Us: A Review
As it is with auteurs who explode onto the scene with a masterful work, expectations tend to be too high going into their follow-up. Which is what happened to me when it came time to see Us. Between the tantalizing previews; the riveting profile of Jordan Peele in Rolling Stone Magazine; and Get Out, with all its widespread cultural relevance that earned him the notoriety he now enjoys, I don’t think Us had a fair chance against my inflated anticipation. So ended up I seeing it twice — not only because it was that good but because I wanted to appreciate the film beyond the hype of its predecessor.
The film is about a young black family whose weekend vacation is upended by another family that looks exactly like them. As they suspect, this red jumpsuit-clad family reveals a plan to kill them. Though they manage to fight their way to escape, they discover they aren’t the only ones with doppelgangers after them. The whole sequence of events, however, isn’t entirely random, as Adelaide, played by Lupita Nyong’o, believes they have something to do with a childhood incident that left her traumatized.
Nyong’o exhibits some damn fine acting chops in her dual roles. The wide-eyed gaze, the scorched-throat voice, and the eerily rigid gliding were beautifully mad mannerisms of her character, Red. I admit to having chills whenever she walked or talked. And yet her two monologues as Red add just enough sanity to turn the protagonist/antagonist dichotomy on its ear. An impetus, after all, is what you need in an antagonist. It’s what puts their actions into a much more sinister context. There’s only so much hate you can have for a villain who seeks to take over the world for no other reason than they can, a la Disney. (How much higher would the stakes in The Lion King have been if Scar had sought the throne because Mufasa fucked him over once upon a time? I digress.)
The other characters, by contrast, aren’t as layered but are no less engaging and I think this is a good thing. The movie isn’t as concerned about their inner lives beyond the goal shared with Adelaide. To have it any other way would be distracting and needless. However, no one can deny that Winston Duke’s contribution — to say nothing of Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex — was not memorable, especially when compared to his role as the stoic M’Baku of Black Panther lore. He showcases an incredibly believable range (corny dad, Gabe, and menacing troglodyte henchman, Abraham) despite having only limited exposure in either role. He even provides helpful comedic relief at the gravest of moments without derailing the steady pace of the film. And those same comedic moments remind us that comedy will never be too far removed from Peele’s oeuvre.
Peele preps the audience with a few meticulously placed caveats without screaming, “Remember this. It’ll be important later,” and carries that attention to detail throughout the rest of the film. However, there are a few circumstances that go unexplained. For instance, there’s no explanation of exactly how the Tethered are attached or even aware of those above other than Red’s brief speculation of how They (we never know them either) made clones of those above but later abandoned them. What first came to mind for me was the experiment conducted by Harry F. Harlow, wherein he provided baby rhesus monkeys with artificial mothers: one mother was “soft and cushy” while the other was made of bare wire. The babies would almost always run to the terry cloth mother. Later, he split monkey infants into two groups, each raised by just one of the mothers. Those raised by the wire mother were mentally crippled and couldn’t stably cope when exposed to alarming stimuli. The conclusion of the experiment was obvious: social creatures need comfort. But that doesn’t explain the phenomenon in the final memory sequence when we see the parallel behaviors of the demented “shadows” (before Adelaide gives her son that Thriller-like smirk. I guess Jordan just couldn’t help himself.) What are the parameters of the tether region, if you will, and if they are tethered, how were they able to rebuff it long enough to ready their rebellion?
Throughout the movie I found myself wondering why it was considered a horror and not a thriller. Although there was a fair amount of blood at times, the real fear is tucked beneath what we see. And though I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly every symbol or motif means both of his films prove that Peele isn’t a frivolous filmmaker.
Ultimately, Us is one of the better films I’ve seen recently. The ideas were — for the most part — thought out, though the level of detail didn’t seem to be on par with Jordan’s previous film, Get Out. And that’s okay. Not only is it hard to top such a tour-de-force but compared to other films by other filmmakers, it was thoroughly impressive and confirms that he has lasting power and is well on his way to joining the pantheon of thriller movie auteurs.
