Jordan Peele’s Nope is an original film filled with visual and auditory wonders! He previously directed Us (2019). Darkness, sounds of a sitcom, we get a Biblical quote that warns of treating someone as a spectacle. Spectacle, a visual amusement is part of the film, and the title hints at the theme. Then, we move through a sitcom set of a living room next to empty audience stands, we find out later it is called Gordy’s Home, and move to a lone shoe standing straight up. Next, there is a bloody chimpanzee, played by Terry Notary, who earlier played King Kong in Kong: Skull Island (2017). He is repeatedly striking a woman’s body. He rests at the side of a couch, pulls off his birthday hat, then heads straight towards the camera, a pov. The events that led up to this attack and what happened afterwards is revealed later in the film.
We then get a credits sequence, there is some distorted sounds with a long, blue, plastic-looking mat enclosed in a pinkish interior. It looks like something out of a mad funhouse. This is followed by the moving black and white photographs by Eadweard Muybridge assembled into The Horse in Motion (1978) that led to cinema. We shift to a ranch house where we have Otis Jr. (nicknamed OJ) played by Peele favorite actor, Daniel Kaluuya, who was in Peele’s first film, Get Out (2017). OJ is a soft spoken man, some of his dialogue is muttered and difficult to pick up, but he is very easy going. He calls for his sister, but she isn’t around, and then goes to help out his father tending to a horse in the round pen. This is the family’s horse ranch in Agua Dulce, California. Later, we see OJ making the turn into Agua Dulce. 45 miles north of Los Angeles, a popular film location, and also has the Happy Trails Ranch.
He talks with his father, OJ calls him Pops, Otis Haywood Sr. (Keith David) as he gets in the saddle of his horse. David played Mr. Bones in the “Summer School: Chapter Thirteen” (2021) episode of Stargirl. OJ goes to make a call, the power goes out in the horse and his flip phone, then small objects thud into the sand. He sees the horse leave the pen and Pops slumps to the ground. OJ rushes over to him and then drives him to the hospital trying to get him to talk during the ride. At the hospital, X-rays show that he was a killed by a coin, which is explained as dropped from a passing airline. OJ knows that it was something else. It is six months later, when OJ has the horse, Ghost, on set with a green screen background. He tells the actress, Bonnie Clayton (Donna Mills), to be careful around Ghost. Mills is of course known for playing Madeline Reeves in the soap opera, General Hospital.
The director is Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) whom OJ realizes could get the “impossible shot.” We finally have the arrival of OJ’s sister, Emerald (nicknamed Em) portrayed by Keke Palmer. She voiced Izzy Hawthorne in Lightyear. Em is energetic, a great communicator, but not as focused as her brother. She gives the crew some background on The Horse in Motion rider which is her great, great, great grandfather. The photographer is known, but not the black actor, which is something that Peele brings to this film. Her ancestor had built the Heywood Hollywood Horse ranch which they inherited. A production assistant holds up a shiny, reference ball used in special effects. He holds it to the horse’s eye which OJ tries warns him and this startles Ghost. He kicks back and this almost hits Bonnie. The handling of film animals, a perspective on studios from Peele?, is an important part of the movie. Because of the accident, OJ and Em are tossed off the set.
They head over to Jupiter’s Claim, a sort of theme park, across the valley from the ranch. There were Old West Ghost Towns around California. It has a giant cartoon cowboy balloon mascot. Em goes to a well with three kids ringed around it as a photograph is taken. This is shown to be part of a television show. OJ goes up stairs to meet with the owner, Jupe, for business, but doesn’t want Em to distract him. He meets with Jupe (Steven Yuen), who is really Ricky Park former child star of Gordy’s Home, to sell his horse, Lucky. Yuen was in the drama, Minari (2020), but this seems like a return to horror with his part as Glenn in The Walking Dead. Em recognizes Ricky and turns the conversation to his show. Jupe mentions that Saturday Night Live parodied the last episode. He opens a side room that contains memorabilia from the show. This included the shoe displayed pointed upwards and Gordy’s costume. At night, OJ is at the stable and hears strange sounds. Later, the power suddenly goes out, Em and OJ hear unusual sounds, a wind almost like a breath. This finally gives occasion to note the brilliant work of sound designer, Johnnie Burn. The sounds are sometimes subtle, unknown, and establishes the tension.
OJ sees that there is a patch of night sky through the clouds, several stars shine brightly, and then an object streaks through the night. He knows that the danger comes from the sky. The next day, they head over to the Fry’s Electronics store in Burbank, they have closed in 2021. It is distinctive since it has a flying saucer crashed below the store sign. Em is looking for cameras to try to find the money shot, what she calls the “Oprah shot”, photographic proof of UFOs. She says this will give them enough money to live comfortably, most likely to save the ranch without steady film jobs or having to sell the horses. They are helped by a store employee, Angel (Brandon Perea) who offers to help install video cameras. Perea was in the bizarre superhero show, Doom Patrol, in “Tyme Patrol” (2020). The group is risking themselves to find the mystery in the sky, no spoilers here!, but the danger is the spectacle. Nope is a tense, dramatic film with touches of horror, surprisingly fresh in this crop of summer movies!
Four Air Dancers out of Five!
#Nope, #JordanPeele, #DanielKaluuya, #KekePalmer, #StevenYuen, #BrandonPerea, #MichaelWincott, #KeithDavid
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