Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Film Studies. I am Sean Taylor and I’ve taken to the written word this time because I was the only one that got a chance to see Get Out this weekend. Tex and Mean Mark will be back with me next week for Logan, I’m sure of it.
SPOILER FREE
Get Out is the directorial debut of Jordan Peele of the successful television comedy duo Key & Peele. He also wrote this movie as a follow up to the surprise hit dark comedy Keanu released last year. The trailer for this movie made me, as the “horror guy” of CanadianMovieCrew.com, take note to ensure I saw this movie at some time this year. But when I saw that this movie received a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes after its press/critic screenings, I knew it was something I had to see in theatres on opening weekend.
It stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington, a photographer, who is dating Rose Armitage (played by Allison Williams of HBO’s Girls fame). They are spending a weekend at Rose’s parent’s place where Chris will meet them for the first time. Chris worries that he being of African American descent will be an issue for Rose’s white family. But the initial meeting goes well aside from a few “dad jokes” from Dean Armitage (Bradley Whitford, Cabin in the Woods). But soon Chris notices weird things happening around the house. Their two servants, Georgina and Walter, act very odd to the fellow African American but Dean explains that they were hired to take care of his parents and kept on after they passed. During a party with the Armitage’s friends, Chris takes a picture of a black guest named Logan and flash from his cell phone sends Logan into an angry fury as he yells at Chris to “Get out!”
That’s the set up of the movie and I won’t spoil any more for you right now. The ending really makes the beef the movie worth watching. The acting is great, the story is well told and well paced, and it’s one of those movies that the more I think about it, the more I like it. It’s crafted perfectly with no wasted scenes, foreshadowing that pays off, and it’s a great look into race and how both sides see and treat each other.
Which brings up the main question about this movie: Is this movie racist or about racism? That’s a tough question because in my opinion, it appears to have race as a focal point in the beginning but it ends with race not really being an important factor. I’ll go into that a bit later on in my Spoiler Territory portion but I think that race is simply used by Peele as a way of setting up the third act which gives the whole movie it’s thriller feel. That being said, it does hold up the proverbial mirror to how whites and blacks view each other and how they communicate to each other. While the movie itself is not racist in nature, it does examine the way we as a society may unintentionally say or do things that could offend. But fear not, as it’s not heavy-handed.
I will be getting into “Spoiler Territory” now. If you have any interest in seeing Get Out either in theatres or on DVD/Blu-Ray when it comes out, please don’t read any further or watch any reviews online. I appreciate you taking the time to read this article so far but this really is something you should see without knowing too much going in. It’s not like there’s a dramatic twist or anything like that but I just think you’ll enjoy it more if you know as little as possible.
Last chance . . .
SPOILER TERRITORY
So, what’s the race factor in this movie? Well, during the Armitage’s party, all of Dean’s white friends are introduced to Chris and they all seem to be uncomfortable around him. They seem to be giving him a questioning eye and are asking questions that reek of passive racism. One man with a cane asks him if he plays golf and how swing is before remarking, “I know Tiger Woods”. One woman, whose husband is on an oxygen tank, pointedly and quite rudely asks Rose (in front of Chris), “So, is it true? Is it better?” When meeting another couple for the first time, the husband reacts to the interracial couple saying, “Well, black is in nowadays.”
This is all before the big reveal of the movie which is that the Armitage family has found a way to extend life by transferring someone’s consciousness into the body of another. First, a new host (re: victim) is chosen by for their physical abilities and young age. Then, they are brought to Rose’s mother, Missy (Catherine Keener, 40 Year-Old Virgin), who hypnotizes them to prepare them for the new consciousness. The previous consciousness is lowered into what’s called the “sunken place” allowing the new consciousness to take over. The previous consciousness is still in the mind but can only watch what happens and make no actions. The final step is left to neurosurgeon Dean who finally moves the new brain into the victim’s body.
What seemed like passive racism throughout the majority of the movie turns out to be more of an interview process for who is going to take over Chris’ body. This later determined by auction and won by an art dealer named Jim Hudson (Stephen Root, Dodgeball/King of the Hill) who likes Chris’ photography and wants to take over his body so he can revive his failed photography career. At this point, you realize that the passively racist questions and statements weren’t meant to be racist but rather they were perceived to be by Chris. In the end, it was basically white people seeing black people as the superior race.
Get Out is deeply layered and I just don’t have time to go into just how deep it goes nor do I feel like ruining some of the reveals. If there was something I felt didn’t help the movie, it was the inclusion of Chris’ best friend, Rod Williams (LilRel Howery). Throughout the movie, Chris is calling and texting Rod back home as he’s watching Chris’ dog. LilRey does a great job being the comedic relief in a tension-filled main story but I just felt it meant to him too often. There’s one scene where Rod sort of figures out what’s going on with Chris and attempts to go to the police. The scene ends up not adding anything to the plot and is just there for laughs that weren’t needed. The character of Rod is great and LilRey will surely and deservedly get more work because of his performance in Get Out but I just felt there could have been less.
In summarization, I really enjoyed Get Out and I highly encourage you to see it if you haven’t. I’d say it’s well worth your money to see in theatres. 2017 is off to pretty good start for me and seeing as how we’re coming up on blockbuster season, here’s hoping it only goes up from here.
Final Rating: 9 Fruit Loops Eaten One At A Time out of 10
Stay tuned to CanadianMovieCrew.com as we take a look at 2000’s Bedazzled on Or Is It? and next week we’ll be back in audio format for Logan. I’m Sean Taylor and we’ll see you on the next Film Studies coming soon.
