Get Out

I was a bit concerned this would turn into another campaign for the rights of the American minority, of which there is enough everywhere these days. Partially it did, but the story was written in such a way that it didn’t get annoying. By that I mean that I had a pretty good time watching it, because the mean white people were really sneaky, Daniel Kaluuya was impressively flashing his eyeballs, and Rod's visit to the police station was hilarious. I just wouldn't go so far as to call this a horror film. (01/03/2020)

The film features excellent screenwriting and above all directing, with a strange white panopticon, a properly soaked racist mindset, and above all the insistent feeling of "what the fuck...?". The intensity, where you pray that the plot will keep moving and you will learn a little more, works mainly because the protagonist maintains a rational approach throughout and the plot never once allows him to slip into a genre crutch. Moreover, this is brilliantly caricatured by the character of the best friend, who both introduces and breaks down traditional creative practices by commenting on upcoming events over the phone. It's terribly simple and yet perfectly thought out and embellished in detail, a work of art straight out of a magazine. 4 ½. (07/20/2017)

I've seen a lot of poor horror movies lately that have been praised by American critics only because they were gender-progressive or originated in an exotic country and themed some form of oppression. At first glance, Get Out seems exactly like the "we have an explosive racial topic that someone has dealt with in all its explicitness" case, but from the opening scene Peele gives the impression that he is a) an excellent screenwriter who calmly turns a social metaphor into a grotesque slasher without the structure disintegrating, b) a director able to work with subliminal tension, which is guaranteed to escape the local horror experts, but certainly not an audience with a certain degree of cultivated attention to detail. The first third is a socially relevant metaphor for black masks, the middle builds tension, and the final acts offers peppery catharsis. Together, the acts make a film that is a more intelligent and serious reflection of racial identity for me than the whole of Moonlight. I was only bothered by a little superfluous ethereal music and a few places where you can see inside Get Out more than one would like. Otherwise, it’s great. (04/27/2017)

Earning USD 150 million at the US box office with a budget of less than five million dollars? Jason Blum is the man. And it seems that a new age of black directing talent is at hand. The atmosphere of Get Out is reminiscent of the works of Stephen King, and had it been based on one of his books, it would have been one of the best King adaptations ever. The psychological horror formula, intensely and courageously built on the sensitive issue of racism, will send chills down your spine. Flawlessly directed with intelligent social insight, the movie is effective thanks both to the tension between the characters and purely genre elements (jump scares, raising of the tension using visual tricks). If it had a cleverer ending, it would be a work with precision reaching the level of Shyamalan’s famous trilogy. [ArcLight Santa Monica] (03/30/2017)

A feature-length episode of Black Mirror, which the wave of last year's Moonlight and related racial themes nonsensically elevated to the level of a battle for Oscars. Daniel Kaluuya authentically experiences all the sensitive and menacing moments in the role of the main protagonist, and I am very glad to see the underappreciated Allison Williams in a leading role, but it's not enough. An interesting concept is not sufficient for an entire film, and after all the reviews, I inevitably expected a foundation of a new direction or at least a surprisingly well-guided genre film. However, nothing lies beneath this slightly superficial portrayal with its one-sided point. (02/21/2018)