Get Out
21/03/17 Filed in: Cinema
Get Out is obviously a film that divides opinion. Mark Kermode at the Guardian, a reviewer I respect, gave it four stars and made it his film of the week. Meanwhile, a reviewer at IMDB was scathing, saying that he wished he had seen Lego Batman instead. It's fair to say this film couldn't be any further removed from a Lego movie.
The opening sequence sees a young black man trying to find an address in an area in which he clearly feels uncomfortable. A leafy white suburb to put it bluntly. He has been on the phone to whoever he's trying to find, the who in that sentence becoming clear much later in the film. A car starts to shadow him and next we see him overpowered and dumped in the boot, the car screeching off.
We now cut to Chris and Rose, a seemingly happy couple. He is a successful photographer, and as he prepares to accompany her to meet her parents, he enquires "Do they know I'm black?" She hasn't, but doesn't seem to think that it matters. Her dad is fine, after all he would have voted for Obama for a third term. Chris isn't too sure, and his mate Rod, who works for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), is definitely not for it. But they go. On the way a collision with a deer, although nothing more than an accident, turns out to be a premonition of what's to come.
Everybody is very pleasant when they arrive at the Armitage property, with the possible exception of Jeremy, Rose's brother, who goads Chris over the dinner table. It's a secluded spot far from other habitation. But things just seem to have that odd feel about them. The black gardener, Walter, is surprisingly unfriendly towards Chris, and the black housekeeper, Georgina, also appears odd, overfilling Chris's glass as her mind seems to drift off while pouring a drink. By this point the father, Dean, has already repeated the mantra that he would have voted for Obama for a third term, which came across as a bit weird given he used the same words as his daughter. Meanwhile the mother, Missy, has a line in psycho-hypnosis, offering to cure Chris of his smoking habit. He declines the offer. To bolster their liberal credentials, it is explained that the two black helpers were kept on after caring for the deceased grandparents.
In the late evening Chris steals out for a cigarette. While he is standing outside the house Walter comes hurtling towards him across the garden, running past as if being pursued. He later explained that he was taking his exercise! At about the same time, Georgina switches on a light in the house and looks out at Chris, which he finds unnerving, and decides to go in. As he passes a room Missy calls him in. He again declines hypnosis, but Missy doesn't need permission as she turns a conversation on the death of his mother into a hypnosis session, using a china teacup and a stirring spoon as the trigger to induce Chris into a deep sleep. Literally deep, as she tells him he's now in a sunken place, and he certainly feels he's there as he looks up at Missy far above.
In the morning he wakes up in bed confused, but when he finds that he no longer can stomach the idea of a cigarette, he guesses what has happened. Things now start to become even more bizarre. He finds his mobile unplugged from the charger. There is an annual get together at the house, attended by an odd selection of clearly well-to-do individuals, who all seem very well disposed towards Chris. One of them, an art gallery owner, even comments on Chris's work, which came as a surprise as the man was blind. Another couple comprise a middle-aged woman and a young black man, his demeanour being about as far removed from a 'brother' as you could imagine. Chris sneaks a photograph of the couple with his phone, but the flash appears to send the young man into a rage and he runs towards Chris shouting 'get out'. Chris is now well and truly spooked, and goes off with Rose to sit in the grounds where he tells her he wants to leave.
While he's away a game of bingo takes place among the guests. It's the weirdest bingo you will ever see, and the prize seems to be Chris. The art gallery owner wins, the meaning of this to later become horrifically clear. Back in the bedroom Chris comes across some photos showing Rose with a number of black boyfriends, despite the fact she had told him he was the first. Now really concerned, and with his friend Rod's warnings chiming in his ears, Chris frantically asks Rose for the car keys, but after pretending to look for them in her bag, it becomes clear that she isn't going to hand them over. At this point the film becomes very dark, and we learn the terrible secret that this family is hiding. The father is a neurosurgeon but he has strayed from conventional medicine into something akin to that practised by Victor Frankenstein. The room in the basement that was said to be closed off because of black mould is something else entirely. And Chris finds himself in the middle of this nightmare.
To say much more will spoil the final act of this film, but Chris turns out to be somewhat more resourceful than those who have preceded him, and there were many. We are left in suspense right up until the last moment, when it seems that despite all his efforts he is going to fall victim to the local unsympathetic police.
If you like suspense with a bit of mild science fiction thrown in, then you will enjoy this film.
In the late evening Chris steals out for a cigarette. While he is standing outside the house Walter comes hurtling towards him across the garden, running past as if being pursued. He later explained that he was taking his exercise! At about the same time, Georgina switches on a light in the house and looks out at Chris, which he finds unnerving, and decides to go in. As he passes a room Missy calls him in. He again declines hypnosis, but Missy doesn't need permission as she turns a conversation on the death of his mother into a hypnosis session, using a china teacup and a stirring spoon as the trigger to induce Chris into a deep sleep. Literally deep, as she tells him he's now in a sunken place, and he certainly feels he's there as he looks up at Missy far above.
In the morning he wakes up in bed confused, but when he finds that he no longer can stomach the idea of a cigarette, he guesses what has happened. Things now start to become even more bizarre. He finds his mobile unplugged from the charger. There is an annual get together at the house, attended by an odd selection of clearly well-to-do individuals, who all seem very well disposed towards Chris. One of them, an art gallery owner, even comments on Chris's work, which came as a surprise as the man was blind. Another couple comprise a middle-aged woman and a young black man, his demeanour being about as far removed from a 'brother' as you could imagine. Chris sneaks a photograph of the couple with his phone, but the flash appears to send the young man into a rage and he runs towards Chris shouting 'get out'. Chris is now well and truly spooked, and goes off with Rose to sit in the grounds where he tells her he wants to leave.
While he's away a game of bingo takes place among the guests. It's the weirdest bingo you will ever see, and the prize seems to be Chris. The art gallery owner wins, the meaning of this to later become horrifically clear. Back in the bedroom Chris comes across some photos showing Rose with a number of black boyfriends, despite the fact she had told him he was the first. Now really concerned, and with his friend Rod's warnings chiming in his ears, Chris frantically asks Rose for the car keys, but after pretending to look for them in her bag, it becomes clear that she isn't going to hand them over. At this point the film becomes very dark, and we learn the terrible secret that this family is hiding. The father is a neurosurgeon but he has strayed from conventional medicine into something akin to that practised by Victor Frankenstein. The room in the basement that was said to be closed off because of black mould is something else entirely. And Chris finds himself in the middle of this nightmare.
To say much more will spoil the final act of this film, but Chris turns out to be somewhat more resourceful than those who have preceded him, and there were many. We are left in suspense right up until the last moment, when it seems that despite all his efforts he is going to fall victim to the local unsympathetic police.
If you like suspense with a bit of mild science fiction thrown in, then you will enjoy this film.