Movies: Get Out

[kihei]

I skipped the trailer, per usual, and thought Get Out was one incredibly clever satire. Very good movies seldom come out in February, but this is an exception.

 

[Deen]

Finally got a negative review, from notorious antagonist Armond White.

This guy gave Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, and La La Land negative reviews. Not to mention movies like Finding Dory and Captain America Civil War. Someone needs to fire that narcissistic A******.

 

[What the Faulk]

This guy gave Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, and La La Land negative reviews. Not to mention movies like Finding Dory and Captain America Civil War. Someone needs to fire that narcissistic A******.

He also gave positive reviews to Assassin's Creed, Dawn of Justice, and Dirty Grandpa. I think he just likes playing devil's advocate and isn't a real reviewer.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

If you actually read his review I'm actually convinced he either didn't watch the movie or started writing his review after the first 2 minutes.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I liked it, it was really well done. Most of it was predictable except a bit at the end. The movie really built the tension throughout.

 

[Sombastate]

I thought the dialogue wasnt the best, but otherwise, phenomenal movie.

What a ride

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

W/o posting any spoilers (obviously), can someone in a few sentences describe what the plot of this movie is? The trailers make no sense. It looks like if they remade American Psycho, but with a black guy in suburbia?

 

[kihei]

W/o posting any spoilers (obviously), can someone in a few sentences describe what the plot of this movie is? The trailers make no sense. It looks like if they remade American Psycho, but with a black guy in suburbia?

Boy comes home for weekend to meet girl's parents. All is not what it seems. Think of the movie as a good horror movie combined with a wicked satire of Guess Who's Coming for Dinner.

 

[What the Faulk]

I'd say it's more psychological thriller than horror, but that may just be me not really giving credit to horror movies with nontraditional atmospheres and a stories that are a bit of a slowburn.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I'd definitely say that it's more of a psychological thriller with a lot of layering of social/historical commentary. I was actually surprised by the slower pace of it, given the rave reviews. I think it was more of a movie to try and think through while watching it than even a thriller, in a certain sense. The psychological dimensions were more checked than the edge-of-your-seat style thriller.

[spoil]To spell this out slightly more concretely, what I mean is that the plot was extremely telegraphed early in the film, for me even to the point where I was trying to come to grips with how the girlfriend was going to be implicated, since her subject position as the attractive skinny white woman couldn't end up being innocent at the end. I'm still not quite sure what to make of the sequencing with her, but the dynamics of the interactions with Chris and other characters were all spot on. The sort of visceral, barely-coded masculinist "biological" racism of the son's interactions with him, the way that there was a lot of good direct first person shots where people were eerily looking at us, etc. Even down to sort of orientalist style of decor inside the house, there was just a lot going on and I think the plot did well to basically get out of the way without lapsing into something that was too rote. It was predictable in a sense, but the manner in which the predictable unfolded was still fairly demanding to follow.[/spoil]

In the end I'm very interested in how it will be remembered / how people are taking it in. It mixes genres well and has obvious contemporary social commentary, but beyond some very good humor shots with the TSA friend, it doesn't have a lot of components that really appeal to a mainstream audience. I'm not trying to suggest that it's some over-wrought or brilliant art house thing, but the genre and accessibility is really hard to pin down for me. It's not the experience I expected in a completely packed theater on Saturday night at 10pm, and from my anecdotal experiences, people were "blockbuster captured" at some sequences in the film, but I also noticed multiple people getting their cell phones out when the action had slightly subsided, etc.

 

[kihei]

A lot of people seem to be "getting it." Get Out's domestic take after only two weeks is $75,954,335 on a $4.5 million initial budget.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I'd definitely say that it's more of a psychological thriller with a lot of layering of social/historical commentary. I was actually surprised by the slower pace of it, given the rave reviews. I think it was more of a movie to try and think through while watching it than even a thriller, in a certain sense. The psychological dimensions were more checked than the edge-of-your-seat style thriller.

