Achieving the dream leaves we slightly whacked.
Get Out (2017) is a movie of the moment: it plays with today’s psychosocial currents of American society to create moments of tensions, revelation, and stress-relieving humor. From a poke at the vagaries of smartphone technology to the continuing racial tensions bedeviling the shared American mind, the film slowly reveals a plot worthy of the Stepford Wives.
Chris is a young black man in love with Rose, a young, flighty white woman, and it’s time for the Meet the Parents moment, featuring her parents, Missy, a psychologist, and Dean, a neurosurgeon, as well as her obnoxious and usually drunken brother, Jeremy. The jabs are friendly and light, although sometimes they seem slightly … off.
During the night, Chris goes out for a smoke and encounters Missy on his way back in. They talk, then Chris wakes from a nightmare of falling through a chair and away from reality. It’s jarring, disturbing and unnatural.
The next day, a mob of family friends shows up, friendly and happy – until the oddball comments start. Not offensive, but not what’s expected. They all play their parts, one might say, right to the hilt.
And then it gets weird, starting with a silent auction. There’s one thing being auctioned: A large photograph of Chris. But why is it fetching such a high price? It isn’t clear.
Placed in the horror genre, the film does not indulge in the many trappings of today’s horror movie; it’s more like the better Hitchcock films – Film Noir for the modern day. There is violence, but the gore is implied. There might be horror in the background, but Chris is no helpless victim. He’s clever and decisive. And just when all the bets appear lost, a guardian angel appears to take the breath of the audience away.
Like most horror films, if you think too hard about it, the plot holes become apparent. That’s rather the essence of horror films, isn’t it? But this is definitely a better one, eschewing shock value and messy, empty showmanship. Rather, it explores the psychological and social aspects of a desire to live, which is common to us all.
This film is really a lesson in what happens when stunning science meets amorality, taken to its illogical extreme.
Recommended, if you like horror or Hitchcock.
