Get Out

Jordan Peele's Get Out is definitely a mixed bag. Let's break it down into partitions for discussions.

First of all, the premise is fresh. Many have used inner emotions such as grief, sadness, guilt and the like as undercurrents for horror films. But, this writer-director has given a scary face to directly represent a bothering societal issue - racism. And what a smart thought it is! Right from the strong opener to the introduction of personas, focus is placed to establish the circumstances surrounding the actions.

The emotional setting for the picture is also, very well done. The suspense in the air is heavy. You are shown everything is warm, but you can sense something is wrong. The discomfort is real! Largely, this works due to the protagonist Chris, played perfectly by Daniel Kaluuya. Whatever the makers needed from him for this picture, he has delivered flawlessly. You can see how uncomfortable, alienated & alone he is around the situations staged around him, and him as a character in fact. From the black servants, or even the usage of the words 'black' & 'dark' time to time injects uneasiness and agitations into the scenes.

No one will leave this movie without having the hypnosis sequence stuck in their minds. Because it is great! Success of a scene or kernel is decided by how visually it could deliver an information & how effectively it could make the audiences emote to what the main character is experiencing at the time. And oh God, what a brilliant construction that episode is! As the screen resolution capsizes, you could feel your body & vision are shrinking away from consciousness and control as Chris'. As he sinks into the floor, you drown with him too! This is a rare visual storytelling achievement!

Michael Abels' score stands out. There's one film editing moment where a mosquito slap should be noticed. Camerawork is decent; do watch out for the closeup on Georgina (Betty Gabriel) as she speaks to Chris in a clip which sells terror in every way. Lil Rel Howery is comical! His jokes & antics are rib-tickling! Bidding for slavery sale & police arrest anticipation at the end are noteworthy.

All the positives achieved are destroyed by jump scares or shocking music notes to signify something creepy is going on. This factor here rendered the film cheap at many occasions. The deer accident is a symbolism to show how innocence is being lured to danger without it realizing or simply, a sign of bad omen. But seriously, most of the jump scares are unneeded and obvious high notes on musical instruments to ask us to be scared, just disturbs the feature's flow. Some of it, such as the groundskeeper running straight towards Chris before turning right, or the housekeeper looking at the window on her own reflection came off as tacky gimmicks. The use of contrast between music & visual proceeding at the start did not achieve its aimed target, as this could be due to the lesser than best choice of background score. When the picture turns acutely violent during the climax, there's slight tonal mispairing. Final title card as they Get Out of the area is fitting!

While the script has crystal clear checkpoints of Plot Point I, Midpoint and Plot Point II, it takes a while for the screenplay to find its way from the Set-Up to Plot Point I - "Get out!". Chris deals with awkwardness & gathers mental observations, but it consumes more time that it should have. Expositions are displayed by the lead character watching a mere video. Some monologues are complemented by images seen earlier in the runtime though. Allison Williams as Rose Armitage is a cleverly camouflaged villain, thanks to the writing. If you think about it, yes it doesn't make sense for her to single out and be the good person among her family members who are the opposites. But, even the box that has all her previous 'boyfriends' is left open in the small basement so conveniently! Waking up from a dream is a beaten-to-death cliché. Plot Point II revolving the cotton from torn sofa is good. After the first hypnosis segment, the plot becomes predictable. Chris reminiscing his past to save Georgina from trouble is not as efficacious as expected.

As we all know, each film is in its own universe. In this fictionalized world of modern racism, where people of color are viewed as superior in terms of talent or physical attributes but lives aren't as valuable as those of whites, are abducted to be used as vessels of pseudo-immortality. The idea is cool. But, the execution is feeble. To have a surgeon in the family to conduct brain transplants & hypnotize a make-believe soul from an old to a new body isn't an easy willing suspension of disbelief at all. It raises more questions than answers, both from technicality & possibility wise. Also, if a click of a camera flash can retrieve a person to the actual self, then what's the point of the complicated surgery in the first place?

Also, whenever the topic of racism or any other equally extreme negativity is touched in motion pictures, there should always be a balance, in order to prevent being judgmental over emotions. For example, while showing a large portion of white Americans being racist or ignorant, a couple of white characters who aren't anything like that should have been installed at least. The absence of this makes the show hyperbolically fake. Film is a reflective media. It functions just like a mirror. To force feed a filmmaker's beliefs is not what filmmaking is about.