Hey Everybody Freddy Beans here;
I finally got out of the house again and got me a ticket to A QUIET PLACE the new horror movie from Director John Krasinski. I must have been stuck in the house a lot longer than I realized because I'm blown away Jim Halpert from the office co-wrote, directed and starred in this movie!
The basic idea has a family surviving in a post-apocalyptic world 89 days after monsters invade.
The Abbott family of five is introduced to us In the process of raiding a general store. The kids play while the parents are busy scavenging. Mom is looking for medicine for their sick son Marcus. (Noah Jupe) Beau (Cade Woodward) the youngest of them runs around on his tiptoes introducing us
Initially to this family’s new normal. You can’t hear a sound for the first five minutes or so of this one. There are a couple soft scares to show us the danger this family is up against. This creates a sense of terror along with the desolate town covered in old WANTED posters.
Chewing popcorn made me feel guilty while watching this in the theater.
The crunches breaking through the silence permeating most of this film. Even taking a sip of Coke was rough.
There’s a neat little scene where we’re introduced to the daughter Regan’s (Millicent Simmonds) deafness. The family is crossing a bridge and we are in each family members head for a second, hearing nothing but the wind until we have Regan’s point of view which is completely silent. I liked that, subtle but a key plot point. Maybe her being deaf gave this family the upper hand necessary to survive in a world of silence. Unfortunately, that’s clearly not enough as horror befalls this family of five soon after we're introduced to the monsters in the woods viciously.
Roughly a year later the family is surviving their tragedy and Mama Evelyn (Emily Blunt) is pregnant. There are some great messed up situations at play here.
How the hell does a woman give birth to a child without making a peep?
If that doesn’t sound impossible enough, what about keeping the baby quiet after its breached?
And keep that kid permanently quiet to boot?
I’m not saying everything worked to perfection here. There were some spots that felt too coincidental or convenient to keep me fully in this unique world. But what worked here, really worked in my opinion. The closest movie I can think of akin to this would be THE DESCENT a pretty great all-girl cast spelunking horror. In that one, they had to be quiet in a confined space while creatures with echolocation sought them for dinner. In A QUIET PLACE, John builds the same confined silent terror except in a wide open world. It’s impressive.
Emily Blunt and John Krasinski bring the believable here playing Evelyn and Lee realistically as the married couple they are in real life. They are the anchors for this family, doing what they must to survive in this new world. Everyone communicates with sign language, I presume learned over time communicating with their deaf daughter Regan. There are other people scattered around in this new world their many fires lighting up the night skies. However, we only meet another couple who quickly exit as quickly as they were introduced.
The tension in this film is great. It’s a slow burner and I know that turns a lot of people off. For me, it was perfectly told for this story. A world where an exposed nail could ruin everything you’ve built over a year and a half’s time.
Evelyn and Lee are wonderful here, completely believable as the couple playing family against all odds. The silence leaves simple nods, stares, and touches holding great significance. Showing an unbreakable bond in simple gestures mixed with desperate communication shown in urgent or loving sign language and a shared slow dance. Each actor nailed their parts here transporting us further into this fully realized vision.
As I said, the only things I would complain about here are nitpicking. Overall I was absolutely absorbed by this movie like a sponge to Kool-Aid. Sopping up all the great ideas on film and worried for the family throughout every soft step they took in that white sand.
If you like horror at all, or even tense Alfred Hitchcockian style thrillers, this one is for you. The previews made me feel like all the key scenes were in them. They weren’t. It had so much more to offer than shown in those previews. In case you can’t tell, I’m hoping this one gets the eyes on it I think it deserves.
7.5 out of 10 librarians prefer a quiet movie
Til next time Kids
Freddy Beans
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