Great!!! It’s rare when a film SO solidly hits its mark that the cliché, “The critics all agree!” so aptly applies. As a horror film, it hits all the right marks, particularly the MOST important one, our protagonist Chris is genuinely likeable. Astonishingly well-played by relative newcomer Daniel Kaluuya, his emotional range from trash-talking with his BF, passive acceptance to systemic racism, and utter terror at what unfolds carries the film. If Kaluuya weren’t so exceptional, the film could easily wobble. If you’ve literally lived under a rock in the US the past few weeks and have heard nothing of this film, it is basically The Stepford Wives for black men. When Chris embarks with his new white girlfriend Allison (played by Rose Armitage) to meet her family for the weekend in a woodsy white enclave, what appears to be “harmless” race ignorance belies something much more sinister. It’s hard to write a thorough review of Get Out without including spoilers, but the quibbles are minimal. Director Jordan Peele is most famous for his comedic writing and acting, so it’s ironic that that is where the film wobbles at times. It has its laugh out loud funny moments, but some of the shifts seem jarring. Most problematic is the lack of likeability from girlfriend Rose, her white family, and their white neighbors. We never really get a sense of why Chris is dating her in the first place; this could arguably lend to the social arguments of the film, but it detracts from the story. Otherwise, Get Out lands its jump scares expertly and uses its score to perfection. You will spend more time being scared of being scared while watching than you will be actually scared. Also, Peele’s sophisticated use of camera angles skips the boring gruesomeness of many films, but also carefully assists its social commentary. From a pure film perspective, Get Out is a joy to watch.
More interestingly though, is its social commentary. Unlike a film like Moonlight, where I strongly argue that it is a film with a universal story, not a black or urban or gay story, Get Out has at least two very different angles to watch it from. A horror film is most successful when the viewer can put themselves in the protagonist’s shoes. As a white woman, The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby cast a long shadow of creepiness in my life, but films like Get Out simply can’t. It is more traditionally a horror story for a black man where arguably, just like a generation of beachgoers never quite get rid of the images from Jaws, black men might think twice before going home to see their white girlfriends’ family. You KNOW they’re friends will bring the movie up, only half-jokingly. Like Chris’ best friend Walter (Marcus Henderson) teases him, Get Out is set to enter that film canon. As a white female though, my viewing was very different. From the first scene, Rose’s casual ignorance about race relations and Chris’ race normalization are cringe-worthy. The terror for me becomes the casual perpetuation of trauma that I (and other whites) can inflict due to ignorance. Even before we know how the film plays out, Rose’s flippant assurances that her family isn’t racist are distasteful and embarrassing. Any white viewer with some semblance of consciousness has to recoil and think, “Oh God, do I do that?” We must all admit that we have some inaccurate racial views that lead to harm and misunderstanding and the only way to address them is to engage in difficult and painful dialogues. The film also underscores an important and dangerous aspect to a racially hyper-sensitized America, what I’ll refer to as racial normalization. Chris has been so desensitized to micro-aggressions, that when he legitimately starts to realize something is very wrong, he stays longer than is prudent while rationalizing around the behavior in the environment. This could easily become a lengthy dissertation on the topic in all its forms, but I really can’t think of a way in which a popcorn film could SO EXPERTLY and succinctly portray such a serious topic in all its gravity. If for no other reason, that makes Get Out a must watch.