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‘Nope’ Rocks!

Do yourself a favor and go watch it right now.

Sarah Callen
5 min readAug 2, 2022
Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Nope | Universal Pictures
Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Nope | Universal Pictures

Jordan Peele’s latest film, Nope, introduces us to siblings OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald (Keke Palmer), who struggle to keep their family business as Hollywood horse trainers afloat after their father’s death. As they’re going about their business, they witness the unexplainable and seek to capture it on camera.

This is a bold film. My goodness! Jordan Peele is such a visionary filmmaker, and we see that he has the talent and the team to pull off a project as ambitious as this.

First off, Nope is gorgeous! Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is stunning and manages to capture beauty in the middle of the California desert. The camera also moves so strategically throughout the film, showing us exactly what we need to see, revealing information bit-by-bit. The way the film is shot goes a long way in making Nope incredibly immersive.

The other technical piece of this film that I think is phenomenal is the sound mixing and editing. I think that a lot of other filmmakers might want to remove a lot of the ambient noise that we can hear in Nope. But the sound of their boots on the dirt road, the horse’s breathing and hooves striking the ground help center us in this moment. We’re not just spectators watching these characters navigate this unusual situation, but we’re…

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Sarah Callen
Sarah Callen

Written by Sarah Callen

Every number has a name, every name has a story, every story is worthy of being shared.

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