Meet the parents

It's been 157 years since slavery was abolished and the fact we are still contending with the issues of racism in today's society sadly paints an image of how little we've actually progressed. For the sake of not diverting too much from my review, I'll just say that Get Out tackles the themes of racism and prejudice in an unexpected and not too subtle way. Photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) goes on a trip with his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) to meet with her parents for the first time. Chris is uneasy about the trip because her parents do not know that he is black but much to his surprise he is warmly received by her parents and makes him feel welcomed. However, the atmosphere of Rose's home feels a bit off when Chris starts noticing odd behavior from the groundskeeper and housemaid who happen to be black. Chris' assumption turns out to be far worse than he expected as the family is not what it seems. I didn't know what to expect from Get Out considering it was coming from Jordan Peele, the very same man who played a pot smoking Barack Obama on his show Key and Peele, and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to take it seriously. After watching it though, I can say it at least writes a unique perspective of how racism is seen in modern society. For a movie that satirizes issues of prejudice and ethnic superiority, Get Out doesn't do any preaching about these topics at all but instead uses these as building blocks for the characters on the situations that most if not all black men face today. Some details are more noticeable than others; an example being that it's apparent Chris sees the world as black and white as evident in the pictures he takes which speaks a lot about his character. Another example is Rose's parents who are seen as privileged people that use their status to only benefit themselves at the cost of others (starting to get the idea?). Get Out isn't perfect and it can be a little slow, and if I'm being honest it feels just a bit overrated for all the praise it's gotten. This much I will say, this is a very unique take on what racism looks like presently and I'd be lying if I said the film didn't have a certain Stanley Kubrick vibe to it. I can also say Jordan Peele has unique talent for story writing which has me interested in seeing what he has coming for us next but for now Get Out is worthy of a rental.