Us
I have to say this out of the gate- I love the way Jordan Peele stereotypes his white characters. In “Get Out,” and now “Us,” Peele is using white stereotypes the way white filmmakers have used black stereotypes. The difference is, Peele isn’t using them as a writing shorthand, but for a specific, satirical purposes to shine a mirror at the absurdity of white America. Bradley Whitford’s “I would have voted for Obama for a third term” line in “Get Out” may reflect genuine feelings of some of Peele’s white audiences, but the way he deploys it, it’s the new “This is my black friend,” a way for white people to generically “prove” that, hey, they aren’t racist. In “Us, the Wilson family’s white friends- Josh (Tim Heidecker) and Kitty (Elisabeth Moss) Tyler and their daughters- are the embodiment of white privilege, having things just a bit nicer than the Wilsons, and casually day drinking to hide a broken marriage. Holding a mirror up to America’s racial divide isn’t Peele’s game completely in this film, however; he’s aiming higher, and the result is a little messier, but no less entertaining.
The next thing I need to discuss here is the score. When I rewatched “Get Out” a few months after it came out, the music by Michael Abels stood out for its distinct sound and imagination, and right off the bat, his work for “Us” does the same here. As we watch the credits unfold over a shot of cages of rabbits which will only become clear later, Abels’s music plays like a twisted version of Goldsmith’s “The Omen” theme, or a riff on Goblin’s score for Argento’s “Suspiria.” The latter would be fitting, as like that film, “Us” presents us with a world in the shadows not far from the normalcy of our lives that will force us to upend our understanding of the world. Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o’s character) has already had a disturbing look at this world, but when it comes after her family 33 years after that initial moment, will that make her prepared to face it?
The opening takes place in 1986, and young Adelaide and her parents go to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk for a family evening out. Her parents have a tendency towards arguing, although her father winning her a “Thriller” t-shirt is a happy moment. When her mother goes off to do something else as her father plays whack-a-mole, young Adelaide goes wandering off, and finds herself going into a Hall of Mirrors with the enticing phrase, “Find Yourself,” as a way of getting people into it. The attraction is empty, but soon, Adelaide finds herself stuck in the mirrors. The trauma she experiences in that 15 minutes will carry her to shut off from her parents, although dance helps her express herself, and she grows into a capable, loving wife to Gabe (Winston Duko) and mother to their children, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex). We see them going to a summer home for a vacation, which will include another trip to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, which conjures traumatic memories for Adelaide.
Peele’s setup of all of this is as confident and entertaining as “Get Out,” and the way he has jumped into the world of horror filmmaking is inspired, in more ways than one. Really, is it that surprising a comedian of Peele’s particular brand of social commentary took to horror? Horror and comedy, more than any other genres, are truly two sides of the same coin; some filmmakers will go for the terror, while others will go for the humor- they’re both reactions that are voluntary, and, at their best, unexpected when they happen. Peele is a filmmaker interested in making you feel both, and there are definitely times in “Us” where that is the case. The film’s centerpiece is a home invasion, as the Wilsons are besieged by four people who bear a striking resemblance to each member of the family, and this is where Peele’s biggest ideas in this film start to be laid out. “Red,” the “mother” doppelganger (also played by Nyong’o) tells the Wilsons her story, and it’s a big notion that was teased at the beginning, where Peele has a title card that says that there are thousands miles of empty tunnels under the United States that no one thinks about, nobody really stops to consider. Are there more of these doppelgangers down there? What purpose do they serve? Where did they come from? I’ll let Peele’s film take those questions.
This movie is not as sure-footed as “Get Out” is, but honestly, it couldn’t be, given the film’s massive reveals, and the notions of society and identity it is holding a mirror up to here. It’s easy to come away from “Us” feeling less satisfied with how Peele sticks the landing here, but impossible not to admire the fact that he’s aiming ridiculously high with each film. Taking the underlying subtext out of the equation, “Us” is still a highly entertaining thriller with set pieces and images that are pretty damn memorable, and will stick with me. He also gets fantastic work out of his actors; Nyong’o is the clear star, and she is fantastic at creating two completely different characters in Adelaide and Red, but Duke is a treat as a husband who is supportive, and rightly flipped out, but also is more prone to crack a joke than get scared- he’s example #1 of the type of horror/comedy duality Peele is operating at here. As their kids, Joseph and Alex are up to the task of the roles they are given, and they are two of the best, and brightest, kids the horror genre has seen in a while. Like “Get Out,” “Us” requires some time to let stew with its ideas. When they do, they get under our skin, and make us see the world a bit differently than we did before. We need that more now than ever before, and Jordan Peele is just the filmmaker to deliver it.
