I appreciate Peele dropping dope creations in the first quarter of the year rather than waiting until All Hallow’s Eve. Thanks, shawty!

So quick question: what is our mans on? I really want to know what inspires Peele to write, produce, and direct these thrillers. I know I had at least four “What the hell am I watching?” moments during this film, and at least two were not positive. 

Okay, so positives:

Music: 

Michael Abels, the film’s composer, needs all the awards. Just throw him all the damn things, man.  How he managed to arrange one of music’s most manipulated songs (Club Nouveaux’s “Why You Treat Me So Bad”),  take one of its classic rearrangements (“I’ve Got Five on It”) and make it comfortably evocative is quite incredible. The entire score was arresting, and a character all its own. 

Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleurs” as a finale!!! Get the fuck outta here!

Abels noticeably loves using chimes and harsh strings to create eerie ambiances. I think his manipulation of “I’ve Got Five On It” heightened the suspense, in some respects, compared to Jordan’s direction, especially at the ‘Red—Adelaide’ climax dance.  

Acting:

I think this should go without saying, but Lupita N’yongo is art. We know this. She invented it, and therefore she is. But seriously, that woman can act. I think she was an obvious standout. Elizabeth Moss was awesome as a supporting actress too! I thought a few of the pre-beach trip scenes were a bit melodramatic, but then when we got through the rising action and climax, I better understood the intention. I just assume everything is intentional anyway until elements really start to fall out of place.

So, my questions:

Still confused about the connection between the bunnies and the tunnels. Like I understand the bunnies were caged at the beginning, then uncaged at the climax when Adelaide and Red did their “dance.” But I need help connecting that specific creature with the social context of an uprising of the “Othered” where the doppelgängers revolt and no longer want to be caged, so they kill their tethered counterparts (???).  

The bunnies, help… I just don’t quite get it. 

Notes to self during the film: 

1. I knew something was up with Adelaide after the Wilsons killed the Tyler family’s doppelgängers, and she went back into their home to grab the car key. Her son follows behind and sees her murder the one of the twin doppelgängers with ease. First clue (or the first of few clues) that homie was not who we thought she was.  She also got out of the car after hitting Umbrae, her daughter’s doppelgänger. And the way she watched her die in the tree left me believing that she wanted to console her. Like it wasn’t her intention for her to die, though Umbrae’s goal was to terrorize and murder the family. So, strike two.

2. Back at the beach nearing the climax, Adelaide knew exactly where to go when she walked back through the funhouse. Like not just her knocking down the annoying pop-out thing, or knowing how to navigate through the mirrors, but she knew exactly where to venture. Down the escalators, corridor to room. 

Then you start putting all the clues together. She didn’t want to return to the beach because that’s where she switched with the real Adeline as a kid. 

3. Red was the only doppelgänger who could speak. She was switched out and tethered to the bed by her doppelgänger (Adelaide) at an early age. Recall, Adelaide (the funhouse doppelgänger) was mute—which is why in those flashbacks her mom kept weeping that she wanted her little girl back. Adelaide’s mom knew something was wrong, and that she wasn’t acting like herself—pre-candy apple and Thriller t-shirt.   Her only frames of reference, pre-tethering, were all she’d learned up until that switch.  She only had that “Hands Across America” t-shirt as inspo for re-acclimating to society, so the idea of revenge on the “real” people above ground came from that shirt’s idea of civilization, hand-and-hand with your community. I guess. I really don’t know still.   

The one spoiler I did see was about the title of the film also being used a the acronym for the United States, which makes the “We are Americans” line Red said when she intruded into the Wilson’s home with all their doppelgängers make a little more sense.  (Again, I’m…confuse-ed)

 

This movie was at least 30 minutes too long, and the introduction and rising actions were a little too drawn out. The final 30 minutes is the film for me. This honestly felt like some mid.  

If I’m comparing this film to “Get Out,” I don’t love it more, but I wouldn’t say this is subject to a “sophomore jinx” status. I think Peele creates ambitious, compelling pieces of art that are layered and after first viewing I catch things, and sometimes I miss major themes. But with this film, I immediately thought of another film—”The Skeleton Key.” And I’m not afraid to say, I think they executed the suspense/thriller vibes in a way that felt more resolute.  The one criticism I see is that this film felt “empty” in its conclusion, and I actually don’t mind enigmatic or vague conclusions. Leaves a lot to the imagination. But something in this one felt incomplete. 

Random observations:

A character eating ‘Froot Loops’ and the single tear streaming down the main character’s face in a close-up frame are Peele’s Easter eggs.

Also his cinematographer also needs their roses. Beautifully shot throughout. I cannot stop reeling about the climatic dance scene. Just sublime.