Nope (dir. Jordan Peele)

Otm brad

letterboxd needs to stop putting negative reviews of this movie in my feed. anyway seems like some ppl are struggling with the extremely understated quality of daniel kaluuya's performance, but imo he is an amazing character, and all of that character is brimming in the negative space around his performance

this ultimately ties into how i feel about the ending, which, idk if i'm right or anything, it's just a reading, but i read it as commentary on the nature of making art, that we only ever access truth through the most indirect paths, and even then it's only the briefest glimpse, a single snapshot we took when we weren't even looking directly at it. imo this contrasts pretty deliciously with the cosmic gumbo-ass director's approach to documenting truth as well as with the extremely-online-fame-chaser on the bike during the climax

I’ve seen that criticism of DK, too. Like, what, you don’t realize that he’s playing a particular kind of person?

I read him as someone who was hurting from the sudden death of his father who was I over his head keeping the family business alive but feeling like he's ill-equipped to do it

And if that was you, would you be verbose? Nah

Sorry I mean "Nope"

The moments when he went “nope” were among my favorites in this movie (there were many favorites).

I was listening to a podcast review, and one of the reviewers had been around horse dudes growing up, and this is apparently how a lot of horse dudes are - they’re very quiet and relate more to horses than to other people.

my friend jim wrote a spoiler-heavy letterboxd review that is among the more thoughtful i've read so far https://letterboxd.com/jimmc_grath/film/nope/

i feel like i was paying pretty close attention but i love that the film didn't(?) explicitly explain how the gordy's home incident tied into the rest of the plot, if it does at all... it could just be an inexplicable event that shaped the rest of steven yeun's character's life or it could have some resonance with the thing hovering behind the clouds. i'm suggesting the latter purely because of the suspended shoe, which also could just be an impossible image that yeun gets obsessed with and which feeds into his obsession over controlling and displaying this impossible image for others in the sky. anyway it's good to not tie these things up sometimes, because when i was talking about the movie with my gf and her friend we had three totally different ideas of what happened and how the incident figured into the present day events of the film

I think it may have tied in because Jupe used the incident for publicity purposes when opening his theme park, and having that little Gordy's Home museum in the back of his office, which he jokes that he 'charges' people to tour. To me that suggests that he is exactly the narcissistic opportunist type, who has a "UFO experience" and instead of telling anybody, secretly decides to create a ticketed event one mere month later featuring said "UFO/alien" without properly vetting the danger he was putting himself, his family, and the audience in. and of course, it blew up in his face.

oh yes absolutely! there's def a persistent theme of people exploiting their own tragedies for attention and money

and ppl having to process something inexplicable and horrible and unprocessable that happened to them and thus doing it in all the wrong ways

I understand the criticisms of DK's performance, but I also think they're wrong. I wasn't too fond of either of the main characters initially -- OJ too reserved, Emerald too self-absorbed -- but that changed by the end of the movie. I'm glad Peele is on a level where the studio can't force reshoots to make his leads "more relatable" or w/e. (Obviously there is also a whole racialized element to this, which I feel unqualified to speak to.)

The whole audience cracked up at the interaction between OJ and Em when the documentary filmmaker showed up with his non-electrical camera. Later I realized it felt like a moment straight out of the Key & Peele valet sketches.

as soon as Jupe mentioned the Gordy incident, I immediately knew exactly why there was someone in Jupe's audience with facial disfigurement in the trailer. and that they were going to show the incident in all of its horror (well-staged)

haha yeah i loved the appearance of his co-star

also loved the alien looking like a cowboy hat. kind of mad that the last set of trailers spoiled that a bit.

Saw this yesterday with my daughter and we loved it, though with a few reservations. One big way that Jupe's story ties in is that he didn't learn his lesson the first time that you can't tame or befriend a wild/predatory creature. Reaching out to knuckle bump your costars' apparent killer and feeding an alien horses, so much wtf Jupe! I haven't read every hidden text in this thread so sorry if I'm repeating the obvious.

Another random thought/connection:

When Parasite came out, I remember reading an interview, either with Bong or with his cinematographer, talking about how the whole set design process worked backwards from the director's hyper-specific vision for the film's final sequence (the father ascending the stairs out of the basement, into the sunny living room, with his son waiting there).

In my headcanon, I like to imagine a similar process played out as Peele set up that last shot of OJ framed by the gate, coming up out of the valley on horseback as the dust settles all around him. Like, How can you get a Black character into this iconic 1950s Western shot, and have the shot "make sense" in the context of the surrounding movie and carry the same affective weight that it would have in a classic Western, while telling an entirely original story in a contemporary setting?

