Timothy Johnson & Amariani Garcia
Lantern Staff
Us is one of the most wonderfully, unique films to come around in years. It is a twisty film that makes the viewer think about the preceding scenes in a new way.
Unfortunately, though, it is one of those twisty films where the writer (Jordan Peele) inadvertently walked himself into a few plot holes. After everything of consequence has been revealed, the moviegoer is left with some aspects of the plot that do not make sense. Potentially, this could have been resolved with less explaining, and instead leaving the audience with a feeling of fascinated curiosity at the unanswered questions, imbuing a more substantial feeling than confusion.
During the opening credits, the atmosphere in this film was proficiently established in one shot as the camera slowly zooms out from a myriad of rabbits caged along a wall, revealing more and more cages, more and more rabbits, while an incredibly eerie soundtrack instills the viewer with an uneasy feeling about what is to come in the film.
The cinematography in this film was impressive. The colors and lighting were perfectly vibrant, highlighting its rich, striking colors at all of the right moments, and then subduing them into darker lighting with more diffused transitions when a more chilling atmosphere was required.
The movie Us, directed by Peele, highlights many symbolic items throughout the movie. The repeated appearance of the golden scissors may suggest a severing between the tethered people, one caused by trauma and the other living lavishly on earth. Fans are convinced that the ‘severing’ of the doppelgangers is another way for Peele to continue exploring double consciousness, similarly seen in Get Out. W.E.B Du Bois’, the first black sociologist, influential race theory depicts how African Americans see themselves, and as they see themselves through their oppressor’s eyes. Showcasing the family above as how
African Americans see themselves in the United States and those living underground reflecting how the oppressor sees them as loud, angry and having animal-like behavior.
In an interview, Peele lets fans know that he created Get Out as his first movie to introduce a range of possibilities to incorporate in future movies. Some may say that both movies happen in the same universe. The setting has the main characters in a holiday house, isolated and away from their home neighborhood, and the threat being existential. The protagonists are defending themselves against being replaced, the same threat underpinning in Get Out, wherein white people were putting their brains into black bodies in order to steal their youth and strength, with the original consciousness, helplessly watching another person live their life.
With its thought provoking symbolism and proficient directing from Peele, it is a solid movie with just a few minor plot holes, earning itself seven and a half stars.