[spoil]To spell this out slightly more concretely, what I mean is that the plot was extremely telegraphed early in the film, for me even to the point where I was trying to come to grips with how the girlfriend was going to be implicated, since her subject position as the attractive skinny white woman couldn't end up being innocent at the end. I'm still not quite sure what to make of the sequencing with her, but the dynamics of the interactions with Chris and other characters were all spot on. The sort of visceral, barely-coded masculinist "biological" racism of the son's interactions with him, the way that there was a lot of good direct first person shots where people were eerily looking at us, etc. Even down to sort of orientalist style of decor inside the house, there was just a lot going on and I think the plot did well to basically get out of the way without lapsing into something that was too rote. It was predictable in a sense, but the manner in which the predictable unfolded was still fairly demanding to follow.[/spoil]

In the end I'm very interested in how it will be remembered / how people are taking it in. It mixes genres well and has obvious contemporary social commentary, but beyond some very good humor shots with the TSA friend, it doesn't have a lot of components that really appeal to a mainstream audience. I'm not trying to suggest that it's some over-wrought or brilliant art house thing, but the genre and accessibility is really hard to pin down for me. It's not the experience I expected in a completely packed theater on Saturday night at 10pm, and from my anecdotal experiences, people were "blockbuster captured" at some sequences in the film, but I also noticed multiple people getting their cell phones out when the action had slightly subsided, etc.

I liked it because of the pacing and overall tone. All of the actors did a really good job. This is not your typical blockbuster and that's good.


[Spoil]the telegraphed portion was the abduction with the daughter involved, the rest of what they were doing with them, brain transfers was a bit of a twist. [/spoil]

 

[Ensane]

Boy comes home for weekend to meet girl's parents. All is not what it seems. Think of the movie as a good horror movie combined with a wicked satire of Guess Who's Coming for Dinner.

Sprinkle in a bit of "I Know What You Did Last Summer"

 

[kurt]

I think my expectations were too high, given the ratings. It was good. Super predictable for the most part.

 

[DoyleG]

A lot of people seem to be "getting it." Get Out's domestic take after only two weeks is $75,954,335 on a $4.5 million initial budget.

The Jason Blum magic works again.

 

[discostu]

I'm bumping this thread as I finally had a chance to see it last night.

My expectations were high based on word of mouth, but I thought it lived up to all hype.

Tremendous tension throughout the first half of the film, and well executed final act that delivered.

I don't really agree with any claims of being predictable. Yes, you knew something was really wrong, and that Rose was not likely to be an innocent bystander in the whole thing. But, the fact that you knew something was really wrong, but you could never figure out what or why drove the tension.

I was going to wait to see when it was available for streaming, but glad I got out to a theatre while I still could.

 

[The Gongshow]

I enjoyed this movie. The overall plot is silly but all the planning and thought that went into a lot of the scenes is fantastic. The little details and use of how people look at race were well done.

some awesome/interesting points about this:
[spoil]
- the cop asking for Chris' ID and Rose telling him off making it seem like a race thing but really Rose didn't want to leave a paper trail
- the "party" with all the nosey questions that came off as racist where the people seeing if they wanted Chris for their own twisted pleasures (golf, sexual stuff, traits)
- Blind guy scene at the party seemed like some filler but was really sinister
- "He almost got over it" the grandfathers best accomplishment was losing to a black man in a race, he then puts himself in a black man and runs all the time!!"
- They wore hats to cover their scars, the grandmother was always adjusting her wig
- The dad said "We hired Georgina and Walter to care for my parents, and when they died I couldn't bear to let them go" he meant his parents and not Georgina and Walter
-Rose died cold and alone on the road like how Chris' mom died, but this time Chris didn't feel bad about it
-the cop pulling up at the end, people are led to believe Chris will be seen as the culprit not the victim, then its revealed to be his buddy
[/spoil]

theres probably a whole bunch more

 

[Osprey]

I just watched it, after never having seen the trailer or read any reviews, so I went in without knowing anything more than the bare minimum and without much expectation. It was weird... but I liked it... and I keep liking it more the longer that I think about it. It was both very uncomfortable, because of the subject of race, and surprisingly funny. I think that that's the mark of a good satire. I'm going to be thinking about this film for a while... which is another mark of a good satire.

If you're curious about it, just go see it. You'll enjoy it more if you don't watch the trailer or read any reviews beforehand. If you need to know what it's like, I'd liken it to a Shyamalan film in that there's a mystery lying beneath an ordinary-looking facade, but funnier in a mostly dark humor way... except that, while Shyamalan films can be rather shallow, this is more the opposite.

some awesome/interesting points about this:

Those are some great observations, some of which I didn't pick up on. A couple of notes on a few:

Spoiler

-Blind guy scene at the party seemed like some filler but was really sinister

Actually, that was a pivotal scene because that was the blind guy's chance to meet Chris (like the other attendees had) and for us to learn his interest in him. He tells Chris that he has "a good eye" (we falsely assume photographically). Later, the blind guy wins the "bingo game" while Chris' photo is on stage. Then, at the end, it's the blind guy talking to Chris through the TV, saying "I want your eye, man... those things you see through," just before the surgery to become Chris.

