Us-2019
Director-Jordan Peele
Starring-Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke
Scott’s Review #882
Reviewed April 1, 2019
Grade: A
Hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed and shockingly Oscar-nominated horror film Get Out (2017) Jordan Peele does it again with an even more thought-provoking creation.
Us (2019) combines classic horror elements with macabre and insightful qualities, crafting an ambitious project that can be dissected and discussed at length following the climactic and psychologically perplexing ending.
One thing is for sure; Peele has earned his spot among the most influential and elite directors circling Hollywood.
The film begins in 1986 as an event entitled Hands Across America- a publicity campaign encouraging people to hold hands to create a human chain to fight hunger and poverty- gripped the United States. Nine-year-old Adelaide Thomas goes on vacation to Santa Cruz, California with her parents only to wander off into a deserted house of mirrors.
When she meets her doppelganger, she is terrified beyond comprehension and requires therapy to resume a normal life.
Events return to the present day as Adelaide (now played by Lupita Nyong’o) is married to Gabe Wilson (Winston Duke) with two young children, Zora and Jason. Coaxed into a weekend getaway to none other than Santa Cruz to visit their wealthy friends Josh and Kitty Tyler (Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss), Adelaide is apprehensive about the trip with a dreading sensation that her doppelganger is returning to get her.
When a strange family dressed in red jumpsuits appear on Wilson’s driveway the plot transforms into a bizarre direction especially since the family looks exactly like the Wilsons.
Us is extremely layered and reminiscent of the expression “peeling back the onion” in analysis and discussion possibilities. For starters, a character thought to be one person is another causing the audience to spin into confusion and not know who they were rooting for or not rooting for all along.
The astounding questions are endless and in Peele’s brilliant fashion can be asked at different times during the film. Why do the doppelgangers exist? What do they want? What do Hands Across America have to do with anything? What do the rabbits symbolize?
One gruesome scene and a favorite is the barbaric scene when the Tyler’s are suddenly attacked by their doppelgangers- home invasion style.
Reminiscent of the infamous Charles Manson murders, the family is slain quickly and mercilessly as the audience is left agape at the brutal slaughter. So much happens in this scene, first and foremost is the realization that there are more doppelgangers than we originally thought.
To lighten the mood a bit, Peele adds morbid comic relief as the family’s voice-controlled Siri system misunderstands the dying victim’s plea to call for police and mistakenly plays “F#@$ the Police” by N.W.A. instead.
Nyong’o has the most opportunities to showcase her acting ability by tackling two very different types of roles. As Adelaide, she is kind, capable, and your typical suburban Mom but as her doppelganger Red she is grizzled and desperate with a dry, throaty voice filled with pain and defeat.
At first thought a villain the audience eventually learns the complexities of Red’s story clearer and the Oscar winner delivers both parts with exceptional grace.
The supporting actors fill their characters with gusto with a mention going to Duke and Moss. Duke’s character of Gabe contains inept humor coming across as slightly incompetent and the typical goofball dad-type character.
Moss takes her one-note character of Kitty, a spoiled never made it as an actress whiner with a rich husband, and infuses naughty passion into her doppelganger. As she playfully applies lipstick while coquettishly watching herself in the mirror she soon gives the term “plastic surgery” a new definition as she curiously carves her face.
Peele delivers a treasure with Us (2019) and I salivate at the thought of the film is only the novice director’s second attempt. Not suffering from the dreaded sophomore slump, he is becoming a modern director whose works are more like events than simply released films.
Quentin Tarantino is a director who has also achieved this status through the director’s styles are vastly different. I cannot wait to feast on Peele’s next attempt.