US by jordan peele

I agree that the thematic ambiguity is good. I did find the actual script needlessly overburdened with content to interpret, incl "we're americans" tbh. things left unstated are much more unsettling.

I think “we’re Americans” works as deadpan, that’s how my engaged crowd seemed to take it, any other level aside.

Why did Adelaide stay in the tunnels all those years when Red was able to escape fairly easily?

― Chris L, Monday, March 25, 2019 7:38 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

She was handcuffed to her bed. Presumably someone eventually helped her out of it but perhaps it had been so long that she had no idea how she would get out and find her parents?

From 14 on she seemed more interested in inspiring the others.

that it’s difficult to derive a single clear message from this movie is... good

Yeah, agreed. I mean, does everyone finish their first watch of The Shining frustrated that the message isn’t clear?

“We’re Americans” sets up that there are two classes of people who are tethered but do not visibly overlap. While watching it, I thought the Tethered were from a world where slaves were never freed...but in the end the story feels as much about class as race. You grow up in the underworld, you don’t get to heal your face, and so on. And what does the main family owe that underworld, whether they are their ancestors or themselves if not for good luck?

I think “we’re Americans” works as deadpan.

That too, definitely.

/The line doesn't give their jumpsuits their meaning, but it's the only point we have to go off of. The line makes it obvious there's something to the horror beyond a genre exercise, so................... what is it? and the twist totally complicates all of this./

you want an explainer not a movie

Go watch Magic Mike then

But there’s only two of them

Just skimmed this--unqualified rave.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/review-jordan-peeles-us-is-a-colossal-cinematic-achievement

Just saw this, flopson otm about the twist being easy to spot. Seemed like an obv possibility from the start if you’ve like ever seen anything before, and then when she’s finishing off the one twin and grunting just like the tethered ppl do and the son comes in and stares at her horrified, clearly suggesting that he’s starting to figure something out, and then they keep on piling on massive hints from there... cmon is right

I liked how the men were awful on both sides

I'm in love with Gus.

Gabe rather

he was great

here's my review fwiw

(The Dad from Get Out) I just thought Get Out had so much more to say about white liberalism.

-@samzorn

— Gretchen Felker-Martin (@scumbelievable) March 25, 2019

I really liked this and found the way it fit together (or didn’t) really satisfying but I could definitely have done with more of the shadow family because I found them really frightening esp the husband and daughter

Elizabeth Moss’s fake devastation turning to mocking laughter - you know it’s coming, I feel like I’ve seen this so many times but the way she did it was great

Actually I’m not sure the devastation was fake

her best screen performance

can we change thread title to ‘Us’

Film people are really into ALL CAPS TITLES idgi myself

ya but in this case it’s confusing because titles only two letters so it looks like an abbrev. bothers me

It's just a titling convention, sheesh

it's not tho is the thing

see promotional material for the film and listings.

simon was saying what wins said. it's true that the title and thematic concerns of this movie mean that the standard titling convention creates confusion. the world's just a big ol mystery :(

peruse new answers and you'll see several all-caps movies and TV titles

i realize it’s insanely pedantic ok

Are we all tethered now

saw it again. decided that the ending isn’t illogical at all really, it makes the film make sense

my main take was that an excellent way to have your audience leave with a more positive impression of your film than they previously had is by sticking Les Fleurs on at the end of it

saw it tonight

flappy is nutso w/ this relentless "MAGA red jumpsuit" thing, as if jumpsuits or any red clothing items beyond transplant-protecting caps were associated with Trump

there's a broader melange of on-the-nose allusions: people wearing prison-style jumpsuits, chained and tethered and joined to each other, an underclass marked by this clothing and colour rising up

good night

good morning!

sic otm

also on top of the excellent performances from the central cast, tim heidecker and elizabeth moss are both phenomenal in this

Heidecker was born to play a murderous subterranean ape who is also somehow still just an asshole

I don't know if I ultimately more than merely liked the movie, but there was enough going for it that I loved, important stuff, like acting and direction and score, that I'd still recommend it to someone. I mostly wished there was less explaining and more sticking to the metaphors and fairy tale motifs.

I actually like it more the morning after than I did right after I saw it. Plenty of fuel for thought in this one, and I look forward to reading a bunch of think pieces. Honestly I agree that the MAGA metaphor is the most coherent one at work here (bar the unnecessary twist), but obviously there's a lot of other stuff going on as well.

Oh, and the uppercase US can't be a coincidence. US=U.S.

yeah it's not uppercase though, is the point

Actually Us stands for "Universal Soldier" and the twist is this movie is in that universe

The title in the opening credits is ambiguous re: upper v lowercase.

no it isn't

the allusion is obvious, but the title is written as Us in the film and every piece of promotional material

Still not a coincidence, imo.

well they say we’re americans

Oh, and the uppercase US can't be a coincidence. US=U.S.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, March 29, 2019 10:06 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

look what you did Simon

jesUs christ

justice, or just us?

The very beginning in the funhouse was great, and that twist at the end - which I winced at right after it happened (didn't see it but I never try to work stuff out in advance) and then it worked its way through as mirroring the kind of confusion that we find ourselves in. Until then this settled into a serviceable enough Romero-by-numbers with a hint of Haneke's Funny Games, with its play and violence in those well-off settings, but that ending hasn't yet let go.

Haunting. Movie will stick with me. Great performance all around.