Get Out

Go see this movie. Right now. Like, leave work if you have to. And it might be better if you leave work and see it during the day because it is scary.

Daniel Kaluuya is incredible.

The write-up of this film is as follows from IMDB:

“A young African American man visits his European American girlfriend’s family estate where he learns that many of its residents, who are black, have gone missing, and he soon learns the horrible truth when another frantic African-American warns him to “get out”. He soon learns this is easier said than done.”

I think I would change some things and write it this way: “A young black man visit’s his white girlfriend’s family, and they are crazy. More craziness ensues.” I’m not big on scary movies in general — when I saw The Babadook, I had to stop watching because I was so scared I started hysterically crying. And trust, that is not an overstatement. My poor boyfriend never got to watch the rest.

Get Out is a genius piece of art. And yes, I call movies art. You can have your sculptures and watercolors, I’ll take my movies. Directed by Jordan Peele, the film is unique in that it’s absolutely terrifying but also hysterically funny. When horror movies try to be funny, it’s usually cliche and irritating. But Peele is possibly the funniest person ever, so it’s a perfect balance. And you get these really creepy scenes balanced with comic relief that does what it’s supposed to do — it gets your mind off the crazy for a second so your brain resets and you can take more crazy in.

The casting was absolute perfection. Daniel Kaluuya, who I first saw in Black Mirror, in an episode that I can still remember every detail of, is fantastic. He’s a twenty-something English actor, and I just read on Wikipedia that he was cast in Black Panther from Marvel that comes out next year. I want him to be in everything. He is able to convey a thousand emotions in his face, and a horror movie like this one needed that to show that the character is actually terrified. It was completely believable.

Josh Lyman, channeling Steve Jobs.

And then, there’s Bradley Whitford. Of course, known best as Josh Lyman from The West Wing, he is a great actor who I never would have thought to cast in a role like this but it worked. He has this snarky congeniality that really fit, especially because you knew he was a crazy person. The entire cast made this film work.

The movie dealt with race in a new way, especially for a horror film, and I won’t give anything away, but it’s not what you think. There was definitely a LOST moment with the Dharma Initiative-like video, at least I’d like to think so. Overall, two thumbs WAY up. Although I wish Key & Peele was still on the air, I want Jordan to keep making movies forever.