Spoiler

-"He almost got over it" the grandfathers best accomplishment was losing to a black man in a race, he then puts himself in a black man and runs all the time!!

Ha. You know, I was just thinking that this will be a fun movie to watch a second time and pick up on all of these things, but, now, I sort of wonder if the filmmakers really didn't care if they were predictable or not because some of these scenes and lines are almost as if they were seeing if they could tip off and get laughs out of the audience.

Spoiler

-the cop pulling up at the end, people are led to believe Chris will be seen as the culprit not the victim, then its revealed to be his buddy.

I read that writer/director Peele originally intended for Chris to be arrested, in order to highlight the "realities of racism," but the race riots of a few years ago ended up doing that for him, so he changed the ending to a happy one. It also sounds like there might be a bonus, alternate ending on the blu-Ray/DVD release in which Chris' buddy spots Chris on the street, runs up and asks him where he's been and Chris acts like he doesn't know him, implying...

Here are some more:

Spoiler

* The whole operation is an allegory for slavery, from abduction (kidnapping) to inspection of goods (party) to auction (bingo game) to domestication (surgery).
* The offenders are northern liberals (not southern rednecks), suggesting that even those who act the proudest of not being racist can still do the race cause more harm than good.
* Chris puts cotton in his ears to escape. How's that for symbolism?
* Chris inadvertently suggested to Rose that her grandfather has the hots for her. It's no wonder that she seemed taken aback.

 

[JA]

Definitely it is the kind of movie that is much more satisfying if you know absolutely nothing going in. Watching the trailer kind of gives you a pretty good idea of where the movie is going.

The first two scenes practically reveal the entire movie.
[spoil]Andre is abducted in the first scene. In the following scene, Rose tells Chris that her parents might be uncomfortable with her boyfriend being black, yet she did not tell them in advance and still insists on going -- something is immediately suspicious about her, especially in the context of a horror film. The film tries to work backwards to convince the audience that she is innocent; there is intimacy and chemistry between the two, as well as a perceived degree of concern for him that contradicts the ill intentions of the family. During the course of the film, she lulls the audience into a sense of false security.

The lobotomy twist is heavily foreshadowed after the first hypnotism scene when Rod explains Jeffrey Dahmer to the audience. The entire operation of that family is effectively a larger-scale version of what Dahmer did: lure people through deception, then prey on them and alter their brains. The family conducts business with its members in this fashion, offering extended life in their exclusive club. As soon as the mention of Dahmer and later the appearance of Andre at the party take place, the end game becomes apparent. Although the operation is an allegory for slavery as Osprey mentions above, it also draws parallels to Dahmer.

The obviousness of the family's activities is expressed through Rod, whose highly-animated, comical style of delivery is so over-the-top that it discredits him and causes the audience to wonder if the concerns of Rod and Chris are overblown and a product of paranoia. The presence of Rod in the film makes us wonder who to believe -- I had that same feeling during the first portion of The Visit last year as I wondered whether the boy's concerns were justified or if the twist would be that he was overthinking his situation.

The only part of the film that is illogical is Chris' reaction to seeing Rose's picture with all of the other victims. She specifically says at the start of the film that he is the first black person that she has ever dated. After the twist is revealed, he still trusts her to find the car keys.

It is worth noting the dynamic between Rod and Rose: best friend vs girlfriend. The names Rod and Rose have an obvious figurative meaning; Rod is a black man while Rose is a white woman. Chris is almost killed because he trusts Rose too much and Rod not enough to the point where he defies logic in the hope of a getaway with Rose.

Perhaps it's a social commentary on white women and black men being on two polar ends of a spectrum of perceived trustworthiness. The scene in which Rod tries to explain the situation to the police is a multilayered example of this: the cops do not believe him, nor do they find it suspicious that Andre, a missing, young black man, is dressed strangely with an elderly white woman. They assume that Andre has intentions of wealth and that Rod is crazy. The scene plays out differently if the roles are reversed.[/spoil]
[spoil]The white characters in the film clearly admire black people, but their admiration is based on a stereotype about physiological advantages. They are not the type of racists who dislike black people; these are instead the type that feign empathy and show a degree of insensitivity and ignorance in spite of their beliefs. They do not see them as social equals, and through an attempt to overcompensate, unwittingly create a distinction. In the film, these characters want to be black people, but to do so, they imprison them in "the sunken place."[/spoil]

 

[Osprey]

Good observations, Jets.

