It's a long wait to get to a conclusion that could have been told in two sentences. This would have made a wonderful short film as a drama, but calling this horror was the real let down. I'm going to spoil it for you the readers so stop now if you don't want to know the ending. Aisha is an emigrant from Senegal working in the US as a babysitter to an upper class family. She sends money home to the caretakers of her child Lamine, who will soon come to America and be with his mother. The family consisting of Amy Adam and their young daughter Rose have some internal issues that both cause financial trouble to Aisha and leave a lot of unanswered questions to the viewer. I think the aspect was to make the audience weigh the issues between this wealthy New York couple against the hardships of their nanny. Stress is a large part of Aisha's troubles. We're shown her fears & anxieties through dreams and hallucinations. It fuses the African folklore of the water spirit Mami Wata and the mischief-maker Anansi the Spider. Literally the only elements of horror that was available. The audience is left to understand that "something" is very wrong, and I assumed correctly what it was about halfway through the film. While beautifully framed and well acted by all cast members. The result was empty. It felt unfinished and abruptly cut from the storytelling. Aisha learns as she waits at the airport for Lamine, that her son is gone. The care-provider comes to the US without Aisha's son. There were no subtitles for me to understand the circumstances in the conversation that took place, but Anna Diop played her emotions quite effortlessly. Aisha's son is dead. Aisha was being haunted by a child she did not know was deceased. The slow build-up and mystery of the circumstances around Aisha are finalized in the last few moments of the movie and it simply wasn't worth the wait. We conclude in these last few minutes of the movie that Aisha attempts to take her own life, is rescued, and we learn she is pregnant with the child of her new lover played by Sinqua Walls. It's the fastest "happy ending" I've ever seen.
Review of Nanny
