Happy Black History Month pod! Throughout February and March, we’re going to be talking about Black Directors who deserve their flowers. With all of the talk about the amount of snubs Ryan Coogler and Nia DaCosta are getting, which is pretty on brand for Hollywood if you ask us (but we digress), we wanted to spend time talking about the filmmakers who inspire us and are creating incredible films.

Tonight, we’re talking about Jordan Peele, the director behind Get Out, Us, and Nope. While awards and accolades are nice, we don’t center them as a reference to validate and instead look to filmmakers as the artists that they are, the deeper messages and takeaways that come through the characterization, direction, writing, and overall structure, the way that Black folks are portrayed onscreen, and the thought and effort with which they approach storytelling. This, for us, is what makes a filmmaker stand out, and it’s why we wanted to talk about Jordan Peele – the storyteller.

Returning back to the podcast is Taurus Savant. Taurus is a queer Black artist, singer/songwriter, composer, published author, and community advocate that moves in steely resolve in the names of authenticity, perseverance, and audacity.

You can follow Taurus on Instagram at www.instagram.com/taurussavant and listen to his songs and support his work on Bandcamp at https://taurussavant.bandcamp.com.

Wherever you’re listening from, hit that subscribe button, give us a 5-star rating, share this episode and leave a comment to let us know what you thought of tonight’s episode. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, & Threads.

Visit ourvoicesproject.com and sign up for our newsletter for more information about what we do. We’ll be back with more episodes every Thursday with old and newly released movies that center Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks, general movie news, and interviews with film festival programmers/curators, film critics, and filmmakers!

Next week continues our series on Black filmmakers –their stories and contributions to cinema. We’re handing flowers to filmmakers that we should be talking about—some you may have heard of and some you may not have heard of. Either way, you won’t know until the show premieres so make sure you subscribe!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

01:46 – Giving Jordan Peele His Flowers

11:06 - The Horror in Everyday Life

17:41 - The Concept of the Sunken Place

21:39 - Discussion of Themes in 'Get Out'

31:25 - The Tension of Anticipation: Cop Cars and Audience Reactions

36:58 - Transition to 'Us': Initial Reactions

45:43 - Exploring the Duality of Characters

55:50 - The Influence of Music in Horror Film

01:01:21 - Dynamic Duo: Exploring Sibling Relationships in Nope

01:03:38 - The Opening Scene in ‘Nope’

01:11:44 - The Spectacle and Its Consequences

01:17:31 - Exploring the Impact of Jordan Peele's Films

Mentioned in this episode:

Joe Bean Roasters

Joe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone. https://shop.joebeanroasters.com

Our Voices Project - Land Acknowledgement

Nights and Weekends

Check out Nights and Weekends on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/nightsandweekends/

Happy Black History Month, Pod.

I'm your host Jackie McGriff, and if this is your first time listening or watching welcome to Representation in Cinema.

We talk about the films that center Black, Brown and Indigenous voices, as well as the film industry itself.

I'm not only your host, but also the founder, director and co producer of Our Voices Project, a production company committed to sharing the stories and lived experiences of Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples through visual storytelling and truth telling.

We're community engaged filmmakers who firmly believe that you can't center films on these communities without being in community and in solidarity with them.

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And if you're listening on your preferred podcast platform, hit that follow button.

Rate us five stars and leave a comment to share your thoughts about any of the things that we bring up in this and in other episodes.

Throughout February and March, we're going to be talking about Black directors who we feel deserve their flowers.

With all the talk about the amount of snubs Ryan COOgler and Nia DaCosta are getting, which is pretty on brand for Hollywood if you ask me.

But I digress.

I wanted to spend time talking about the filmmakers who inspire us and are creating incredible films.

Tonight we're going to be talking about Jordan Peele, the director behind Get Out Us and no.

Before I get into some background about Jordan Peele, I'm going to introduce our guest returning to the podcast.

Taurus Savant.

TS is a queer black artist, singer, songwriter, composer, published author and community advocate that moves in steely resolve in the names of authenticity, perseverance and audacity.

Welcome back, Taurus.

That is correct.

Thank you for having me back.

Happy to be here, yes.

Now onto Jordan Peele.

What if I became the monster?

This is certainly one way to deal with your innermost fears.

For award winning director, writer, actor and producer Jordan Peele, this is where it started for him.

As a kid, these stories freaked him out to the point of having nightmares, but he still loved a good horror story.

On a press tour for his film get out, he recounts a pivotal moment for him on a 9th grade trip where he tells a story to his he remembers the look of shock and undivided attention the other students gave him.

For many, Peele entered our homes as the comedic satirist, actor and co producer on Comedy Central's Key and Peele while it feels good to make so many people laugh, Peele says there's nothing compared to making an audience shudder.

That's what has really stuck with him all of these years.

From captivating his young audience as a high schooler to writing the script for get out, the driving force for wanting to make horror films has been the internal question.

What if I became the monster?

What if I became the thing that I'm most afraid of?

Suspense for Peele is everything.

We all have very real fears in this world, and telling scary stories is Peele releasing all of his fears and battling the unpleasantness of his own nightmares, as he puts it.

When he was writing get out, he was feeling very low in his life, and this film dug him out of that.

At the time that he was developing the story for get out, black America was grieving the murder of Trayvon Martin.

This brought up so many thoughts around the victimization of black people.

How we go about our lives like business as usual while black men are being incarcerated.

The use and labor of black bodies while neglecting, ignoring and shoving aside the soul.

And the horrors of everyday racism through microaggressions.

Born to a white mother and a Kenyan father, one of the real life monsters he's had to face is being seen as other.

At 6 years old, Peele had to fill out a standardized test and eventually got to the demographic question section.

Not having any other options, he checked the box next to other.

He didn't fit into any of the boxes that the world told him he was supposed to fit into.

This would be the inspiration for the film.

Us tackling that feeling of being seen and answering the question, what if the invading force has been our face?

Or is our face still?

There's always room for comedy, and in fact, Peele uses this against his audience.

His writing style often leads the audience assuming that we know where it's headed, only for it to go in an entirely different direction, giving us a moment of comedic relief, leaving us just vulnerable enough to bring this horror right back to the surface.

It's in his power that he holds over the audience and over this symbolic monster that he's trying to overcome in his writing that allows him to go places he couldn't have imagined or we couldn't have imagined any black filmmaker going.

In an interview with Film Independent about Get out, he had very real doubts about whether or not he could have a film where every white person is terrible and the audience collectively roots for a black man trying to kill them all.

It's all because of a rule that he has for himself when writing.

You have to get the audience on the same page at all times, he states he not only dreams up the unexpected, making for a very engaged audience locked in for a good horror film, but also embedding thoughtful commentary about race, being seen as the other, and our obsession with spectacle.

This is why we're giving Jordan Peele his flowers.

If you haven't already watched his films, we highly recommend that you do so.

All right, so with that, let's talk about the trilogy.

The.

That's not really a trilogy, but that we encourage you to watch.

Just so you know, we're going to be getting into spoilers, so you can't say we haven't warned you.

All right, so for get out, our producer, Chris, with the brief synopsis of the film for those of you who haven't seen it and are watching with spoilers, which I commend you on, because, honestly, I can't do that much.

Oh, dang.

When while initially dismissed as awkward, overly accommodating behavior, the family's actions and those of their neighbors grow increasingly sinister, forcing Chris to uncover a terrifying hidden conspiracy to survive.

Yes.

And with that, the first thing I think that just sort of pops up to my mind as you read that synopsis, Chris, was him getting to the house and opening the door and his father saying, I would have.

I would have voted for Obama a third time.

I just remember sitting there, just going, and here we go.

There it is, here it is, there it is.

Have you.

Taurus.

