US (2019)
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| Critic - No.167 |
Casts: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker
Language: English
Genre: Horror / Thriller
SYNOPSIS:
A family's holiday plan turns chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.
REVIEW:
“We are Americans” – the most terrifying line in the film that Jordan uses to reiterate his socio-political symbols in 'US' after an impressive debut with ‘Get Out’ that strikingly placed his argument on race and class. ‘US’ might not be as genre defying as ‘Get Out’ but certainly throws more ideas on us.
After the credits, the film opens up with young Adelaide enjoying the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with her parents in 1986. While her father is distracted, she wanders off and ends up in a house of mirrors. The power winks off, and she finds herself standing next to what looks like her own reflection or actually...that is the hook! The credit sequence that follows is intriguingly brilliant. The camera rests on a white rabbit, then slowly pulls back to reveal a vast wall of cages, each with its own leporine specimen. The composer, Michael Abels’s blend of Latin chants is so infectious that not only possesses you but sets the flavour for the rest of the proceeding.
The film then moves on to how Adelaide, who is an adult and a mother of two now, faces off with the mysterious doppelgängers who appear outside their holiday house. Jordan takes a tried and tested concept and presents it with his own style. Be it the ironic comic reliefs, social commentary or the ambiguity, ‘US’ does carry over the spirit of ‘Get Out’. However, the comic reliefs are more blatant and comes in at the most tensed moments, dangerously rubbing off the spoof territory. Nevertheless, it adds on to the engagement factor.
Back in 1986, there was a real charity event and campaign that was staged that saw some 6.5 million people holding hands and forming a human chain across the country to raise money for the poor. Even though Peele doesn’t explicitly mention on why he chose this event as a central theme but the fact he connects it to the Tethered (underprivileged as stated) may suggest that the charity changed nothing about the poor and it was merely a empty gesture of people to make themselves feel good. A direct pun intended on ‘them’.
Similar to the horror-thriller legends, Hitchcock and Kubrick, Peele has developed a brilliant skill of using sound and music (diegetic and non-diegetic) to drive his thrills supplementing his deep visual metaphors. The film does become ambitious when it progresses as Peele tries to inject more of his socio-political symbols into the gaps of the plot, whenever he can. The idea of class is the main thread in the film and the final reveal pokes yet another pun on ‘them’. The more Peele holds back the information on the ‘underworld’ he has created, the more fear it evokes in our puzzled mind that runs wild to fill the gap. Revealing more on the symbols will spoil it for you! In short, both Peele fans and horror fans has plenty embrace in this solid work that makes us think as well.
‘US’ also offers a great place for the Academy Award winner, Nyong’o to perform two varied roles; a loving, bold mother and a alien-like terrifying Red. She scores terrifically in both and Peele again (as 'Get Out’) utilises the detailed close up shots to capture the teary shots. Duke and the two kids did a great job too in their physically demanding roles. I loved how the camera moves as mysteriously and rhythmically with the plot’s graph. Mike Gioulakis is on total form after his stunning work in similar genre films like ‘It Follows’ and ‘Split’.
Despite being air tight with thrills, Peele cramps in too much of information during the last 20 minutes. By the time we piece those ideas together, he spins another twist in the end. Nice, but how does it adds on to the theme? – This is just one of a several questions that haunts us as we leave the cinema hall.
VERDICT:
Peele yet again delivers another nail-biting, socio-political horror flick that is both ambitious and ambiguous.
CELLULOID METER- 4/5:
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