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Parents' Guide to

Nanny

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Powerful, tense chiller about inequity and parenthood.

Movie R 2022 98 minutes
Nanny Movie: Poster

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What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In NANNY, former teacher Aisha (Anna Diop) leaves her son in Senegal while she heads to New York City to raise money working as a nanny for wealthy families. She gets a job looking after Rose (Rose Decker), whose father, Adam (Morgan Spector), a photojournalist, is hardly ever home. Rose's mother, Amy (Michelle Monaghan), is frazzled, overworked, and sometimes controlling. At first things go smoothly, and Aisha and Rose quickly bond. Aisha also starts dating doorman Malik (Sinqua Walls), whose mother (Leslie Uggams) is a priestess and welcomes Aisha into their home. But soon Aisha finds herself working overtime and having to remind Amy and Adam to pay her. She also can't seem to get to her son or his caretaker on the phone. She begins to see a variety of disturbing visions, from spiders to sudden rainstorms inside rooms to mysterious figures.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (2 ):

The feature writing and directing debut of Nikyatu Jusu, this creeper feels like expert filmmaking, with its stark thesis on inequity, its nervy music and soundscape, and its striking performances. Nanny is up front about its situation. Aisha says she misses the good parts about her native Senegal but not the bad parts; apparently they were enough to make her choose the bitterly ironic situation of taking care of another family's child so that she can raise money to get hers back. (Such money cannot be raised in Senegal.) Diop's strong, empathetic performance conveys the pain of this, how every waking moment without her child hurts Aisha. Jusu is so astute as a filmmaker that she even conveys character nuances in Aisha's employers, suggesting their pained relationship, Adam's childishness (and his culturally appropriated African art), and Amy's frayed nerves.

Of course, starting with a solid basis in character makes the scary stuff in Nanny more effective, but Jusu doesn't seem as interested in scaring her audience as she is in simply suggesting the horror that exists in life. Aisha's terrors and visions spring right out of the fabric of her everyday existence. Sometimes they're routine nightmares, but other times, she's just looking in the mirror or testing some bathwater when something terrifying happens. All aspects of the production, from the lighting and colors to the unsettling music and sound design, handily mesh together to create Aisha's world. A too tidy, last-minute ending seems to let viewers off the hook a little too easily, but, on the other hand, it could also be part of the movie's biting tapestry.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Nanny's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

  • Is the movie scary? How can horror be used to address issues in the real world?

  • How does this movie examine inequity based on culture and race? What does it have to say on the subject?

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