Nope!’: the director of ‘Let me out’ signs the most disconcerting, suggestive (and commented) science fiction of the moment

When you see ‘Nope!’ knows perfectly well that is going to become primary material for endless conversations on social networks. And not because the film is especially enigmatic or cryptic: Jordan Peele maintains, as in ‘Let Me Out’ or ‘Us’, his two exceptional previous films, a sense of humor and expository clarity as features when it comes to narrating, and he is very clear what counts ‘Nope!’. What is up for debate is what aims to count.

And that’s where the film’s detractors are going to get stuck the most: it’s not clear at all. Some say that Peele has overstepped the brakes and his excessive ambition has turned ‘Nope!’ in an excessive film and, at the same time, very vague when specifying a message. But all these discussions and questions are part of the film because, among many other things, ‘Nope!’ it speaks of our reaction when contemplating the horrors. Those from real life (the film is immersed, of course, in all kinds of reflections about the role of African Americans in the history, everyday or not, of the United States), but also the shows… shows like ‘Nope! !’.

Peele’s film introduces us to the two young owners (Daniel Kaluuya repeating the leading role after ‘Let me in’ and Keke Palmer) of a very particular business, a horse ranch for use in movies whose origins date back to the very foundation of cinema. The apparent peace that they enjoy is suddenly interrupted by an unidentified object that crosses the skies and that they will try to confront.

On paper, ‘Nope!’ steals elements from movies like ‘Jurassic Park’ (there is a theme park near the ranch that exploits the most idealized image of the Wild West), ‘Jaws’ (in fact, there is a direct homage: the sequence of the inflatable dolls is a nod to the classic of the floating drums) or even the series B replica of it, the unforgettable ‘Tremors’. But thanks to the humor and eccentricity of Peele, who cleverly introduces disruptive elements such as the ape massacre in the sitcom, ‘Nope!’ It ends up becoming a much more personal proposal.

An enigma without clear solutions

The film has also been compared to the films of M. Night Shyamalan, and with good reason, because there is in it that anecdotal use of mystery to tell us about how people orbit around it, the doubts and questions it generates that mystery. Peele acknowledges that ‘Signs’ is a major influence on ‘Nope!’, and while the parallel is clear (especially in the setting), his sarcastic tone and his betting everything on a resolution that will leave more than one viewer unsatisfied reminds me of the fantastic and highly underrated ‘The Incident’.

They are references that, like the different tones with which Peele plays, fly over the story, that come and go like the various stories that make up the mosaic that is ‘Nope!’. For example, it is very interesting as Peele se and distracts us with the director of the theme park played by Steven Yeun, linked to a sitcom that ended in tragedy and that reinforces one of the many themes of the film: our relationship, between stunned and exploitative, with the resources that nature offers us, even when they are absolutely indomitable like what crosses the skies.

And all to, in the end, talk about… is not very clear, and possibly that will be what distances many viewers from the film who have become accustomed to the cinema mainstream offer all the pieces of the puzzle except one, which will reach us on a mathematically scheduled date six months from now. But it is clear that what ‘Nope!’ He does it with humor, simplicity and playfulness: from the aforementioned link with nature, from the mysterious and our obsession with examining and exploiting it and, of course, from the racial connotations that are extracted from all of it.

told me Kiko Vega, with great success, that the monster of ‘Nope!’ it could be the hood of a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and knowing Peele it would be a more than plausible explanation. It reminded me of a tattered circus tent, which also fits. In any case, that is the great treasure of ‘Nope!’: it is a film that will have us talking and conjecturing for months, even among those who have a tendency to raise their eyebrows at the immeasurable and very human fascination with questions. unanswered.