Have you ever gotten anything that's like.

Cause I know that what I felt in that moment, feeling as though, like, these are the kinds of things that I'm hearing all the time.

Like, what went through your mind at that moment?

Exactly what you just said.

I said, this is the appeal.

This is the way that you're gonna get me to say, hey, I'm on your side, regardless of whether you are or not.

But, you know, that's something that would immediately put the antenna up in my head.

So I'm glad that he.

He thought enough to start having the same thought.

Yeah.

Cause I.

It always strikes me as, like, okay, says that.

Yeah, no, no, I'm one of the.

I'm.

I'm one of the safe ones.

I'm one of the good ones.

The good whites.

The good whites.

It kind of likens to all of the.

What was it?

It was the white women who wanted to wear the, like, the blue bracelets to let us know that they're on our side or whatever.

I, I strangely don't remember that, and I'm kind of glad I don't.

No, that's fine.

That's fine.

Because there are probably corners of the Internet, especially specifically.

I'm talking about TikTok.

That was, it was nuts.

Like, there were people, okay, so there were these white.

This is white woman who got on TikTok and was like, you know, we want to show that we, that we were in solidarity, that we, you know, weren't one of the ones that voted for, you know, the.

What do I call it now?

Not Obama.

Not even.

Not Obama.

No, it was like, it was this past.

This is what this, this, this was the go to.

It was like, this is what at least reminds me of it again and again.

Because, of course, get out is one of my comfort horror movies, if such a thing exists, but let's just say it does, you know, for, for that purpose.

But so there were white women who wanted to show that they didn't vote for the Cheeto.

And so they were like the important.

Line in the summary that I think will add some important color to this situation.

Inspired by Taylor Swift's Eras tour friendship bracelets.

That is a white icing on the white cake right there.

I mean, these bracelets is reminding me of saying, well, if you, If a black person comes near me, I won't scream.

In fact, I'll unlock my door, you can come in and you can take whatever you like.

It's reparation.

Yeah, but that's literally, that's.

These are the kinds of things, right, that, like, is that are said.

It's again, I think, especially when, like looking back at interviews with Peele, talking about get out all of his films, the way he starts his writing process, it's like thinking through all of these different things that have just been circling in his mind.

The things that really have just either been, like, bothering him, the things that he's fearful of.

And, you know, one of the things is that, you know, the way in which you're having to deal with all these microaggressions.

Like, even though people mean well, that doesn't necessarily mean, like, you are a safe person to be around, right?

You.

So you'll say things to, like, put yourself, prop yourself up as someone that we can trust.

But then in the midst of all of that, you're still doing stuff that it doesn't deem you safe.

And the thing is, is also too, like, Peel often talks about or has talked about how, again, he's wanting everybody in the audience, like, to be on the same page.

So, of course, for black folks, you know, watching the film, we're going to resonate with that.

For anyone who is, is not black, you're seeing, seeing the world through Chris's eyes.

So you know that it's okay.

There's an awkward thing here, or it's an embarrassing thing.

Like, if you're a white person watching this, you're going, God, did he really just.

Okay, like, like, that is like.

So it's all of these things.

You're essentially, again, looking at all of this, you know, with, with, through Chris's eyes.

And so you have to have everybody in the audience, like, on the same page to get why and how.

This is a very awkward, like, thing.

But then it doesn't stop, right?

It does not.

It does not stop, right?

The they, they, they finally go in and sit down.

The dad is like, it's like, so how long has this thang been going on?

And I'm like, I, I.

Okay.

And like, and the thing is, it's like, see?

And none of this, like, again, it's, it's, it's the way in which it's done.

It's also like, it's, it's during the day.

This is, there's nothing like, jumping out at you.

There's nothing that's like, you know, your quintessential, like, horror.

But it is like, every day for black folks in this country.

It's just another, it's another thing that we're having to deal with.

And that in and of itself is the horror.

He said that the.

Peele said that the reason or when he started developing this story and started writing the story, he was thinking very much like a producer because he didn't, wasn't sure whether or not he would actually have access to a lot of the kind of, like, the special effects and visual effects that you would normally assign in a horror film where you have a monster or something.

So he's like, you know what?

I'm going to put the horror in the dialogue.

I'm going to put the horror and, like, the acting, which definitely reads.

It reads.

It definitely reads well.

Very well.

What's, what are some of the other moments for you?

Taurus, you know, when you're thinking about get out and everything.

And I'm also just like, wanting to really, like, talk, just talk about, like, the impact.

I talked a little bit about it, you know, with those.

Not.

It's not the opening scene, but kind of when things start to, like, pop off.

So, like, what is a moment for you?

Well, watching it, I mean, as an audience member.

I mean, I think everybody who watches it as a black person, whether you're a man or woman or somewhere in between, looks at that and goes, oh, intuition's up.

I know this is about to turn.

And we're all waiting for the moment where he goes, this is the part where we're going to just kind of.

He's gonna break out and leave.

But the fact that he tries to stick in there so much.

When they talked about this distant relative in the.

You know what now?

Correct?

Yes.

So I've seen it last year.

So I've heard lots of references to.

I don't wanna call it, like, the centerpiece of the movie, but I call it the centerpiece of the movie, which is the Sunken Place.

So hearing about it for years and years and years and then finally seeing it, and I was like, this is exactly what I envisioned it would be.

It's exactly that.

And the way that you can get trapped in there and you root for him and say, how's he gonna find his way out through channeling of mediums and sort of things like that.

That's kind of the part for me is when he finally gets out and realizes, yeah, this is not for me.

I gotta get out of here.

And if he was choosing to leave her behind, was true love going to prevail over racism?

And how much were you willing to withstand from this family, to have this relationship until he realizes the entire time it was you?

Yeah, it was you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The whole thing was a ploy.

And so how.

How much were you willing to put away your willing suspension of disbelief as a person in that situation to try to see it through when he could have just trusted his intuition and probably turned tail the second that door opened?

Yeah.

Ye.

Yeah.

Because there's a lot.

There's a lot in that that happens, like, up to that moment where you're wanting and like, as again, you're.

You're looking at the world through Chris's eyes.

So you're, like, wanting things to work out with his girlfriend.

You know, you're.

You know, just despite her, not fully understanding what's happening, like, in the moments.

And he's trying to explain, but he can't explain, because I'm like you.

You have to be black to understand.

I expected her to try to try to save it, but I. I didn't think.

No, no.

I didn't have a lot of Faith in it.

So.

And then.

But then you're like, okay, he's trying to just have to get through this.

He just has to get through this.

He just has to get through this.

And.

And then.

And then at the reveal, it's like, oh, we waited too late.

We waited too late.

You should have been gone.

You should have been gone.

And it's like.

It's all these, like, different things now.

The part that I'm like, kind of like, you know what I could definitely see.

I. I don't know.

I feel like.

And maybe.

Maybe not.

Maybe.

Maybe I wouldn't in this situation, but like, upon, like, so he's okay, a photographer and.

But he's taking.

So he has his.

But he has a cell phone and.

Because him and his friend, who I will get to, who is hilarious.

Oh, my God.

He.

As.

He's like, trying to.

They're trying to figure out, like, who this other black man, like, the being the only one, you know, other than the person who works there on the property, but this other man at the party.

So he's thinking, okay, this is somebody else.

Like, hey, can I, you know, be real with for a second?

And then in trying to investigate who this person is, takes a phone, Takes.

Takes a picture.

It flashes that, like, jump starts like this, you know, Lakeith Stanfield's character kind of like, resets him a little bit.

And so this man is like, trying to tell him, like, get out.

Get out now.

That would have scared the grave out of me.

I would have been like, you know what?

I'm out.

It wouldn't have taken a lot of convincing.

