Deja-vu Science-Fiction Tale

Rating: 6/10 (14 March 2018)

Since the independent filmmakers of the United States presented in 1986, for the first time, their award called Independent Spirit (or, in its short version, Spirit), when Martin Scorsese was honored for «After Hours», the Spirit became the maximum reward of the "other cinema", of the cinema away from the mega-industry of Los Angeles, in a kind of Oscar of the "liberated" of the Hollywood dictatorship. From that date, the award distinguished good filmmakers ignored by the "Academy", such as Robert Altman, John Sayles and Todd Haynes, and many others who later became "officialized", such as Tarantino, Nolan and Aronofsky.
To be honest, today in 2018, there seems to be not much difference between one cinema and the other: the film that won the Spirit for Best Film of the Year is not far from the gore aesthetic present in the Oscar-winning film as the best . While «Get Out» is not as whiny as «The Shape of Water», but a more forceful and "virile" drama with some denunciation, both films are science fiction products that take the path of extreme and bloody violence to lead us to the conclusion. Both films also have in common an Afro-descendant, obese and comical character that plays a decisive role in the plot: in the amphibious fable it was Zelda as played by Octavia Spencer, and here, LilRed Howery as Rod, an airport investigator.
In the film, a white girl invites her black boyfriend to spend a weekend at her parents' house, and the poor young man falls into a terrifying intrigue, surrounded by sinister Caucasian beings and three African-Americans who look like zombies, though as charming as the "Stepford wives". Little by little the intrigue is revealed, although one suspects from the beginning who the villains are - in part, due to the stereotyped performances of some interpreters in key parts of the story.
They say that the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay usually indicates what was the true best movie of the year, according to the "Academy." This year this indirect recognition was given to the director and scriptwriter of "Get Out," Jordan Peele. The film does entertain and is effective (thanks also to a careful soundtrack and very good music by Michael Abels), but if you expect a lot from it, you may be disappointed.
-------------------------------------
P.S. The garden party reminded me of a similar scene in "The Stepford Wives". Just as Katharine Ross and friend Paula Prentiss are observing the guests, so does Daniel Kaluuya. As a matter of fact, both Ross and Kaluuya play photographers. And when the Nanette Newman robot malfunctions because it drank too much wine, that is similar to Lakeith Stanfield's "epilepsy" crisis.