+++ Opinion +++
The horror film Get Out grossed over $255 million at the box office worldwide on a budget of just $4.5 million. He was also showered with euphoric reviews and got involved in prestigious film awards. Among other things, there was an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Academy Award nominations for Best Director, Best Actor and even Best Picture.
With the sci-fi thriller “NopeUnfortunately, Get Out director Jordan Peele has only generated a little over $165 million so far. And that despite the fact that with its audiovisual bombast it is made to become a real crowd pleaser. This is the first small setback for the horror auteur – because his second directorial work “we“Get Out” was able to earn an equal 255 million dollars.
Peele’s suspenseful sci-fi horror “we‘ not only gets under your skin, but is also the filmmaker’s most cerebral work to date. All the more curious where the gruesome social satire celebrates its German free TV premiere: “Wir” is on RTL II today, September 18, 2022, from 10:30 p.m, whose program otherwise does not exactly have an intellectual image. But that doesn’t matter to anyone who wants to see “We” for free on TV. And if you don’t just want to see the film, but also want to gain insight into what Peele had in mind with the horror material, you can grab the Blu-ray full of informative bonus material:
» “We” at Amazon*
Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o) plans a quiet summer getaway on the Northern California coast with her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and their children Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex). Also, the Tyler family, friends of Adelaide and Gabe, consisting of Kitty (Elisabeth Moss), Josh (Tim Heidecker) and twin daughters Becca (Cali Sheldon) and Lindsey (Noelle Sheldon), make themselves comfortable there on the beach.
However, the holiday idyll suddenly turns into a nightmare when frightening, strange and violent characters show up in the Wilsons’ holiday home. The aggressive family bears a striking resemblance to the Wilsons and hunts them down…
Much has already been written about Jordan Peele’s skill as a screenwriter who combines suspense and comically bitter social criticism, as well as about his eye for atmospheric images. However, Peele has another talent that is crucial for the success of his films, but is comparatively rarely brought into focus: the ex-comedian always bases his material on stirring, multi-layered performances.
What was Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out is Lupita Nyong’o in We, with a stunning dual role: As a terrified but assertive Adelaide and her pained, seething doppelganger! Especially in her doppelganger part, Nyong’o dances with a hoarse, yet powerful voice as close as possible to the area where “scary” ends and “ashamed of others” begins. But Nyong’o never crosses that line, instead evoking compassion for this doggedly sinister individual who demands justice.
Nyong’os flaming double performance and Peele’s script, which is peppered with imagery, pop-cultural cross-references and socio-political observations, ensure that enormous tension is generated above all from one question: Wouldn’t it be fair if the attacker achieved her goal? Then “We” is gradually developing into a general envelope against exploitative systems and values.
The final twist, on which “We” ends, may have divided opinions, but it deserves not to be dismissed prematurely as a cheap surprise. Then what is on the surface a short, genre-conforming nastiness has a lot more to say in the narrative substructure. Just when you start pondering whether to regard the resolution as a sadly sobering or a bitingly happy ending, you stumble down a deep thematic rabbit hole that Peele has cleverly and subtly constructed for his audience…
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