Like, I would have been like, it's.

It's.

It's time to go.

Like, Like, I just remember watching that for the first time and going, yeah, I don't.

I don't know, man.

I. I feel like maybe you should listen to your friend, you know?

Yeah.

I mean, between the fella and the house lady, that's what she is.

I mean, I found them to be the best adjective I can describe.

Uncanny.

Completely uncanny.

Where it's just like, those are people who are around the house.

These are people who seem familiar, but clearly something's astray and we couldn't quite figure out what it was.

And the fact that he still wasn't adding all that up to still realize why he should leave or even try to, you know, get them out.

I appreciate that.

He did make a valiant effort to say, hey, maybe this is a.

Let's all try to, you know, escape out of here.

But.

Sometimes the Pull is just a little too deep.

Well, and what did that say to you in that moment?

Because I know what it said for me, especially when he's trying to rescue, like, other black folks out of that situation.

Very heroic.

But you can't win them all.

You can't win them all.

It's.

What is it worth for you to now be an example of?

This is what I have to do to get out of here.

I can lead by example and you can go.

But whether you go or not, I'm going because it's not safe for me.

Clearly, you've been here a while, and maybe the universe probably put him there, possibly to try to come in there and liberate it.

But, you know, whether or not they go too far in the Sunken Place, there it is.

Too far, too far.

So wait, so when you would hear.

When you would hear Sunken Place and you had no idea, did you.

I mean, did you put two and two together or were you just kind of like, okay, I don't know.

This is just a reference.

I mean, the first time I heard it in reference to all such and such is in the Sunken Place.

And I've heard it in reference to get Out.

I didn't know the entire synopsis of the film before I saw it, but I knew enough to know that it's a place that you don't want to be.

If you're telling a black person they're in the Sunken Place, that means they got got and they need some help from the community to get to get to get out.

That's why I imagine it's not just called get out because they needed to leave that scenario.

It's get out because you get these people from the Sunken Place.

So when I finally saw that and was like, yeah, it's definitely like a deep within, like, your subconscious.

You're so far away, and you can see, you know, the real world further up, going further and further away from you, and you just had to find a way to claw your way back out.

So I can envision a lot of people who get stuck in the Sunken Place, whether they're there voluntarily or they got put there by, you know, something or somebody else to be so far removed from the real world, so far removed from themselves, so far removed from whatever their purpose in life was, that they are now going to be stuck there.

And that to me, beyond the frightening white people, that, to me was more frightening to me is, wow, what happens if you get put into that place?

And who's there to pull you out?

If you can't pull yourself out.

Cause that's.

That's what I.

And that right there is also, to another, like, a scary thing when you think about it, because we see Lakeith Stanfield's character.

Oh, my gosh, I'm blanking on his name, because I definitely talk about it when they're trying to figure out who this man is, because he seemed familiar.

He seems familiar to Chris.

So the name's Logan King in.

Okay, Logan King.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And who is the.

Who is the house lady?

So I can stop calling the house lady.

Sorry.

Georgina's the name.

But the actress is Betty Gabriel.

And the.

The.

I'd say the Walter who's.

The guy who was running was Marcus Henderson.

And I think that licked Stanfield speech before he gets the Flash.

That's so jarring.

It's like, what is your experience as a black person?

And it's just so.

It's so weird.

And they're younger than I thought they would be.

They seemed like they were kind of like older.

Older folks, but they were kind of like, around the same age.

So, yeah, it's.

Yeah.

And so the.

Like, the.

Like I said, like, the.

The horror, like, going back again to, like, Keith's character.

Like, the.

The.

The opening scene is him getting, like, kidnapped, being snatched, like, out, like, you know, he's out walking, you know, and.

And then, you know, bopped on the head and then thrown into a trunk, like.

And then, of course, then, you know, you see him.

His consciousness, like, everything about him is totally changed.

And then we never see him again.

So it's like, my gosh.

Like, this.

This man is just, like, minding his business.

And then he just, like, you know, you never see him.

You never see him again.

And he's never himself again.

Except for maybe that one little moment right where he sees the light.

And then that's.

But then that's.

That's it.

They reset him.

And then.

Yeah, it's a very.

That in of itself, again, is not like.

It's not like you're, you know, your classic horror, you know, type trope or scenario or whatever, but it did very much in and of itself is a.

Is a horror.

And then, like I said, I think in the.

In the intro, Peel was very much thinking about the disappearance of black men, especially them getting snatched off of the street and put into prison.

Folks just going about their business as if it's business as usual.

And I think that is very prevalent, especially when we're talking about not only, just, like, the central theme of like, trying to, again, liberate your people who are so deep into the Sunken Place that it's, like, impossible, like, to get them out.

I think it's also, again, in those.

In those moments, like, you're seeing that theme definitely carry throughout.

Were there any other themes that really stuck out to you?

Taurus.

With this film, to be quite frank, I think everything.

Well, not to everything, but the majority really did kind of center on the Sunken Place.

But even to your point about, you know, being dragged off the street, which is an allegory for folks who are being dragged off the street, disappeared, never to be seen again.

And if they are seen again, they've been through some unspeakable horrors that when they come back, they're not quite the same.

And I think that, I mean, girlfriends, evil family.

There's a smidgen of a trope there.

Even when you kind of watch it in the beginning and go, right, well, this is a black man.

This is a white girl.

He's meeting the family.

Of course it's going to be an awkward sort of introduction.

You do kind of wonder how awkward it's going to get, but.

Because, you know, it's the theme of the film.

It's like, well, how sick and twisted could it really be turned to be?

And maybe I was slow on the uptake as to not suspect the girlfriend as the girlfriend.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I mean, it seemed like she was trying to help.

And I loved the moment when he did realize that it was her and then understood what he kind of had to do.

Because what's it worth?

I mean, from my understanding, I don't think they had even been together that long for that to, like.

No, you know, like, I don't think it was.

No, I don't think it was that long.

Like, you.

You can leave her behind.

You can find you a nice Nubian queen who will not put you in the Sunken Place.

That's what you get for Dr. Driving out the West Bumba freak, but good effort.

I mean, he was already nervous about it in the first.

So, like, he, despite his, His, His.

His apprehension, still decided to give it a chance.

And now he's like, well, this is.

This is what I get.

So now he knows in the future he ain't gonna ever do that again.

When this film first came out, there was kind of like, this is the only.

This is the only, like, instance that I actually compare this to Sinners.

But in the same way that Sinners got a lot of discourse.

Like, a lot of people talking about a lot of people breaking it down.

I remember get out, like, doing somewhat of the same.

Maybe it wasn't necessarily, like, so much on social media, because obviously, like, social media has grown so big now.

But I was seeing a lot of YouTube breakdowns of.

Of Get Out.

Um, it was sparked a lot of conversation.

And so one of the things that I remember someone pointing out, it's like, okay, when Chris realizes that he has to.

Okay, he has to find a way out of the situation, he ends up using cotton to plug his ears.

That's right.

Yes, he did.

So that he wouldn't get, you know, put back into the Sunken Place and everything.

What, for you, thematically, does that call for you?

Yeah, I think, you know, but for the greater audience, who just needs a little bit more of a.

Of a visual aid, because we know what it means.

We know what it means.

Cotton, like cotton gin, like plantations, like slavery, ironically, the one thing that is going to plug your ears, guys, people do put cotton in their ears to block things out.

And hypnotism is kind of a tool used to kind of suggest people to do what you want.

So when all you have is that, it's an ironic twist of fate.

But it saved his life.

Yeah.

You know, certainly wish he had something else.

That was the thing that, like, really stuck with me because I'm like, okay, peel.

What is it that you're trying to say?

Because.

Because, like, the fact that he is.

