Nanny Review

Nanny review.

Nanny is the perfect movie for those looking for a little extra depression this holiday season. Quietly, patiently relentless in its pursuit of sadness.

New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.

Nanny

Directed by Nikyatu Jusu

Written by Nikyatu Jusu

Starring Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan and Sinqua Walls

Nanny Review

Nanny is a story about being stuck.  We recently saw this play out in a much different fashion in Ti West’s Pearl.  While both movies see the female protagonist struggle with the emotional weight of their situations…they lose control in very different ways.  If Pearl was about rebelling against a life you don’t want, Nanny is about soldiering through it to earn the one that you do.  But the lesson in both movies is the same.  It’s an unfair game.

Aisha (Anna Diop) works as a nanny for a New York City family after emigrating from Senegal.  She puts up with last-minute hour changes and constant underpayment in hopes that the job will afford her the ability to bring her young son to the US with her.  As the family’s life unravels in front of her, Aisha begins to have nightmares…pushing through everything as she gets closer to her son’s arrival.

One of the great aspects of the horror genre is how varied the types of horror there are.  Nanny is the kind of movie that non-horror fans will find a way to label something else.  It’s a drama about a woman working through a troubled time to reunite with her son.  It’s a slow burn thriller about a woman whose situation causes her to wrestle with her sanity.  Maybe it’s a commentary on the way the rich treat people as disposable objects without lives and emotions of their own.  Of course, It’s all those things.  Genre fans will recognize those as qualities of a horror film.

When we meet Aisha in Nanny she is trapped between two lives.  She’s left her life in Senegal behind…but hasn’t yet been able to begin the life she wants in America.  That’s because she’s had to leave her son behind and needs to make enough money to bring him over so they can start their new lives together.  As should be obvious from the title, Aisha works as a nanny.

Aisha’s hours and pay are constant sources of stress.  The couple she works for takes advantage of her constantly.  This isn’t done in a targeted, mean-spirited way.  It’s the product viewing Aisha as a tool at their disposal and not a human being with their own life and problems.  Nanny successfully argues that this is an even worse thing than doing it on purpose. 

As the stress of her situation grows, along with the increased absent-minded behavior from the family, Aisha begins to have nightmares.  Not just nightmares…she sees things when she’s awake.  She occasionally thinks she sees her son in the distance.  The regret of leaving him behind and the fear of not being able to earn enough to bring him to her weighs on her constantly.

Nanny is a slow building movie that is interested in progressing a feeling of dread surrounding Aisha.  It’s a perfect fit for the story.  Aisha is stuck and while she slowly does begin to progress towards her goal…it never seems to outpace the nightmares and stress that builds along side it. 

As Aisha, Diop carries Nanny from start to finish.  She establishes Aisha as a caring, driven and responsible woman before her troubles start to take over.  Diop plays the increasingly haunted and breaking version of the character in such a natural way that you not only believe every moment…you feel every ounce of fear and regret that fills her.  It’s another wonderful lead performance to cap off a great year in horror.

While Nanny is patient in meting out its horror imagery…when it does so, it nails it.  It’s rarely going for shocks or scares.  What it is effective at doing is building an unsettling feeling in Aisha’s world.  Whether it’s dealing with a pay discrepancy or missing a video chat with her son due to her hours…Nanny’s unraveling real world is as distressing as its recurring nightmares and daydreams.  The imagery that plagues Aisha all makes sense after the conclusion of the film…but until then it works well to show her declining emotional state. 

And we’re right there with her.  Not just because Nanny does a great job of unsettling us.  Not just because Diop makes us feel what she is feeling.  It does and she does.  But because we know what both the movie and Aisha know.  It’s an unfair game.  It’s a game that must be played because of several broken systems.  And the structures inside those systems are cruel…even when it isn’t their intention to be.  Despite being a drama, a thriller, and a commentary…what makes Nanny a horror movie is that its endgame isn’t unwinnable.   But it is unfair.

Scare Value

Nanny is a very good movie. It’s also very depressing. Of course, there’s room in the world for all manner of movies and entertainment…especially when they’re as well made as Nanny. It is, however, a strange movie to recommend. You can appreciate it for Diop’s performance, inspired imagery and ability to trap you in Aisha’s world of hurt…but you have to live with the pain it inflicts on her too.

3.5/5

Nanny Links

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Nanny Trailer

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