy (Catharine Keener) and her brother Jeremy. (Caleb Landry Jones) Before they set out on their trip Chris asks Rose if her parents know if he is black or not, and Rose responds by telling him that her family is pretty normal white family, that he shouldn’t worry about anything and it won’t matter because they are not racist. Things seem normal at first with Chris realizing that maybe her parents are just a little nervous and trying a little to hard to connect with him. Instead of seeing him for who he is, they immediately try to connect with on some black thing. Once Chris starts to realize that things aren’t exactly what they seem, he decides that he is in way over his head. As Jordan Peele put it, it’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner mixed with Rosemary’s Baby. The great thing is this, it’s a cliche to have a character like Chris be the first person to die in a slasher flick. Instead Peele flips it on its head and we see Chris fighting his way through the whole thing. The joke is though Peele makes the audience aware that young black males know their lives are always in peril from the opening scene.
Get Out is a horror/thriller with a little comedy sprinkled in. More importantly it deals with pressing issues surrounding race that people have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Jordan Peele came up the idea for Get Out when he started noticing that sometimes he would be the only black person at a party or a get together and how awkward and uncomfortable that can make somebody feel. There’s a great scene in the movie where Rose’s family is hosting a large party and all the white people around Chris are trying to connect with him on some black thing. It represents that people are being seen for their colour first rather than as an individual. It’s not a hateful thing, but it fits into the whole mess that we call racism. The guests at the party are using Chris’s race as an olive branch to try and easily connect with him instead of just tying to learn who he is as an individual. Rose’s dad keeps telling Chris that he would have voted from Obama for a third time if he could have, he thinks he’s being cool with Chris, by connecting with him and making him feel welcome, but it almost makes Chris feel even more isolated. The movie does a fantastic job showing Chris’s side of this, who stays calm throughout the whole ordeal and it isn’t until he sees another person of colour at the party and just how almost whitewashed they are and he realizes that something is wrong in this community.
It’s suspenseful and incredibly tense at times. But it is also insanely funny and for the majority of the laughs they come from Chris’s friend Rod (LilRel Howery). He’s the comedic outlet for the movie and represents the audience’s point of view throughout the movie. He keeps calling Chris to check up on him, because from the get go he clearly tells him he’s crazy for going into a white girls parents house. When Chris starts explaining what’s going on, and sends Rod a picture of another black guy that was at the party and they soon discover that he’s been missing for six weeks, Rod makes it his mission to help save his friend. The back and forth between Rod and Chris is so funny, Rod is all of us telling this guy to get the hell out of dodge before it’s too late.
The less you know about this movie the better your experience of it will be. There are a ton of reveals and twists and turns and I found myself enjoying every second of it. That’s why I don’t want to go into great detail about the plot or what goes on. Go in and just enjoy this brilliant film. It’s so fun and unique and it’s ORIGINAL something that today’s modern Hollywood lacks dearly. The acting feels so real and authentic. Allison Williams really blew me away with her performance and I know that this will be a star making performance for Daniel Kaluuya. This is a important movie, and something the world needs right now. It deals with an issue that is still on going and it’s a smart and inventive way to look at racism and how it affects people in everyday life. It makes you feel what the African American perspective is, through fear and insecurity. What it feels like to be black man walking through a white suburban neighbourhood at night. It addresses so many important topics and issues, in a really unique way. The movie isn’t shovelling these messages down your throat every 5 seconds, it comes naturally. With this being Peele’s first time in the directors chair I cannot wait to see what he does next. Go see this movie.
Check ya later,
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews — Get Out = 86/100
