“Nope” (2022)
Twisted Spaghetti Western. With added Aliens.
Twisted Spaghetti Western. With added Aliens.
As Jordan Peele’s latest cinematic offering enters its final Act there is a short scene that perfectly encapsulates the enigmatic and genre twisting madness that defines the absurdity and brilliance of his third directorial film. I loved Get Out in 2017 and I adored Us in 2019 far more than seems unacceptable in polite public society. His directorial hat-trick here is defined with a simple exasperated “nope” as, with the alien foe now fully on display and not cloaked in mystical shadows or the clouds above, it seems perfectly in order to simply refuse to engage, lock the car doors and ride out the eye of the alien storm.
Just don’t look it directly in the eye.
The exasperated man is “OJ Haywood” with Daniel Kaluuya reteaming with the director once more after their success with Get Out five years ago. Kaluuya’s performance is all stillness and grief for a Father and head of their independent family business who dies a horrific and unexplainable death very early in the film but this is far from the first of such bloody and brutal horrors. Bloody tangent tracks are laid from the film’s opening credits and almost immediately the film vaults six months later to find an already laconic and enigmatic son grieving the death of the family Patriarch and a broken, disinterested, reserved, quiet and emotionally withdrawn man. He continues the family business of horse training and “animal wranglers” with his sister “Emerald Haywood” who in the guise of a devil may care, live wire and boundless enthusiasm performance from Keke Palmer, is your star of this wonderous show. Where her brother appears lost, Emerald seems found and in a world she’s going to attack and enjoy.
With financial offers to buy their family business, this is seemingly the only issue that will raise OJ’s interest level from a disinterested resignation to a determination to continue the family business as he is very definitely his Father’s son. The other thing to distract him from his somewhat melancholic thoughts is that strange object in the sky or the unexplained lights in the field.
Is it “The Viewers” and if so, can they get the “Oprah Shot” that will lead to fame and glory and perhaps, a peaceful, settled mind for the Father’s son?
Despite the heavy reliance above on (not) describing this film through the eyes of OJ Haywood/Daniel Kaluuya, Nope is in fact Keke Palmer’s film. Sassy, spirited, energetic and a real verve to fully map out another of the film’s real human characters. The major supporting roles filled by Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott and Steven Yeun all follow in a similar vein but I’ll leave their character dissections absent, save for reinforcing the central theme of humanity that runs through this film.
Nope is many things, from the spiritual and religious through to a tirade on the heightened exploitation of spectacle, fear, death, grief and, as the Director has said in previously quoted interviews, a reaction to the soul destroying lockdowns of recent times and a human need to be outside and free.
Nope is also a horror story, a bloodily brutal and twisted horror story which is also a science fiction tale of UFO’s or, as the film candidly mocks in today’s neutered language, “UAP’s” (Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon). The film argues, rightly, that recent years has seen the official declassification of absolute proof and certainty that UFO’s or UAP’s are within our earthly atmosphere and my argument would be why this otherworldly news seemingly came and went in collective public apathy.
Was the spectacle not grand enough?
Nope could also be argued as a somewhat psychological horror and my immediate after film thoughts centred on it’s inspiration being a variety of genre twisting films, from M Night Shyamalan’s Signs in 2002, or back to 1996 for the apocalyptic film Twister or especially the 2016 Denis Villeneuve directed Arrival. I’d also argue that the film has a Spaghetti Western feel to it and especially so the early film music from Michael Abels and his use of tension inducing strings and violins. There are constant stand offs and stare downs way before the reveal of our otherworldly viewers but the anxiety and tension never drains and ala the film’s four distinct screen titled segments of “Ghost”, “Clover”, “Lucky” and “Jean Jacket”, this reminded me of Quentin Tarantino and his use of such a device, as well as keeping a brilliant heightened sense of tension and unknowing.
There were “6 minutes and 13 seconds of havoc” apparently.
And then there was a gem of a 2 hour film that followed it.
Thanks for reading. My film reviews are deliberately vague and spoiler free and I always endeavour to write “around” the film as opposed to leaking too much central information. This is an immediate reaction piece after watching the film for the first time and if you require any further recommendation, I can only see this film ageing well with further viewings.
“Prey” (2022)
“If it bleeds, we can kill it”medium.com
“King Richard” (2021)
Will Smith before he gave Chris Rock a forehand smashmedium.com
“The Little Things” (2021)
Denzel Washington masterclass in a film that fades awaymedium.com