The other night after work, my girlfriend and I had planned to see “Dumbo” but a work friend and her family changed our plans and we all decided to see “Us” instead. The film received good reviews (unlike “Dumbo” unfortunately) so it seemed like a safe bet. The trailer for the film also looked super interesting.
The film starts off in the mid 80s as a young girl wanders off the boardwalk at Santa Cruz and enters a hall of mirrors on the beach. As the young girl makes her way through a maze of mirrors, she witnesses something that changes her life forever. Flash forward to present day, we are introduced to a family of four which includes the now grown Adelaide along with her husband and children. Adelaide still has bad memories from her mysterious encounter years ago and is not looking forward to returning to Santa Cruz for vacation. After returning from the beach one night, a group of people break into their vacation home, but these people are more than meets the eye because they happen to be doppelgängers for each member of the family. Through twists and turns, the family learns the truth behind the attacks and fight for their lives against dark reflections of themselves.
Now without getting into spoilers, I enjoyed the allegory of classism the film depicts. It reminded me a bit of classic episodes of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits” in which the subtext of each episode tries to hammer across an important moral lesson. Subjects such as nature vs nurture are explored as we see how different people can change being raised in different circumstances. The film wants us to explore who we really are as individuals and what we might be capable of if we were pushed to our limits.
The movie works largely due to it’s cast. Each main cast member was tasked with not only giving a realistic performance of a normal family, but also exploring the bizarro versions of their personalities. Lupita Nyong’o is given the most character development as both Adelaide and her mirror version named Red and stands out the most. I wouldn’t be overly shocked if Nyong’o manages to get an Oscar nomination for her work on this film, though the release date and it’s genre may end up hurting her chances. Winston Duke also does a stellar job as Adelaide and Red’s husband(s) Gabriel and Abraham. Duke gave such a varied performance that it was hard to believe he played both roles aside from the physical resemblance. Duke seems to be a bit of a chameleon, being able to play Gabriel as a bit of a yuppie while his Abraham was a monster brute (not to mention his performance in “Black Panther” in which he played a prideful warrior).
In what seems to be an overly increasing trend, “Us” came under a bit of fire due to director Jordan Peele mentioning that he doesn’t imagine he will ever cast a white lead in his movies because he “has already seen that movie”. Peele has become a breakout success in Hollywood and he ruffled a few feathers with his remarks. Now, while I admit he could have more gracefully addressed the subject matter, I just want to point out that if his vision is to explore film’s from his perspective, it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to cast a white lead. As a white person myself (and one who isn’t even a big fan of race and gender swapping characters in films), I think the whole controversy surrounding Jordan Peele is unfair and stupid and I personally think the man has a point, 99% of mainstream movies made in Hollywood feature white male leads.
Interestingly, “Us” explores the concept of duality as a spiritual concept as well. The film directly addresses the subject of the human soul and other concepts of Christianity as our main characters start to learn the truth about what is going on. In addition to Christianity, the very nature of the yin-yang relationship the family and their doppelgängers share directly relates to religions such as Confucianism and Taoism.
The film is filled with Easter eggs which helps give the audience hints about the twists to come. One such Easter egg came right away as a television surrounded by VHS tapes is shown. One of the VHS tapes was “C.H.U.D.” which I noticed right away largely because I wondered who would own a copy of that film?
“Us” is a very entertaining film on a surface level and loaded with a ton of thought provoking subtext. Despite the praise I am giving the film, it isn’t perfect as some of the reveals create more questions than answers and it’s clear logic went out the window when it came to reveals. Still, the film makes for a great conversation piece and a great horror movie.
Grade: B+
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