Someone on the internet said the shot looks like the Muybridge film, which I don't agree with, but since the movie is sort of about spectacle, I do wonder if the entrance to Jupiter's Claim has the aspect ratio of a film frame

Also my idiotic fan theory is that all of Angel's band T-shirts have some narrative logic to them. Earth is mother nature, the Wipers is an apocalyptic event, Jesus Lizard is obviously the mix of the spiritual with the animal, being a Mr. Bungle got us into this mess and RATM will get us out

huge return to form after us which sucked ass. last 30 mins were peak spielberg level, nearly brought a tear to my eye in awe of the spellbinding magic of cinema. not as great of a script as get out, but i'm v relieved peel's still "got it"

Us is great, foh

other than tethered lupita (one of the craziest performances ever) i thoughtus was boring as hell and a clear sophomore slump

on the "good movie to write a thinkpiece about" v.s. "good movie to watch" spectrum, get out perfectly balances the two, us goes full thinkpiece, and nope leans more on the watchable end. the thinkpiece stuff in nope wasn't as flawlessly weaved into the narrative as in get out. i personally would've cut the whole steven yeun subplot (i couldn't follow the logic of keke palmer stealing his sign)

that is not a real spectrum!!!

or if it is it's the most reductive one possible through which to view these films

Discourse brain

or if it is it's the most reductive one possible through which to view these films

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, July 26, 2022 12:32 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Discourse brain

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, July 26, 2022 12:40 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i know it's painful when someone doesn't like a movie you like, but i don't think it's reductive or discourse brain. part of what's cool about peele's movies is how topical they are and how he packs them with metaphors and symbols that self-consciously gesture at Big Ideas. i'm surprised it's a controversial claim--it's like the signature trait that sets him apart from other current big name hollywood directors? imho he's able to pull it off better than almost anyone, tho us and candyman were misses that left me cold

the career arc key & peele -> get out -> us -> nope is such a great distillation of vibes from peak obama era to obama-trump interregnum to trump term 1 era to biden era

like to the extent get out feels dated, it's cause it's a movie from when rich white lady racism was the centre of the discourse, before the conservative populist white revanchist movement exploded onto the mainstream

The T-shirts, explained.

The explanation: "They're [the character's] band T-shirts"

i really liked this! palmer and kaluuya were great and the set piece at the end was extremely clever. i'd love to know what inspired peele to cast michael wincott.

that voice, probably. everybody associates dust and cowboys with deep voiced people

"And it's Kattan, so he's CRUSHING it."

that bit was great because that is totally who would have played the chimp in that era of SNL

Lots of chatter about the band t-shirts but the fact that there was an Exuma needle drop and they showed the cover in a big studio release is wild.

the documentary filmmaker showed up with his non-electrical camera.

Hooray for analog media! The classic vinyl, the film cameras, the old Haywood promo videotape showing the Muybridge short....

Like, How can you get a Black character into this iconic 1950s Western shot, and have the shot "make sense" in the context of the surrounding movie and carry the same affective weight that it would have in a classic Western, while telling an entirely original story in a contemporary setting?

It's definitely a detournement of the classic Western trope of the (white) hero in a white hat riding a white horse.

I've grown to appreciate how Peele sets up the opening credits where you go 'what am I looking at and what does it have to do with anything I've heard about this film so far' -- and this time around he did it twice. (And when I realized what the black box with the cast names in it it was, yikes.)

Also, between the opening quote here and the one for Mad God, good few for deeply fucked up Bible quotes kicking off a movie.

Few weeks, I should say.

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4470/buck-and-the-preacher#overview

There was a prominently displayed poster for Buck and the Preacher (1972). Conveniently this will be shown on TCM on August 4, 2am (EST), as part of Sidney Poitier's Summer Under the Stars day. I know I want to check this out.

I...quite liked this movie. Other than the OJ dad backstory, the lack of "humanizing" elements and tedious exposition felt right -- even about the UFO.

TMZ dude looked like a Daft Punker.

Worth a read: http://reverseshot.org/reviews/entry/2959/nope

xp and sounded like Nicolas Cage! (I really want to believe this was an uncredited cameo)

If only, but it was this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Graye

We took the kids yesterday, we all enjoyed the heck out of it. My older son, who pays attention to this kind of thing, said that he liked "how many metaphors there were for filmmaking."

Your son OTM

Brandon Perea is my new crush.

he reminds me of riz ahmed

Brilliant casting. Very much captured that kind of SoCal dude.

I'm supposed to be cheering, I know. As I posted at the time, I thought Peele's first two films were audacious--even though they drifted into conventional horror-film stuff towards the end, the conception of each was great. "We're Americans"--I still think about that line, thought it was brilliant.