Quoting spoilers doesn't work well, so I'm going to use a collapse tag instead of spoil tag (i.e. if you haven't seen the film, don't expand this):

[collapse=]I forgot about the Dahmer story. That does rather presage what happens in the film.

The obviousness of the family's activities is expressed through Rod, whose highly-animated, comical style of delivery is so over-the-top that it discredits him and causes the audience to wonder if the concerns of Rod and Chris are overblown and a product of paranoia. The presence of Rod in the film makes us wonder who to believe -- I had that same feeling during the first portion of The Visit last year as I wondered whether the boy's concerns were justified or if the twist would be that he was overthinking his situation.

I usually hate characters like Rod, who are your stereotypical "street bro" type of buddy and exist only to make crude jokes that I don't find funny, but he somehow ended up being one of the most enjoyable things about the film. If he'd been off the mark, like every other bro in movies, it wouldn't have been funny, but it ended up being hilarious. It turned the stereotype upside, since, instead of being the dumbest guy in the whole film, Rod was actually the smartest. He was hilarious because he figured the whole thing out long before Chris and even we did, but no one took him seriously. I like your point that it even makes us doubt our intuitions because, if the stereotypical bro with the crazy ideas has the same thoughts, then they must be wrong. It guides us to seek out a more logical and mundane explanation.

The only part of the film that is illogical is Chris' reaction to seeing Rose's picture with all of the other victims. She specifically says at the start of the film that he is the first black person that she has ever dated. After the twist is revealed, he still trusts her to find the car keys.

Does she say that he's the first black guy that she's ever dated or just the first that she's brought home to her parents? I was a bit more under the impression that it was the latter. Also, I suppose that Chris could've not known what to make of the photos and not been sure if they were former boyfriends or just selfies with friends. There might've been enough unsureness and wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't involved that he didn't want to knock her out and steal the keys, but rather escape with her. After all, she hadn't done anything to him yet and he might've still had feelings for her that clouded his judgment a little. Even if it wasn't clouded and he figured that he had to turn on her eventually, he probably wanted to do it a long way from the house, when he was no longer in danger. The fact that she still thought that he was oblivious was the only card that he had left to play, so he was trying to play it without tipping her off that he knew, because we saw what happened when he lost that card and all pretense evaporated.
[/collapse]

 

[Kurtz]

[spoil]...you didn't recognize that last photo? The one he lingered on? [/spoil]

 

[JA]

Good observations, Jets.

Quoting spoilers doesn't work well, so I'm going to use a collapse tag instead of spoil tag (i.e. if you haven't seen the film, don't expand this):

[collapse=]I forgot about the Dahmer story. That does rather presage what happens in the film.


I usually hate characters like Rod, who are your stereotypical "street bro" type of buddy and exist only to make crude jokes that I don't find funny, but he somehow ended up being one of the most enjoyable things about the film. If he'd been off the mark, like every other bro in movies, it wouldn't have been funny, but it ended up being hilarious. It turned the stereotype upside, since, instead of being the dumbest guy in the whole film, Rod was actually the smartest. He was hilarious because he figured the whole thing out long before Chris and even we did, but no one took him seriously. I like your point that it even makes us doubt our intuitions because, if the stereotypical bro with the crazy ideas has the same thoughts, then they must be wrong. It guides us to seek out a more logical and mundane explanation.



Does she say that he's the first black guy that she's ever dated or just the first that she's brought home to her parents? I was a bit more under the impression that it was the latter. Also, I suppose that Chris could've not known what to make of the photos and not been sure if they were former boyfriends or just selfies with friends. There might've been enough unsureness and wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't involved that he didn't want to knock her out and steal the keys, but rather escape with her. After all, she hadn't done anything to him yet and he might've still had feelings for her that clouded his judgment a little. Even if it wasn't clouded and he figured that he had to turn on her eventually, he probably wanted to do it a long way from the house, when he was no longer in danger. The fact that she still thought that he was oblivious was the only card that he had left to play, so he was trying to play it without tipping her off that he knew, because we saw what happened when he lost that card and all pretense evaporated.
[/collapse]

Here are the relevant lines in the second scene of the film:
[spoil]Chris: You said I was the first black guy you ever dated.

Rose: Yeah, so what?

Chris: Yeah, so this is uncharted territory for them. You know, I don't want to get chased off the lawn with a shotgun.