He's, you know, not able to do any, like, he, you know, he's obviously tied down.

They have this, like, you know, hypnotism, like, mechanism, Right.

With the teacup and everything, you know, to sedate him, essentially, for him to, like, have to claw to the seat, you know, and use the cotton.

That's the thing that kept tripping me up because I remember, like, again, watching that someone bringing that up and then going, oh, my gosh.

Okay, peel.

Like, why?

Why would you use that?

And I guess.

And I don't know if it has anything to do with like.

Like using the master's tools.

That's what I kind of think of.

I see.

Why not try to use the things that are being used to oppress you against the oppressor and even that regard.

I think it also shows how easily suggestible humans are, where you don't think that you would be vulnerable to hypnotism until you're sitting here falling asleep and doing whatever it is you're being told to do.

I've never been hypnotized.

I don't think I ever want to.

Because I get frightened with somebody that makes me do so.

I'd be finding something other than cotton to pluck my ears.

But.

But, but bless him for, you know, thinking quick.

I mean, and even this being Jordan Peele's directorial debut.

Cause what we know is, you know, like I said, I. I know him from Mad tv and then eventually Key and Peele.

So seeing such a dissonance.

Yeah.

From something that makes me laugh to something that makes me incredibly uncomfortable.

And that's the point, because, you know, how many times have I watched.

I don't.

So so many things have changed since then and so many things have been really the same.

Yes.

I also love that.

I mean, well, Chris is a photographer and I appreciate also, because I'm also a photographer.

I just appreciate that.

But also like the fact that.

So they're using, again, they're using their bodies, they're using their labor to get something for themselves.

And the, the whole, the whole conversation that Chris has with the person who ends up buying him, like, is Stephen.

Ruth's character in the movie.

Yeah, yeah, he.

Who's.

Oh, I don't, you know, it doesn't matter to me what color you are.

I just want your eyes is all.

What a thing to say.

Like, like you, you have no regard for just another, Another person's being.

Another person's, well, being, you know, another person's autonomy, then the fact that it, like on top of it is you are taking and it's for the very purpose of taking from black people.

So for you to say something as wild as that really was just again hitting home, like so many of the themes that Peele was getting to and that just.

I was like, there are like, I'm like so many, so many ways that one could go about like correcting one's eyes and then like, you would go to that extreme is like, again, it's like one of those, like, again fantastical things.

Right.

That, you know, horror films especially allow you to do just as mind blowing.

And I remember just sitting there, my mouth was just wide open.

I'm like, it's like with everything else that's happening in the movie, like that's one of the things that's like, really just like messing with me.

It was also the capstone of a series of comments that were the fetishization of black excellence, that all of them in of themselves were like, oh, you have an amazing eye.

You have this.

But it was the capstone of that fetishization of that excellence that was the whole point that, how insidious that was.

At the same time, it was really something.

That's why I like the synopsis that said the word sinister, because that was the only way I could describe it.

Yes, sinister, Sinister indeed.

But thankfully this man gets, he's able to get out of the house without, you know, like basically the, the having to fight off all of these people, this entire family.

Let's talk about that cop car down.

I was like, oh, okay.

I want to tell you what's going through my mind.

So I, I didn't, I didn't have the pleasure of watching this in an audience setting.

Like, I, I, I think I, I rented it off of like when Red Box was a thing.

Yeah, right.

You know, what a time.

You know what, what a time.

So I, yeah, I rented off Red Box because everyone was like, jack, you need to watch this, we need to watch this film.

So I found, I'm sitting there and I'm already, you know, anxiety, frustration, fear, all of that is just at an all time high, right?

And I'm like, he finally gets out, he's finally free of these people.

And then the cop car pulls up and I'm like, and I just remember thinking, peel, you could give us one.

Like, can you just give us a break?

Like, this is, I was, I was prepared to be so angry and give all of my hot takes, all of the commentary, all the things.

And then we have the friend just hop out of the car and I'm like, thank God.

And I've, I've heard, I've heard people who watch this with a, an audience like the, like the, the, the, the all of their anxieties, all of, all of the, the, like the anger, the frustration, the like disbelief that people were experiencing that was like audibly apparent right before his friend gets out of the car.

And then the hugest sigh of relief.

I mean, you saw me just do the slow exasperated turn.

I was like, God, now, okay, all right, all right, y', all, you almost got me right there.

But that's the idea.

You do see a cop car and your immediate thought is extreme anxiety.

Now what, what's about to happen?

Because you know that in that kind Of.

Yeah.

In that kind of narrative, if you see in the police car, you know, there's danger of.

It's not.

That's.

There's a hero that's coming to save you.

You know, there's.

There's.

There's chicanery.

I don't know.

But it was on its way.

And then to subvert that, it's just like.

I mean, you.

You got a little annoyed, but you also did do a sigh of relief to go, okay, okay, good.

The original.

Oh, Peele's original script was.

Is going to be an actual police officer, like, leaving.

And he's like, no, no, no.

I don't give my people a break.

And I believe that was the right call.

How you could have any other ending.

I just.

I'm like, to do.

To do all that, to have gone through all that he's gone through.

Right, okay.

And then to.

To only then be met, like, with the police officer.

Yeah, yeah.

What is the.

What.

Where's the.

Where's the relief come, you know, especially because you want that, like, in a horror film.

And the thing is, is with Peele, like, again, I always feel like there are moments in his films, and we'll get to those in a moment, those other films, in a moment.

But there's always with Peele, a moment where you're like, you son of a bitch.

Like.

Because, like, there will be that moment.

You're expecting horror, just, like, the most horrific thing to happen, and then it doesn't happen.

And then he just lets you laugh.

And I'm like, sir, I didn't.

My nerves were already way up here.

I didn't need.

First of all, thank you.

But also, you suck.

I like the laugh in between, though.

The laughing is kind of.

And it's not even like an uncomfortable, forced laughing.

It's the kind of jokes or things that you would say if you were in a certain kind of situation.

It's like, oh, hell, no.

I told you not to go to that house.

That's kind of what you would do.

I just feel like if it was me in that kind of situation, what kind of phrases would I utter?

And I'm sure that would make for a comedic frightening time, but that's just the way that you kind of have to deal with it.

Because when you've seen and been through so many things and know so much that it's like, oh, my God, me right here, right now.

Really?

Okay, sure.

All right.

Yes.

Yeah.

Get the hell out of here.

Or, you know when they always talk about, oh, what white Nonsense is this or something?

Because they know.

Yeah, they know.

And everybody in the audience knows.

Even.

Even some of the white folks look at that.

And even they know.

So everybody's clued in.

And that's the.

When you say about getting everybody on the same page, everybody who's watching it understands what should be happening.

And so even when they get to the end, even white folks are looking at the police car like, oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, I hope he doesn't get shy.

In that exact voice and shout out to Lilro Howery.

I mean, like, every moment he's in the mov movie is phenomenal.

Sex slaves.

Yeah, that's what.

Like that.

I'm like, what, sir?

And my understanding is it wasn't just the script.

They actually showed.

They filmed and showed that other ending to audiences, and the reaction was so bad because of that downer of an ending.

He.

It was filmed.

It was the original ending.

And then they redid it with that ending with the real Howie finishing the movie with, I'm ts a we handle shit.

That's what we do.

Consider this situation fucking handled.

And it was and was.

But it's.

And that right there is such a.

As annoying as it, like, it's such.

It's such a satisfying.

Because, again, like, just like the film, like, so many things.

Right.

Speak to reality.

And so for us to have gone through so many things, especially, like, with Chris gone through this whole thing, seeing him fighting his way out, finally getting out, finally being free of this family, and then to not be met with some sort of, like, relief and release, like, is just.

Is doing a disservice to your audience.