I liked the Gordy story here, and wished the whole film were about that. (Even though, beyond the Jupe connection, I either missed or am too lazy to figure out the deeper connection to the main story.) I thought the Muybridge stuff at the beginning was really promising--again, if there was follow-through, I missed it. Three of the four principals were pretty good. Couldn't stand the cameraman's Sam Elliot imitation.

Thought the last half-hour was an ordeal, and quite silly. It kind of reminded me of why I got tired of Stranger Things--I can only take so much of a rag-tag crew banding together to defeat the monster. (And the way Emerald actually did it--was that an Austin Powers tribute?) And dialogue like "Are we still rolling?" "You're goddamn right we are!" They really needed George Kennedy to deliver that line.

Thanks for sharing that - they hit a lot of angles that I hadn’t even considered about this film, and now I wanna see it again even more:

i need to listen to that! thx jaymc

Now on Peacock and there's an hour-long making of as well, which I will get around to soon.

it’s being shown on 70mm in London soon

https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00011874/nope

Said making-of was a good watch. Also, Indiewire has the script up:

https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NOPE_Script_FINAL_2022.11.29.pdf

one thing that kinda confused me: keke palmer finally gets her oprah shot at the well, but she seems to forget about it, the plate just lying there in the collection tray as the police arrive?

the impression I got was that the news guys out of shot were talking about the footage they got of the thing exploding, rendering her photo worthless?

I enjoyed this a lot - probably more the first half which took on the character of kaluuya's laconic, aimless, mysterious, half checked-out performance - and y'know these nitpicks don't really bother me but the "don't look at it or you will spook it" thing works if the animal is otherwise content to leave you alone. if it's trying to eat you it's not such a good strategy.

i know awards are arbitrary & whatever but it’s depressing & frustrating that this didn’t get a ~single~ oscar nomination

like, not even cinematography? screenplay? editing for chrissakes!? fucking NADA?

Sound design alone should have gotten a nod. It was the only movie I saw twice in the theater last year and the second time was because I absolutely wanted to immerse myself in that more thoroughly.

Lots of horror got overlooked this year. "Nope," "Pearl," could even imagine someone throwing "Barbarian" a bone. I mean, this is a world where "Top Gun" and "Avatar" are awards players, so anything goes.

xxp Yeah, it's like what they say when you're hiking in bear country. If you encounter an angry brown bear or grizzly, you can try playing dead; it might get bored and wander off, and if you fight back the bear will likely respond with even more aggression. But if it's an angry black bear, *do not* play dead, because the bear will just kill you. And so says the national park service: "If any bear attacks you in your tent, or stalks you and then attacks, do NOT play dead - fight back! This kind of attack is very rare, but can be serious because it often means the bear is looking for food and sees you as prey."

these nitpicks don't really bother me but the "don't look at it or you will spook it" thing works if the animal is otherwise content to leave you alone. if it's trying to eat you it's not such a good strategy.

As far as Oscars go, Nope would seem to have been a strong contender given that it was both a critical and popular hit, not to mention the precedent of Get Out earning several Oscar noms including best pic and best director. I wasn’t surprised that Us didn't land with the Oscars since that had more straight-up horror elements and also had a more divisive reception. But Nope is *less* of a horror movie than either Us or Get Out, *and* it's about the movie industry!

exactly

yes but it’s about how the movie industry exploits crew members and commodifies trauma. the academy only likes it when hollywood is portrayed as an unequivocal good

ding ding ding ding

and how it’s racist

I don’t think the Academy likes it when you point out how they’re racist

(sorry, couldn’t resist)

loll

On a related note, MOMI has a really well-curated series of movies that got zero Oscar nominations despite being viable, in the mix, and certainly should've been up on merit:

https://movingimage.us/series/snubbed/

I stayed spoiler-free all this time... I'm in the midst of a run through recent big movies and Nope is so clearly ahead of most of what I've seen. No need to explain or dig any further, just a fucking, fun movie.

That's actually the second best thing about Nope, the best is that Agua Dulce, for once, gets to star as itself. Decades of filling in for some other places - or in the case of Vasquez Rocks, other planets as well.

the mirrorball is just a standard tool used by VFX studios - so when OJ has one he probably just copped it from antlers or w/e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCfHQL4kLnw

https://beforesandafters.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/hdri.jpg

playing in 70mm in new york right now. our screening yesterday was weird because the first reel wasn't delivered in time so the first 40 minutes were DCP and the rest was 70mm. pretty cool to do the A/B.

What were the differences?

the 70mm print had more dynamic range and was more contrasty than the DCP - so much so that it almost seemed 'washed out' for the first few min after the switch was made. but after you adjusted to it, it was great

Finally saw it. Pretty good.
I missed what caused flying saucer to become giant blooming iris/Lily diaphanous thing.

Good to finally see it. Good film.