Home Features Why Nanny Was One of the Best Horror Movies of 2022

Nanny is among the top horror movies of 2022. It is refreshing and imaginative. Here’s why it’s one of the best of last year.

Amazon Studios

Have people ever had a nightmare that caused them to awaken mid-sleep with their heart racing? Perhaps it’s tension or retribution for eating a treat shortly before bedtime. Or it’s the gut, alerting people to approaching doom. It occasionally happens frequently after seeing a horror film. In American movies, the misery of the immigrant encounter is frequently represented in stark, muted colors; accurate camera motion, and sad, exhausted people with big eyes who infrequently speak as they endure all that the economy has to give.

Making a horror film is not always an easy task. However, certain films strike an indelible imprint on the spectators’ thoughts, seize their attention, and induce anxiety. A subtly told horror story often has a strong emotional connection for those who move to larger metropolitan areas and small towns in the hopes of finding work to support their families and the futures of their children. Over the years, many horror films have continued this concept and been successful in doing so, and 2022 gave some of the best horror movies. Nanny, a horror film released in 2022, successfully captured viewers’ minds and made them squirm in dread. The film is being hailed as one of the top horror films of 2022. But why is it so? Let’s check it out.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Essential Background

Amazon Studios

Nanny generated deeper empathy for immigrant workers. The USA has been idealized for ages as a place of opportunities where striving for progress will pay off. However, the film acknowledges the challenges involved in fulfilling this objective. Success for the Senegalese single mother Aisha meant having her small son Lamine move in together in her new house in the US. Aisha braves the assaults of a much colder atmosphere to fulfill her desire of getting her child into the lively and inviting Black enclave. Adam and Amy, a white couple, hire Aisha to look after their daughter Rose. They urge Aisha to do more with forced grins and unearned friendliness. Amy begs for approval and a sloppy form of companionship, but Adam is keen to drive a further breach between him and his stressed-out wife by using the nanny. The couple withholds her wages along the road, either due to negligence or animosity, endangering Aisha’s desire to reconcile with her child. Nanny is undoubtedly among the top movies on immigration. Coming from a similar background, Nanny star Anna Diop talked about personal connections to her role.

The Stunning And Meaningful Visuals

Amazon Studios

Nanny is an inventive psychological thriller and has a stunning flair, particularly in terms of color utilization. Shots featuring Aisha’s house, covered in hues and patterns, run contrary to NYC’s and Adam & Amy’s apartment’s harsh, brutalist-style design. Aisha’s vivid headscarves and intermittent adorning of native clothes portray an impression of coziness, commemorating the legacy that Aisha brought to America. The black complexion has been displayed finely in the movie’s setting, whether in the daytime sequences or the dramatic surrealist parts. Water has been effectively merged in color and light. It is carefully integrated into Aisha’s psychological condition as both a lateral representation of isolation and a metaphorical for drowning in contemplation. Nevertheless, these water-based parts occur so repeatedly that the relevance gets lost after the fourth or fifth occurrence. These instances would appear very much like declarations than obstacles with a crisper perspective and explicit editing.

The Cultural Context

Amazon Studios

Nanny is really a tale about the supernatural force of cultural affinity and how it can help those who are lost find their path. An inventive refreshing tone in a scary environment that is frequently indifferent to African dissemination is provided by the film’s expert use of folklore. The two terror folktales of Anansi Spider and Mami Wata from Western Africa constantly resurface across the entire plot, both figuratively and literally. Aisha encounters Malik’s mysterious grandmother Kathleen for the first time. Kathleen mentions Mami Wata, a mermaid-like entity representing fertility, sexuality, and wealth. On the contrary, Adam presents his daughter with the Anansi Spider storybook, which Aisha then narrates to Rose before bed. The Mami Wata and the spider are both portrayed as symbols of downtrodden people’s struggle against the status quo. And turmoil and uncertainty are typically how they operate.

Aisha discovers herself close to the water and being immersed in it in the initial scene of the film, plainly engaging in mermaid-like activities. When Rose constantly talks that she could see Anansi, the silhouette of a spider can be seen appearing repeatedly on the surfaces of her apartment. The distinction between the actual world and the realm of legend keeps fuzzing up as Aisha and the viewers witness recurring images of the siren and the serpent that is typically connected with her. It is one of the best movies to use folklore effectively.

The Meticulous Flow

Amazon Studios

The nanny does not appear to be random at all. Each sequence and every scenario appears to have been painstakingly created with a specific dilemma in mind. The events, however, seldom appear forced and generally move in a flow. The third act of Nikyatu’s narrative does feel a little hurried, particularly the development of Lamine’s character and its conclusion. Additionally, there are occasions when the usage of metaphors and allegories is simply excessive to take in. The cinematographer Rina Yang and Jusu likely collaborated on this creative choice because the movie has a very glossy and refined appearance. The latter creates a somber yet cozy environment for Aisha by incorporating lots of neon and purple combined with warm colors and brilliant lights. It is among the finest 2022 horror movies, regarding excellent cinematography.