So I'm glad he.

Yeah.

Because if it was a white film, that would have happened.

Yeah, for sure.

Percent.

Just to stick it to you.

Oh, my goodness gracious.

Okay, well, any other thoughts about get.

Out before we move to us we got out.

Got out.

We got out.

Absolutely.

All right, Chris, our synopsis for Us.

2019 psychological horror film Us follows Adelaide Wilson, Lupita Nyong' o as she returns to her childhood beachfront home in Santa Cruz for a summer getaway with her husband, Gabe, Winston Duke, and their two children, Zora, Shahadi Wright, Joseph and Jason, Evan, Alex, and with supporting cast of Elizabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker, but also two versions of Lupita Nyong', o, Winston, Duke, and the two kids.

Yes.

All right, so this is now Taurus.

You said this is fresher, like, in your.

In your mind.

Yes.

So I'm gonna let you take the reins on your initial Reaction to this film.

My initial reaction to this film, majority of what I was saying as I was watching it was, girl, what the fuck?

Really and truly, I mean, I will say it was definitely a slow burn.

Cause I knew there was some sort of ominous.

So I. I went into it knowing a lot less about it than I did about get out.

So I didn't know the synopsis of it at all, except for, well, seeing a smidgen of, like, you know, what it.

You know, the creepy face in the title card.

Yes.

Yes.

Watching it.

And first of all, before I even continue, Winston Duke, the man that you are.

Yes.

Speak on it.

That's all I had to say about that.

They understood it.

The audience understood.

Exactly.

The audience understood what we were talking about.

Wholesome family of, you know, them going along.

And then you.

I saw the childhood.

The childhood scene and, you know, the joy of being at an amusement park with your family and your family who gets a little bit too turned and can't really pay attention.

So, you know that something obviously happens when she disappeared for the amount of time that she did.

You just don't know exactly what.

I'd see her apprehension about going back to the beach.

And my immediate thought was, something's afoot.

I don't know what it is, but something's afoot and we're gonna find out.

You know, he's trying to enjoy his vacation.

I know the boy's a little.

He's a little unique.

Unique in his interests and, you know, in meeting his white friends and their time on the beach and understanding why she was being so protective of her kids disappearing.

Because now she realizes what's happening.

And when he.

If I'm not mistaken, his son was the first one to kind of see the strange happenings, even with that man that died in finding out eventually that this is a whole different crowd of doppelgangers.

And I was curious to see how that was going to be carried out.

It was interesting to me that Adelaide's other tethered.

I believe her name was Red.

Yeah, yeah.

That she was the only one that was actually able to speak.

Yeah.

And seeing.

I did just skip ahead, but to that point when they kind of finally discover that, you know, this is the story.

And she tells the story of, well, this is.

I, you know, you had this life.

And on the other side, I had this life.

And you can see all of the.

I guess their polar opposite, their world, where it's the same folks, but they left.

They led very horrific lives.

And how the one person that was really helpful in kind of helping to navigate through some of this horror was the odd sun.

You know, he was able to kind of channel in and stop some of these things from happening.

I love that they all came in and.

And took action.

They weren't just a screaming family going, ugh.

You know, they jumped in there and said, no, they were swinging bats.

You know, he went out.

You know, a Winston Dukes character, Gabriel, I think his name was Gabriel, he jumps into action to defend his family.

You know, he had to get a little buck when he did it, just to try to scare him.

And then when he realized, it's like, uh, oh.

But it didn't stop him from jumping out to try to really defend his family.

And, you know, Adelaide, she did the same.

And I liked that there was more focus on the daughter.

Cause at first I was like, well, what about her?

Cause that was the only doppelganger we hadn't seen a lot of.

And then she appeared and the whole joke about her not being able to drive the car when she.

She drove that car.

But it really does make you think of, you know, I guess to many people, going to an amusement park or like a state fair and going through a house of mirrors, that's.

That's scary for many.

It wasn't scary for me.

I mean, you're going to hit some walls.

But finding your long lost, murderous, violent, evil monster doppelganger in there is a twist I kind of wasn't expecting.

And then the fact that there's a whole crowd of people all together, like, it's a whole nother world of evil doppelgangers who are carrying out whatever mission they are.

It got put on the news and how they were going to deal with that.

Yeah, especially at the ending where you saw it on camera and it's like, so.

So then what?

Right, Exactly.

And I'm glad that everybody made it out alive.

I mean, sorry for the white family, I guess.

You know, they didn't.

But.

Yeah, sorry to those folks, but our folks made it out swinging and mauling and clawing and clubbing and having to face some pretty.

Pretty violent fears.

Because you think about what you would be doing in that kind of situation if that's what you had to face.

And if you're not immediately prone to violence, your immediate thought is fear.

You're going to be paralyzed, you're going to run away.

But if you got to fight for your life, then this is what they were willing to do to survive as a family.

But I can only imagine that therapy Bill will be very, very costly.

For real, though?

For real though.

Oh my gosh.

I really.

I do remember there being.

Because like I had seen this movie later, I think.

Nope.

Was actually the only film I saw of, Of Jordan Peels in the theater, but with us.

I remember there being a lot of talk about Lupita Nyong' O's character, her, her role, her performance and how well she played it.

Like people were thinking she might win an award for this.

That didn't happen.

And just thinking about her performance she's playing.

And I know they're all essentially playing two characters, but as you said, Lupitas is the only one who is playing whose doppelganger talks.

And so for her to perform not only just Adelaide, but then also read, I think just speaks to her like abilities as a performer, as an actress.

And I just remember being captivated, especially in which the way that she, you know, she is playing someone who essentially all of these fears are being brought back as she knows and realizes what is happening, that she realizes this thing that I was avoiding for so long, right.

Is, is.

Is.

Is right back here.

So just having to face that.

Um, she's playing that on one hand, right.

And also two, a parent, right.

She's concerned for her family.

She.

She wants protection for her family.

And then at the same time now she's also playing someone who she.

She's playing the very thing, right, that is after her and this, this whole like philosophy and also to the.

What she's had to.

Red has had to go through as well.

Just seeing the dynamics of both of those characters and her having to play that against each other, again, it is not easy.

You know, I think it's easier for, you know, someone playing two roles for one of them, if not both of them, to seem cartoonish because again, it's a lot to.

To play two very different characters.

Again, going back to Sinners, we saw that with Michael B. Jordan, you know, there.

And so I think that really speaks to someone being very skilled right in, in that area.

Um, and I was just like, once again, y' all only want to award us, right, for playing tropes.

Because like her win, her Academy Award winning film was 12 Years a Slave.

Uh huh.

I mean, I have a working theory I think that I may explore in another video, talking about how Hollywood doesn't like to award complex black women, only wants to award the tropes.

But maybe y' all will see that comment below and let me know, you know, if you want to see that.

Because I'm definitely thinking about it.

But yeah, I really.

I think it's.

I think it is my favorite performance by Lupita.

Yeah, it's so layered because we haven't touched on the fact that, you know, the version she's playing, the.

The normal version is untethered and that all the time she's wearing the mask of being normal and is being normal because there is no normal as part of the other thing.

She's always played that mask and then the other character had been.

Knew what it was like to be non tethered and was tortured for decades in that world and came out with that, you know, gravelly.

That gravelly voice.

All of the time, both sides are wearing that mask of I was this and I'm now this.

So she's playing it at four levels all the time.

It's an astonishing performance.

It's so, so good.

So good.

And Chris, you said.

You said it before I did, which is.

That was.

There was a bit.

There was a part of me that wondered if there was a twist in which they were possibly each other.

And she made her way out, especially at the end.

I'm like, oh, are they gonna notice?

Cause she was definitely doing that stare in the car at the end.

