GET OUT
by Dwayne Tillman
In a time where streaming services are slowly becoming the go-to platform for viewing movies, it can be easy to lose sight of what the cinema experience feels like. And yet, sometimes, a film comes along that reminds you exactly why the cinema experience exists in the first place. That film this time around is Get Out, the debut feature from Key & Peele’s Jordan Peele’s. This film is the type of great that makes you want to stand on a rooftop and scream about. It’s funny, socially relevant and downright terrifying. It’s been some time since a film has made me feel genuinely excited about what I was watching; not just for what happens in the film but what this already masterful filmmaker will gift us with next. It’s a clear example of how cinema as an art form can be used to talk about the times as well as entertain.
To quote Peele himself, Get Out is a ‘social thriller’ centred around Chris (Sicario’s Daniel Kaluuya), an aspiring photographer, who has finally reached that meet-the-parents stage of his relationship with girlfriend Rose (Girls’ Allison Williams). Chris is slightly trepidatious about meeting them, however, as he’s afraid they won’t be comfortable accepting the fact that their daughter is dating a black man. Rose assures him that they’ll be fine. Sure enough, they (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) are fine. Perhaps a little too fine, as the parents drop quips about wanting to vote for Obama a third time if they could. Typical white liberals, he concludes. Chris is then subjected to more instances of casual racism, such as a troupe of white houseguests grilling him about his genital size and ‘the advantages of the African-American experience’, which horrifies Rose but is nothing new to Chris. Something starts to feel off, though, particularly with the black help working at the house. Why is Georgina the maid (Betty Gabriel) constantly smiling and looking at her own reflection? What is Walter the groundskeeper (Marcus Henderson) constantly running to (from?) in the middle of the night? And how did they get there in the first place?
The answers to these questions are ones you won’t want to know going in. The brilliant thing about Get Out, however, is that its power lies not necessarily in the plot twists themselves but more so their execution. Peele takes tropes that we’re familiar with (the meet-the-parents situation, being trapped in a foreign house to name but a few) and uses them to flesh out satire and racial commentary that is both humorous and terrifying in its accuracy. Peele’s target here is not the out and out racists that exist in today’s America, but the well-off liberals who tell themselves that they are ‘good white people’, because they love Tiger Woods and have pictures of Jesse Owens in their house. The casual racism is what Peele depicts as being more of a threat, and this context that constantly hangs over the film’s head makes for an even more white-knuckled and terrifying experience. Deftly, the commentary never seems heavy-handed, thanks to clever use of subtle symbolism which ensures that the commentary never becomes heavy-handed. It’s a near perfect balance of subtext and entertainment.
And boy, does this thing entertain. The film pays a nice homage to other classic horror films (that this film is sure to join the ranks of in a few years) a la Rosemary’s Baby and The Wicker Man, with hints of The Shining and of course Meet the Parents. Even the poster is a clever reference to the 1995 French classic La Haine. Despite these, Get Out is very much it’s own original thing. Peele has a clear vision for this, and he’s not afraid to go all the way with his skewering of the current social climate. It’s satire, as a result, feels quite refreshing and never feels forced or attention-seeking. It has a sense of purpose that other films of its ilk often don’t.
A masterclass in pacing and structure, Get Out has a great sense of control and confidence throughout. It’s 104-minute running time zips past that you’ll be wanting to go back for another 104 as soon as it’s over. This is also the rare horror film that upon its third act, actually delivers on the promise of its first two. Nothing feels cheap or forced, and it never betrays the audience’s intelligence or trust. Driving us to that point are some completely engrossing performances from its perfectly cast actors. Keener and Whitford are pitch perfect as the ‘nice’ parents, but it’s Kaluuya who makes the biggest impression here. He completely sells Chris’ constant paranoia and alienation. I’ve waited for some time for this guy to hit the big time, and this is the performance that, in a just world, will do it.
I don’t need to tell you why right now is the perfect time for a film like this. It’s clear that it’s struck a chord in America that has long been left hanging: it’s the second highest-grossing R-rated horror film of all time after The Exorcist and was the highest-grossing film of all time by a black filmmaker until The Fate of the Furious recently surpassed it. It’s great enough that Get Out has achieved this as a result of the cultural landscape it exists in. It’s even better that it’s done this being the great film that it is. It’s a film that, seen in the right context (go with a large Friday night crowd), proves to you the power cinema can have as entertainment and a cultural artefact. So, if you pardon the pun, Get Out and see it.