Rose: You're not going to. First of all, my dad would have voted for Obama a third time if he could've. Like, the love is so real. I'm only telling you that 'cause he's definitely gonna wanna talk to you about that. And it will definitely ****ing suck.[/spoil]
[spoil]Just before we see the photos of Rose with her other victims, we see a photograph of her wearing cult-like garb and sporting an entirely different look that is uncharacteristic for a person from such a seemingly progressive family. The pictures themselves feature the groundskeeper and maid as regular young people, which is consistent with Rod's theory about Andre. Just prior to that, Chris speaks with Rod on the phone. The film gives us all of the red flags at that moment, yet Chris decides to trust her anyway when she returns to her room.[/spoil]

 

[Kurtz]

[spoil]
[spoil]Just before we see the photos of Rose with her other victims, we see a photograph of her wearing cult-like garb and sporting an entirely different look that is uncharacteristic for a person from such a seemingly progressive family. The pictures themselves feature the groundskeeper and maid as regular young people, which is consistent with Rod's theory about Andre. Just prior to that, Chris speaks with Rod on the phone. The film gives us all of the red flags at that moment, yet Chris decides to trust her anyway when she returns to her room.[/spoil]

[spoil]He doesn't decide to trust her - once he figures out she's in on it, he realizes that he's screwed. His only shot is to play dumb and hope the fact that she doesn't yet know that he knows may lull her into playing the game a little longer, and thus get him those car keys. He had no other alternative. [/spoil]

 

[JA]

[spoil]He doesn't decide to trust her - once he figures out she's in on it, he realizes that he's screwed. His only shot is to play dumb and hope the fact that she doesn't yet know that he knows may lull her into playing the game a little longer, and thus get him those car keys. He had no other alternative. [/spoil]

[spoil]She had conned him up to that point very convincingly, so he should have known that she would never let him out of that house and out of the family's grasp. Everything she does is calculated. When he saw Jeremy blocking the door with a lacrosse stick in his hands, Chris knew that he would not have been able to escape from the bottom floor, so he could have turned back right there -- it was clear that they were ready to make their move.

If he felt that she was untrustworthy, he could have subdued her and looked through her purse, or he could have called Rod back and had him send the police. He could have swatted the house. The phone died, but he had a plug. He could have climbed out of one of the many windows in that room. He was standing right next to a window while talking to Rod. There were many options available, but he decides to trust Rose to give him the keys.

As an audience, we expect a turn in Chris' attitude towards Rose at the moment of this revelation, but it does not happen. The entire sequence leading up to that moment suggests that she is devious -- we see Chris looking suspiciously at an open closet door, and he successfully finds the evidence to implicate her as an accomplice in the family's scheme. As usual, however, he does not confront her. He never challenges her at any point during the film. She always gets her way.

His subsequent actions are all counter-intuitive. In fact, he is the one who acts suspiciously in that scene, rushing her to hurry. He doesn't give her time to look for her keys in her room, but instead tells her to "do it on the move." They are protected in that room; he has all the time in the world to search for the keys in her bag. He shares with her through his behavior that he is distressed, which is the opposite of "playing dumb." If he knows that she can not be trusted, then he is not at all hiding his knowledge of the Armitage family's dark secret from her. He effectively gives his hand away by communicating to her that he is panicking and that they need to flee quickly. With regards to playing dumb about her involvement, he and the audience know that she saw him snooping -- the film doesn't show her walking into the room after he closes the closet door; it shows her standing in the room staring at him as he closes the closet door. At that moment, there is no possible way for him to pretend that he knows nothing.

It seems to me that he chooses to ignore the evidence and give her the benefit of the doubt, as his opportunity to act would have been in her room if he felt she was his enemy. He effectively traps himself once he steps out of her room; he puts a time limit on his own escape and defers all of his authority to Rose. His strategy is to have his enemy frantically search for her keys. Not only is he not discreet about obtaining the keys, but the enemy would never allow him to escape; his frightened behavior actually heightens the effort of the Armitage family to keep him from leaving. He causes her to be more guarded about the keys as a result of his panicked expressions and needlessly makes his escape entirely dependent on her.

This stupidity on Chris' part is important thematically. Refer to post #44.[/spoil]

 

[Kurtz]

This critique reminds me of when people were complaining that Rickon Stark wasn't running in zig-zags to get away from his tormentor.

When in situations of extreme stress and with no time to evaluate all alternatives, regular people don't typically pursue the most ideal resolution.

It would be absolutely absurd to have the main character turn into Jason Bourne or Sherlock Holmes in that situation. The way it played out was 100% more realistic than the suggested alternatives.