{"id":48882,"title":"Nope (2022) Movie Review","description":"I finally caught Jordan Peele\u2019s clever 2022 sci-fi, neo-western horror \u201cNope\u201d and, as a longtime sci fi fan, found it to be a breath of fresh air.","content":"

I finally caught Jordan Peele\u2019s clever 2022 sci-fi, neo-western horror \u201cNope\u201d and, as a longtime sci fi fan, found it to be a breath of fresh air.<\/p>

The movie started at a gentle pace but gradually built up the suspense and atmosphere of the awesome, if sometimes scary, unknown.<\/p>

In Nope, protagonist and horse wrangler Otis Haywood Jnr. (played by Daniel Kaluuya) encounters an other-worldly threat. Otis, or \u201cOJ\u201d in short, comes from a multigenerational horse wrangling family who\u2019ve worked in Hollywood for five generations. It is younger sister \u201cEm\u201d (Keke Palmer) who gives us the family\u2019s backstory in the movie. She credits the historical trailblazing photographer Eadweard Muybridge (1830 -1904) as the one who first hired her ancestor as jockey. While the Haywoods and backstory are fictional, the photographer isn\u2019t. Muybridge made the first ever film, a series of photographic stills of a horse in motion, spanning only a few seconds long. This \u201cmovie\u201d was also the first time a person of colour was featured in cinematic history.<\/p>

UK-born Muybridge was born in Kingston upon Thames, now a suburb in London. He is most known for photographs of people and animals in motion. His photography appeared in publications such as \u201cScientific American\u201d and contributed to furthering our understanding of how creatures naturally move efficiently and, usually, gracefully too. Muybridge was also the first to show how there are moments mid gallop when horses\u2019 hooves don\u2019t touch the ground at all.<\/p>

\"AIn \u201cNope\u201d, Palmer\u2019s character was probably referring to the rider of Muybridge\u2019s \u201cPlate 629\u201d, a series of images showing an uncredited experienced jockey on a horse. The photographs can be looped perpetually and Muybridge\u2019s careful lighting and timing perfectly show rider and steed\u2019s poise. We see the rider\u2019s leg subtly shifting position relative to the horse, the latter\u2019s moving muscles and gait as it propels itself forward and the perfect silhouette of both against a gridded light background.<\/p>

Writer and director Peele reflected similar thoughtfulness in lighting, movement and camera motion. Personally, I found his portrayal of the \u201cUFO\u201d moving through the clouds, darting in and out from behind hills and dangerously advancing as if above our very heads breathtaking. The movie slightly made me think of Denis Villeneuve\u2019s \u201cArrival\u201d in terms building \u201catmosphere\u201d however, being more cerebral sci-fi than sci-fi western, the latter didn\u2019t have the scale of movement Nope has.<\/p>

In \u201cNope\u201d, Peele also makes many statements about the development of photography and videography while also conveying the nostalgia some feel about about the earlier days of film making. \u201cNope\u201d seems to hearken back to pre-1970s sci-fi and cowboy cinema; to times when Star Trek\u2019s Gene Roddenberry was directly inspired by the westerns he worked on which preceded his sci-fi career. In \u201cNope\u201d, the lead fittingly has the stoic grit one would expect a cowboy-type character to have but setting him in 21st century outback California and starting giving him a gig in CGI dominated Hollywood makes it very interesting. Modern day horse wrangling, according to \u201cNope\u201d, seems to be far less thrilling and more sterile when it comes to action, even if \u201chealth and safety\u201d is emphasised.<\/p>

There are many more interesting references and statements Peele makes about photography and cinematography, sometimes humorously, but you\u2019ll have to see the movie to know more! I think some of his statements also apply to art and artists in general who find themselves in a world when AI is increasingly being used to generate art.<\/p>

Although most critics didn\u2019t like the creature design, I was able to suspend any disbelief and enjoyed \u201cNope\u201d for its nuanced moviemaking and atmosphere. I would recommend it.<\/p>

<\/p>

Nadine is a fan of photography and art and founder of ArtBouti.com<\/a>. She is inspired by art and design created with thought and a sustainable, kind economy. Days after creating t-shirts<\/u><\/a> and fine art prints<\/u><\/a> featuring a Muybridge\u2019s print, she was happy at the serendipity of hearing the name mentioned in \u201cNope\u201d.<\/p>

<\/p>

\"wcriswhp1x2h9nlsty26cc0gdzk4h7zgtftk9sjsm8rszinb.jpeg.jpeg?w=1140&v=2\"\"z79n2uccdgx5mwpfcx5cxzhxp7fakeohmf56rcttxzgcrows.jpeg.jpeg?w=1140&v=2\"\"frmgih4pdvxtpbwp4vs1wojolqejylnh7zpfe8xypdcreirk.jpeg.jpeg?w=1140&v=2\"\"nuowub9n24hwai0zgkcspknamy3cmj7smdf6ojpxdgmtsys1.jpeg.jpeg?w=1140&v=2\"<\/p>

","urlTitle":"nope-movie-review","url":"\/blog\/nope-movie-review\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/nope-movie-review\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/artbouti.com\/blog\/nope-movie-review\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1746173796,"updatedAt":1755781780,"publishedAt":1755781780,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":389909,"name":"ArtBouti"},"tags":[{"id":3982,"code":"movies","name":"Movies","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/movies\/"},{"id":3983,"code":"photography","name":"photography","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/photography\/"},{"id":3984,"code":"muybridge","name":"Muybridge","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/muybridge\/"},{"id":3985,"code":"scifi","name":"scifi","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/scifi\/"},{"id":3986,"code":"reviews","name":"reviews","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/reviews\/"}],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/sjbtfthgzt5msqqwmjcjloq6gbqluxvxl6eatbrvlnuiuld6.png?z=1.1&fx=0.52245095590028&fy=0.4749171049519","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/sjbtfthgzt5msqqwmjcjloq6gbqluxvxl6eatbrvlnuiuld6.png.jpg?w=1140&h=855&z=1.1&fx=0.52245095590028&fy=0.4749171049519","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/sjbtfthgzt5msqqwmjcjloq6gbqluxvxl6eatbrvlnuiuld6.png.jpg?w=1920&h=1440&z=1.1&fx=0.52245095590028&fy=0.4749171049519"},"metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"A review of Jordan Peele's movie \"Nope\" (2022) and interesting references found in it.","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[],"labels":[]}