And then she just said, you know what?

This is my life.

Let's just go on and roll with it and let's just do what we have to do.

Because I also kind of thought, especially in the way that she had to, you know, maim.

She had to do a lot of maiming.

And after she's coming out, she's protecting her family, she's covered in blood, she looks disheveled.

I'm like, oh, I wonder if this is the part where now she becomes a monster.

And then I think that was kind of the foreshadowing that said, yeah, that's what happened.

And even to me, the other bigger theme about the fact that they were meant to be puppets, controlled from the underground to kind of carry out whatever bigger mission they were supposed to be.

And obviously they all got abandoned because humans.

But also shows why that probably should not happen, why there should not be clones or doppelgangers, because it inevitably would lead to certain kinds of destruction if left unkept.

They're not eating food, they're eating rabbits and put into places where they can't see the light.

And so just.

I'd be hard pressed to know what would have happened had their original mission had succeeded for whatever they were really trying to accomplish with the Teva.

But the fact that this One family was able to come out, well, I wouldn't say unscathed, but as un.

Alive, Hearts beaten, trepidating lungs.

It also shows the power of a good family unit and that everybody played a role, stood.

Nobody stood by and let things happen.

Everybody jumped in.

The dad jumped in, the mom jumped in, the kids jumped in.

And, you know, I think that there was a sigh of relief as the two daughters, the two twins met.

The little flip kick thing was kind of funny to me.

She flips off and then I was like, I don't think she's all the way dead.

I don't.

I don't think.

And then, of course, you know, she springs up and she had to meet her untimely end a second time.

But ultimately, just.

I was left kind of speechless after I watched it, because, again, I had no idea what I was going to see beyond the title card.

So, you know, for the first quarter of the movie, it's like a wholesome family vacation trip that's probably gonna go wrong, but you just don't know how it's gonna go wrong until, you know.

And I see why she wouldn't want to go back to Santa Cruz.

As nice as that was on the crawdaddy, the boat and the fact that the Daz doppelganger also tried to start up the boat by slapping the engine, I thought that was.

He's just here.

It veers to the left.

He's like.

He's in the water.

He goes.

It's still veering to the fucking left.

Even in danger, you're still like, God damn it.

This boat.

Oh, my God.

It's something I probably would have said, too.

It's like, Winston Duke gets to play like this, like, wholesome, nerdy, like, guy I absolutely enjoyed.

He was so funny.

So funny in this film.

It's just coming off of m', Baku, right, with Black Panther.

Yep.

Like, I just love seeing the Range, Dad.

I don't know if he's been in anything like, he's been in a few other movies, like, since then, but, like, just seeing.

I'm going to watch the range of Rochester Maiden.

Yeah, exactly.

Yes.

You don't know.

Winston Duke is from Rochester, New York, where we currently are.

Wow.

Well, for anyone who's obviously, like, listening from or watching from elsewhere.

Yeah, we're not in Portland, Oregon.

Yeah, Sorry.

No.

Anyway, moving on.

But no, I.

For me, I think what you were saying.

Taurus, too, like, towards.

Or actually at the end, right when you're seeing, like, the.

Well, when you sort of have like, this whole.

She's, you know, they're.

They're.

They're driving and, you know, she's.

She's kind of, like, looking at her, and you're like, oh, my God.

I. I think when the credits are rolling, I'm sitting there like, okay, so first of all, what did I just watch?

Second of all, what am I meant to.

Not in, like, a bad way.

It's just like, oh, my God.

Like, okay, there's so much that happened in this film, and I still.

I don't know if I've still fully, like, you know, even though it was like, as I was preparing for this, you know, for this podcast, like, I think this is the one that still leaves me kind of, like.

Kind of like in like a.

Like a.

Like a state of shock, like, as far as, you know, trying to piece together, okay, what is it that I am meant to take away right from this film?

Peele says that when he was developing this.

This story again, it calls back to, like, his thoughts of feeling like the Other or being seen as the Other, as being labeled as Other.

I guess they didn't have, like, well, you're filling out the demographic, like, questions and stuff.

When he was filling it out, I guess on that test, there weren't.

There wasn't like, you know, multiracial or biracial or anything on that list.

It was, you know, if you're not African American or if you're not, you know, white or, you know, any of these other things, you're.

You go into the other box.

So it's like going back to that, you know, okay, what if, you know, these.

What, you know, what if the thing that I'm facing, the thing that I fear is myself?

What if the thing that I, you know, fear, like this.

This.

This whole.

This whole idea, right, of people fearing what, you know, what is strange, you know, what they don't quite understand, what they don't know.

I believe around that time.

Chris, could you look up.

When was this movie released?

And I guess at that time, Peele was again thinking through, not only just thinking about, like, his experiences with being labeled as the Other, but there was a lot of discourse and conversation, too, around how people often reject, you know, the Other, or, you know, people are often put into a box because they're not being.

They're misunderstood.

And so him coming up with this question of, well, what if the Other looked like me?

Like, how would you respond?

How.

How would you react?

And so, I mean, that's definitely like throughout the film and.

Yeah, I don't know, like what, what.

I guess especially for that scene, I'm thinking of the scene of when it's being broadcast on the news and it's like all of this, the doppelgangers, I guess, like standing in the line, like joined hands.

Oh my God, what was it?

Hands Across America.

That's what it is.

Hands Across America.

Which it was this.

So this is one of those like optimistic 80s kind of things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So this was like the, you know, you know, we are the world and Hands Across America and all we have to do is come together with optimism and it's going to solve all of the world's problems.

And using that as that echo, I think was really smart.

And it's funny that you mentioned that other as well because he also formulated this as more of a pure horror movie because the genre of the first movie people were confused by.

I don't understand how somebody could be confused by it.

But the fact that people didn't call it.

There you go, milkshake.

And it wasn't a single milkshake in.

That film because I think this was his inspiration from the Twilight Zone as well was this goes into that classic sci fi horror things while also caring from his experiences.

And there's a quote looking at some of this was when he came up with the idea of the tethered living underground is when he was taking the train home from studying at Sarah Lawrence where you get out of the train and you have to go down through underpass and come out the other side.

There is no one else there, just this dark American town.

I'd come up and look over to the other side and picture seeing the tail end of myself going down that same tunnel to presumably emerge right near 30 seconds later.

And that's why I love to start with a horror story.

What's this primal thing that's affecting me in a way I don't quite understand?

Yeah, it's.

Yeah.

The way in which like artists will come up with, you know, a concept especially for, for a story just in like everyday life, I think is an incredible thing because then you'll, you'll, you'll watch a film or you'll, you'll see something of theirs and then, you know, you're listening to interviews and stuff and it's like from the most.

Either like from the most mundane thing or at least the seemingly mundane thing and then just how their brain like that, it informs something, you know, that's going to be part of this incredible story that they're telling.

I just think it's really cool.

By the way, I cannot let this moment pass without mentioning.

And I think that our audience at.

Wherever they're at would smack me if I did not mention the genius use of I Got five on it.

And they turned it into a horror instrumental orchestral situation that now every time I hear that song, I think of the ominous behind it.

I love that he was trying to explain the song to the.

Is it about drugs?

Because no, it's not about drugs.

It's about drugs.

But taking a song that is definitely from the culture.

A song that any, any, any well experienced black person has heard.

This like eerie.

The most.

The eeriest sound.

And I'm just like.

Because I'll have film scores like in the back and it'll get to Michael Abels, who's the composer, and it gets to.

And then I'll hear I Got Five and I'm.

Oh, God, no.

Time's turned.

Sorry.

I'm just trying to clean.

I don't need like scary, ominous music in the background right now.

And the whole family is in the car.

Like just.

Just vibe into it.

