'Not Okay' Review: A Perfect Companion Piece to ‘Nope’
While it initially sounds nothing like 'Nope,' the focus on recording/sharing everything—especially trauma—for profit makes Hulu's 'Not Okay' similar to Jordan Peele’s newest movie.

"The One Close to the Sea shows the immersion of a filmmaker in a Scottish landscape. Not a narrative representation of what happens on the surface of this landscape, but the search for a simple rhythm, that lies underneath this landscape and makes up its essence. This is not a search for any landscape, but for that mode of being, that is essential to 'all' landscape. A search for what transforms mere place, into landscape. The rhythm of the land; light, movement, sound. The action of warm colours gives way to a deeper molecular game, that precedes all surface action. Not the violence of lightning, but the silent force of a charged cloud. Not a hymn of praise for nature, but an icy breath that is the direct expression of this nature. Not the chaos of a forest in bloom, but the simplicity of a bare landscape. The camera seeks to move at this level, at this rhythm, a rhythm that is not only the essence of nature, but also the essence of cinema..." (Thijs Klaps, 2023)
While it initially sounds nothing like 'Nope,' the focus on recording/sharing everything—especially trauma—for profit makes Hulu's 'Not Okay' similar to Jordan Peele’s newest movie.
Two Distant Strangers (2020) centers around Carter James (Joey Bada$$) as he tries to get back home to his pitbull, Jeter, after spending a night at the apartment of his date Perri (Zaria Simone). What gets in the way of Carter reuniting with his dog is that every time he tries to leave Perri’s apartment, he is killed by police and wakes up back in her bed in a never-ending cycle. It addresses the issue of police brutality which rightly has been in the public eye more and more with the unjust deaths caused at the hands of law enforcement.
At least we got the original cast back, right? Not even that saves it. None of them could bring a sliver of hope to this special. Rather, they bring dread as we witness the light leaving from their eyes.
YouTube surpasses Netflix but there is more to the story.
The Night Doctor achieves telling an original story in which the pace accelerates progressively while supported by dark aesthetics.
The importance of trying new things and teamwork are two life lessons explored in this family-friendly sports film.