Three Recent Films Transform Genre Stylizations Into Social Commentary

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Thursday, 06 April 2017 19:09

Written by Brad Balfour

Get Out
Writer/Director:Jordan Peele

Sleight
Director: J.D Dillard.  

The Transfiguration
Writer/Director: Michael O'Shea

Three films focused primarily on an African American cast or from an Black person’s perspective, employ the conventions of the horror/sci-fi genre to express several profound and/or disturbing ideas.

Though director Michael O'Shea’s debut feature “Transfiguration” riffs on vampire lore, it actually uses the mythology to address far more contemporary and disturbing behavior. Troubled teen Milo’s blood drinking fascination leads him to spiral out of control, but once he meets an equally alienated Sophie (Chloe Levine), their bond almost pulls them back from the brink. As this bond grows Milo's fantasy  descends horrendously into a nihilistic reality.

Brooklyn-born filmmaker O'Shea’s mulit-genre movie deals with love, loss and blood; as much a psychological study as it is an indie horror film, it’s been a surprise hit that garnered him critical acclaim for its debut at Cannes Film Festival and at SXSW as well.  Now it’s enjoying a theatrical release for a director’s debut more than a decade in the making.

Already in theaters as a surprise hit, veteran tv writer-turned-director Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” takes quite the left turn employing horror and sci-fi tropes while subversively exploring social issues with an African-American bent.

In this speculative thriller from genre power house production company Blumhouse (which also backed “The Visit,” “The Gift,” and the “Insidious” and “Purge” series among others)  a young African-American man goes with his relatively new white girlfriend to visit her parents Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford) at her family’s upstate New York estate. There he realizes things are quite amiss and he becomes ensnared in a sinister plot’s that’s the real reason for his invitation. Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya seen in “Sicario”) and Rose (Allison Williams from HBO’s “Girls”), have reached this meet-the-parents dating milestone  — in a scene worthy of “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” — things go awry — in ultimately the most horrible way possible.

Equal gripping and provocative, “Get Out” challenges assumption with equally doses of comedy and dread. And in this era of Trump, doesn’t seem as absurd or farfetched as it might have felt in the Obama era.

In cross-genre-fied “Sleight,” musician Jacob Latimore (“Maze Runner,” “Collateral Beauty”) plays a street magician left to care for his little sister after their parents’ deaths, who then turns to drug dealing to keep them fed and clothed — for him to make sure she gets good education. When he gets in too deep with the dealer he thought was relatively benign, his sister is kidnapped and he’s forced to use his magic, his science skills and brilliant mind to save her.

This suspense thriller fits several genres, but it’s a lot more deceptive than just switching from genre from being gansta to being superhero-ish. Of the three films, this one’s sketchiest but it’s also ambitious, making for both a slick fast-paced crime drama and tech thriller almost worthy of a sequel.

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