And it's so odd to me because it's like seeing kind of how this family has come together and seeing how they were behaving.

It wouldn't have.

It's kind of surprised me that he was terribly familiar with that song, much less to do it.

Which means that there was a life that he had lived before this family came along.

And I was so curious to see how that came out beyond him going out to defend his family.

So maybe that was him trying to get a little bit buck.

Or maybe that was him already kind of tapping into something that was already there.

I gotta come in because I like this.

Oh, my goodness gracious.

Okay, I'm gonna move on to.

Nope.

Again, this one is like, for me, I think I've watched this more times than.

Maybe more times than get out and us combined.

Perhaps because it's like it's on every other week or day.

So, Chris, with our synopsis of the.

Kiki Palmer.

The most charming person in the world.

She is.

That's not in the summary.

I'm just saying.

Manage their family's horse wrangling ranch in a lonely California gulch following the mysterious and sudden death of their father.

As they struggle to keep the business afloat, they begin witnessing chilling and uncanny phenomena in the sky above.

The ranch, driven by a mix of curiosity and the desire for a profitable, impossible shot, they set out to capture definitive video evidence of what they believe is an unidentified flying object.

Perfect.

Oh, my gosh.

Number.

Okay, Number one thing, right?

So to go on your point about.

About Kiki Palmer.

I cannot think of any other person for this role.

No way.

Since movies could move.

We had skin in the game.

And I'm just like, girl.

My.

First of all, she showed up late to the thing.

Like, they're wondering where she is.

She's supposed to give, like, their whole, like, speech for, you know, take, like, making sure, like, that the horses are taken care of, right.

To do these stunts and stuff.

I'm like.

And she did it.

And she did it, and she did it, right?

I mean, like, things are.

He's like, super worried and stuff.

And he's like, you know, not obviously, like, he has stage fraud.

Like, he doesn't want to have to do that.

Like, that's her.

I felt so bad.

Clearly, he's an introvert.

Him around, you know, that's.

But she comes up and just.

She comes up and she just does.

What she needs to do to secure.

And then, of course, Emisha and I.

Do a little swinging on the side, right?

I was like.

And of course she's gonna plug.

She's gonna plug her thing.

I mean, if you're gonn front of.

A film, why not, I mean, take that opportunity?

You know what I'm saying?

Because somebody, her goal, she said, this is for Oprah.

Oprah.

Oprah.

Well, no, you said Oprah.

No, she.

Okay, so Oprah was his thing.

He.

I. I guess she said.

She had said something else about, I think, with trying to, like, like, save, you know, what.

What, like what little they have left and everything like that, to try to obviously, like, sell what they would capture, right?

Of this.

Of this.

It's not.

They're not ufo.

They call themselves eap.

Yeah.

UAP or something like that.

Yeah, there is uap, the gentrified version.

There you go.

Trying.

Trying to get video of this, you know, she.

When in their conversation, in order to, like, sell it, I guess, like, sell the idea to him, she, you know, she brings up Oprah because he apparently, you know, holds Oprah to, like, you know, like this.

This pedestal and everything.

But, like, one of them.

People do one of them.

One of them.

It's not me.

Sorry.

That's another conversation.

That's another entire conversation.

Yes.

But.

Oh, my God, again, I can't imagine anyone, like, handling that with, like, how Keke Palmer handled it.

And then to see their dynamic and him playing someone who's very like introverted, like, it seems like it's very.

Whoever did casting, if it wasn't Jordan Peele, like give them more money, like, because it's, it's incredible just how suited they both are for their roles.

He's very introverted and she's clearly extroverted.

And just them playing off of one another I think is great.

But then also too being someone who has a sibling, like that whole sibling dynamic and everything, I felt every bit of that.

And so it was also great to see this sibling duo.

Right.

And this sort of situation I thought was refreshing.

And I love, I mean as somebody who grew up in a small family business, I love that how serious he is because he feels the weight of.

He's feeling the weight of history.

It's not that she doesn't, but he's feeling the weight of keeping this alive and he's serious.

And that's a lot of ways how I felt when I was a kid too is that that weight of keeping this thing going and that colors everything he does in all of his decisions.

She's more of that free spirit based character and that seriousness and also introversion like those two combine into that, that version of Daniel Clooney in this film.

And it's really.

That was the thing that hit me most and part of why I can't watch it too much because it really hits home to me in a very, in a very personal way.

Yeah.

For me also too, to that point, the, like, the reason for him like being so serious also too is, you know, you find out later that the, the, you know, the father, this was something that they, that they, it was father and son, that it was like bonding time.

But then also too like the father wasn't including like her or Em as much.

Right.

So it's kind of like this distant thing was like, oh, well, you won't let me have.

Right.

This was supposed to be my horse, right?

You training my horse.

It's training my horse.

Like this was supposed to be also my thing.

When the fact that she doesn't feel as included or she wasn't included as much also speaks to why she is the way that she is.

But he looked out, right?

He looked out.

I know the, this, this whole thing.

I like that they did that.

Yeah, that was, that was sorry for.

People, for people who are listening.

We see.

They did the fingers that we see you.

That's what I just did.

Yes.

I'm in the Film.

If you haven't.

If you have no idea what we were talking about, please go back and watch the film.

I think it's available now on P Tok because that's where I've been watching it.

So, like I said, it's my comfort horror film, if such a thing exists.

So I can't move on without talking about that opening scene.

Dear God.

Okay.

The one with the monkey.

And you watched it this morning towards you?

I did.

I watched it this morning.

That was the thing that I remember.

I mean, it took me a while to realize that the Gordy in Namesake was the monkey and not.

Not the kid.

Right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hearing about the first of all, hearing about the accident and then seeing it and was like, ooh, that's gruesome.

What a thing for a child to see, hearing the balloons pop.

And I'm already a person that doesn't like the sound of balloons popping.

So I can understand how that can set off a creature to go on a violent rampage and what should have been a very happy moment.

But I see why, you know, Steven Yeun's character would want to capitalize on that, because, like, look at this really terrible thing that happened to be.

How about I.

You know, he even said, like, oh, I usually charge people to see, you know, this memorabilia.

And mind you, you know, O.J.

who is not O.J.

simpson, but still had his father's namesake, like, he's here to do business.

And, you know, she's obviously a lot more loose with her mission, and she has other things that she wants to go do.

So she's kind of more interested in, of course, the spectacle of it all.

So she wants to, you know, see what's going on.

But, you know, in that.

Or getting roped up in finding out what this thing is.

And then first.

Poor monkey.

I mean, I think there was a way we could have probably.

Probably saved him.

Sorry.

That he had to, you know, violently hurt all those people right before he could even do the fist bump.

Right before we do the fist bump.

Bloody fingers and all.

Oh, God.

I'm like, that's one scene.

You know what?

That is one of the scenes that I will like if I.

Because it's on in the background.

I'll have it on in the background.

And it gets to that part, and I'm like, you know, we just gonna fast forward, head a little bit here.

You didn't want to hear the Donkey Kong noises.

I don't need to hear the.

I don't need to.

I don't need to first of all, I don't need to hear the, like, noises of, like, the blood and stuff.

I'm good.

It's pretty intense.

It's intense.

I'm just going, I'm sorry.

I still keep laughing at they.

They could.

I wanted them to use real monkey sounds.

So the fact that they use the Donkey Kong sound.

Oh, my God.

That's kind of funny.

Like, it's not supposed to be funny.

It's like the actual sound of real people screaming in terror and it.

But, yes, it's uncanny for me.

I'm sorry.

Should it have the sound effects of people jumping over barrels?

Yes, it may as well.

I did think also that when they said ufo, I'm like, I didn't think it was gonna be, like, an actual UFO until it kind of sort of was.

And then when I was looking, I was like, why does this look kind of like the bottom of a cowboy's hat?

It did.

And everyone kept calling it something else.

And I'm like, am I the only one who's seeing the bottom of a cowboy?

This is the bottom of a cowboy's hat.

I wasn't quite sure as to what was happening until I saw the remains kind of spilling out of there.

And I will say that, you know, eventually, when it did take its true form, I did find it to be a little visually unpleasant.

But in all the sounds, you know, but the fact that they braved, you know, all of that and setting all the things up with angel, the store clerk, who had a much bigger role than I.

Five stars, Angela.

He was going to have.

I thought we were gonna see that man once, and we were never gonna see him again.

I did not know he was funny.

He was funn.

I. Oh, I loved that.

I loved him because he was an integral part in, you know, trying to set up all of the things they did to get footage of what was happening.

And the fact that they just kept on coming back because all I had to hear was the rumbling, and y' all would never have seen me again.

He's out.

I would have been the namesake of the film.

No.

Which they did say a number of times during the film.

I was like, oh, gosh.

To also speak to comedic relief.

And it's especially in such horrific conditions.

The thing that got me and so many other people that I was watching the film with at the little theater a was so.

So when he goes back, Daniel Kalula's character, when he goes back to.

And it's like, storming and everything, he goes back to the house and Em and Angel are in the house.

House.

He's going back.

Driving back to the house.

And the.

The.

The.

The creature, like, is like.

It's like.

And it drops like the.

What was it like, the.

Like the.

Not the toy horse, but it's like the.

Like the plastic.

The plastic, yeah.

So he drops it.

Right.

Right onto the truck.

Right.

And it, like, gives everybody a jolt.

Right.

And then he's kind of like, sitting there in the truck.

And then the only way that he can think to respond in that moment is to lock the door.

I mean, I could not stop laughing.

Anything can happen.

That's just to say, hey, somebody's gonna get in on the side.

And the fact that he was still able to navigate that vehicle despite that.

Yes, bless him.

But, yeah, I just thought.

And he wore his sunglasses at night.

That's another great use of a song in a film, by the way.

Like, you got.

You got.

I got five on it, and you got.

Sunglasses at night is hysterical.

I also thought it was really interesting how they kind of gave you, like, a small synopsis of the story of each of the horses and that they named the creature Jean Jacket.

And Jean Jacket, I want to say, if I'm not mistaken, is the name of a lovely pigeon that's out at the yards, and that's who I'm reminded of every time I hear that.

But Jean, I mean, obviously it's the name of one of the horses, but to name this unidentiful.

Unidenti.

That.

Thank you.

Calling it just.

Yeah.

I was speechless.

Numerous parts throughout this film, whether it was through the comedic timing that kind of caught me off guard and the strange horrors of people continuing to scream and retch and all sorts of things that was happening to them and then taking its form of.

Of a jellyfish or whatever it was trying to be.

So many.

Like, it took so many forms throughout this film.

Couple things also, too.

Like, I wanted to note, like, going back to the horses and everything, so.

And I heard.

I think, Peel also make a note about this.

And I thought that.

I thought this was funny.

But there's a.

There's a black horse and there's a white horse.

I think the white horse is called Ghost.

Ghost.

So when you first see Steven Yeun's character, or at least you hear, like, the show that he's putting on, so you see all the lights in the distance, and then.

And the lights go, you know, fade off, right?

Or fade out.

You see ghost running towards the uncertainty or, like, the danger or something that feels off, whereas the Black horse is like, you know what?

I'm gonna stay right here.

And Peele makes a note of this.

He's like, yeah, there's a reason why the white horse goes out there and the black horse stays put.

And I'm like, that's hilarious.

The black horse was lucky, right?

Yes, Black horse was lucky.

The black horse was like, yeah, I don't think so.

Yeah, I don't think I. I ain't going.

The black horse said no.

Like, basically.

And I just thought that was a funny note.

And now I can't unsee that.

And I just think it's so fun.

I mean, I also laughed a little bit when that.

When that scene happened and, like, the music stopped and everybody was kind of in disbelief, but I don't know why I chuckled when, like, the slushy machine stopped too.

It was like, when that stopped.

Oh, you know, it's about this.

Something's about to go wrong at slushy machines aren't working.

People are about to lose their lives.

But they lose their lives.

Indeed.

And they did.

Sorry to those people.

Sorry to those people.

The.

God.

The thing.

The biggest theme, of course, is about the spectacle and not.

And not getting sucked.

Literally getting sucked into the spectacle.

I think, throughout the film.

What was great about that is a few things.

One is the fact that, like, the thing that actually ends up essentially, like, not necessarily.

I don't wanna say saving, but, you know, for them to be able to get footage was actually.

Was none of these, like, digital, like, you know, digital devices.

It was the analog.

The hand crank.

Yes, the hand crank.

Right.

Which is, again, like, again, we're so consumed by all of these things, like this new technology.

Right.

That we're, you know, we get sucked in.

We, like, lose out on, like, you know, other things.

And so the fact that it's actually analog, that actually ends up capturing what they've been trying to capture this entire time, which is just an amazing thing.

Also, too, like, you have so many people.

I mean, like.

Like this.

The thing that really gets me, too, is, like, the cinematographer, like, towards the end, who, you know, is someone who's very skilled at what he does, is, like, you know, is constantly saying, this is.

You know, you do.

You know, I. I do one for them and I do one for me.

It's something that in the film industry, you know, we're constantly hearing, especially from directors who, you know, may get into the industry doing something that they're not necessarily, like, passionate about, like, they still care about, obviously, but then they have their passion Projects and stuff, something you're constantly hearing.

But then even someone whose job it is to capture, you know, the spectacular, I think also getting, like, sucked into that, I think is also says a thing.

And then the last thing is, like, throughout.

Throughout the film, you're constantly seeing, again, little things here and there about, like, the family dynamic and, you know, the way that they were brought up and how they.

How they get along and everything like that.

But then, I don't know, it's.

It's like the.

And I'm starting to lose my train of thought there.

There are these little things like, that happen throughout the film that really just like, serve the greater story, again, about, like, spectacle and family and the.

The thing.

It just came back to me.

So what Daniel Kaluuya's character is noticing about this creature and how it behaves, right?

Whereas, like, Steven Young's character thinks that he can control, he can tame this creature because he had that moment, right, with, like, the, The.

The.

The monkey in the.

In the beginning, right?

He thinks he can control, right, this creature.

But.

But because, you know, Daniel's Kalu's character.

What is his name again?

Oh, my God.

O.J.

Why would.

Thank you.

I'm like.

Well, I don't know why I'm blanking.

O.J.

you know, because of the way in which that he has been trained, right, to handle horses.

You know, knowing all of these, like, unsung, like, rules or unofficial rules, right?

How to base, essentially break, you know, an animal, you know, that that is what informs how he then deals with this creature.

And until.

And then.

Then, you know, it eventually, you know, meets its demise.

I just think that was also a very, like, cool thing, you know.

So also Keith David, the man that you are, Keith David, as brief as he was on screen, what an impact he made.

Like I said, I love the family.

I mean, when you mentioned cinematography, I thought of two different parts.

Specifically the part where OJ Was chasing away on the horse through all the dust clouds.

And the other part with Emeril on the bike.

Yes, yes.

Which apparently is a reference at the end when she slides.

Akira sounds like Akira.

We love a little nerd moment.

And it was so cool because how many times do you get to see black girls on bikes doing that?

It was so many, like, juxtapositions all in one.

So I appreciated that reference in the smaller tone.

Like, it, obviously, this film, it reads like a Western.

And I guess California is the west.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, when I think of the West, I think of, you know, yeah, Arizona and Texas and Montana and shit.