A Quiet Place (John Krasinski)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb / Wiki

[Henry Gale]

I liked it quite a bit. It's extremely taut and ingeniously sparse, knowing how and when to dole out its horror elements and necessary dialogue without ever getting bogged down in detailing things it trusts you to figure out, as the world it creates is so cinematically inclined that it doesn't need to work for any other form but one that requires your full visual and aural attention. And Krasinski's direction is very elegant and even classical in those perameters and style on top of that, with his approach to depicting the daily family life often being very structured and unremarkable, despite the actions, tasks and behaviours being so unusual because of the looming danger their errors will attract, which then still allows an unrelenting tension invisibly hover in the middle of every frame. Also the fact that he shot it on 35mm gives it a warm and lived-in texture that feels gorgeously jarring to the fear and hopelessness that should permeate it.

And I think some people might reduce it to examining it just as a horror movie, and that's fine, but I think like all great horror it really commits to being about something. There's a tangible pulse underneath the dread and by engaging primarily with the emotions of its characters to fuel the drama and your connection to the story's twists and thrills rather than just through sheer shocks and unexpected turns, it manages payoffs and beauty in even the simplest scenes and pleasant compositions.

This is the opposite of a spoiler but if you want to know absolutely nothing about the antagonistic force in this: [

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I know there were online conspiracy theories about this over the last couple of months, but it's weirdly remarkable how much this feels like a better Cloverfield movie than the actual Cloverfield movie we already got this year. It feels like a perfect spiritual sequel to 10 Cloverfield Lane in its control of themes and monster elements with a raw, visceral human element going through different stages of behaviour of survival amongst tragedy and lurking deadly creatures, with ample material to dissect allegories from in between.

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Well worth seeing in the most well-behaved theatre you can find. Also maybe half of the movie is entirely free of dialogue, and most of the rest of it where the characters do speak is subtitled ASL (so, yeah, go to a theatre whose audience may scoff at being asked to read) and the rest is carried by visuals, sound effects (both subtle and then jarringly loud), and its (actually very good and memorable!) score. But beyond those worries, it's a very well-made B-movie crowd-pleaser that I'm glad exists in the modern studio climate (likely because it was seen a bankable horror) and hope it does very well.

It's the one movie that can claim to be both extremely lovely and nerve-wrackingly intense concurrently for nearly its entire runtime. And that's kind of an awe-inspiring feat all its own.

***½ / 7.9

[Peng]

Unexpected for me in how the film functions more as an actual story than a series of set-pieces, although it has the latter quite a bit, all handsomely mounted, with superb sound design and different points of view cut for maximum impact. Even then, they are not excessive nor in the showstopping pile-on nature, but instead flow from one to another, like a problem creating another new one to be continuously solved. And almost all of them come in the second half, after a patient first half building this world's rules, establishing geography, and letting us see the story of one family dealing with and trying to live on in this apocalypse, even after unbearable tragedy, when their expressions for shared pain, grief, and love are needed but more difficult in this world to communicate to each other. The first half's events are of different levels of engaging (the "dance" to establish the husband-wife bond, for one, does nothing for me), but they provide a solid, affecting bedrock, both story-wise and thematically, for the later scares and mayhem.

An aside: one guy in theater was about to sneeze loudly during a very tense waiting moment; we all heard his unbelievably big intake of ach- but then he seemed to realize himself and abruptly just cut it off, resulting in some quick, hushed laughter. The film's rules on the characters, which implicitly are imposed on us as well, make for one of my favorite audience reactions in quite a while. 7.5/10

[Watashi]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

[Dukefrukem]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

I was going to see this tomorrow, but if that's a talking point, then I'll just wait for rental.

[Skitch]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

Yeah no shit. My quiet well behaved theater is my home.

[Henry Gale]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

Ahaha.. Press screenings, obviously.

And honestly, for my screening (which was a to-capacity mix of public and press), everyone was pretty well-behaved and seemingly overly-conscious about every noise they made, aside from maybe one person right in front of me who I had to shush because they decided to suddenly comment obnoxiously at full volume about how something reminded them of another movie, I think just to remove themselves from the tension of it, though ruining it for everyone within earshot. Also a guy right beside me made a tent in his to check his phone for.. I dunno, the time? The movie is super short, but maybe still too relentless to be uncertain of how much more of it he'd have to deal with.

We also had the most Canadian moment imaginable where I heard a girl scream and then go, "Sorry!" almost within the same breath.

It's entirely unique to the experience of this movie because the premise entirely hinges on the characters not being to make any sound, so you're incredibly conscious of your own movements and behaviour in every moment. It creates a singular type of experience.

I was going to see this tomorrow, but if that's a talking point, then I'll just wait for rental.

It's more of a no-talking point but, still... Go see it.

Anyway, just to give an anecdotal example of my own: Right as the movie began I grabbed a handful of my friend's handful, which he already had remarked he probably should not have put as much of that free butter-flavoured canola oil into. So once I delicately ate each popped kernel to minimize sound, the first few minutes after that I had a napkin to wipe off that buttery residue, and somewhere along the line later in the movie I realized I had been tightly clasping that napkin the entire time since, reducing it to a small distorted clump of its former self.

So maybe bring a stress ball or something? *shrug*

[TGM]

I'll say this, I was pretty concerned about my theater behaving properly, because a group of teenagers came in and were laughing and joking and talking real loud during the trailers. However, as soon as the movie started, the whole theater went silent, and it stayed that way the whole way through, thankfully.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Some character beats didn't hit for me, one felt outright contrived, and I wasn't buck wild on the creature design (it's another riff on Giger's alien, all black and slimy and humanoid and eyeless and composed of pure aggression), but goddamnit the flick is a slick, effective exercise in raw tension. The kind you might remember from the best moments of movies like the similarly post-apoc I Am Legend and the similarly corn-fed Signs. The script's high concept hook keeps you on edge the whole time, and Krasinski's meat-and-potatoes camerawork and style enhance the drama without ever calling needless attention to the craft (and it is very good craftwerk).

Friend I went with said he wished the flick would've been score-less, and I wonder if that's true. At the very least, Beltrami could've reeled it in. You as a viewer want access to every single sound these characters make.

[Winston*]

Critics are like "you have to see this in a quiet and well-behaved theater."

I'm like what theaters do YOU go to?

I pretty much only watch movies in theatres, and almost never have the experiences that people here seem to have every time they go. Cinemas are the best.

I liked this. Cool concept and remains tense and engaging throughout.

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Wasn't 100% satisfied with the ending though. Their weakness being the frequency from a hearing aid doesn't really gel with the film earlier establishing that these things have taken over the world.

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[Dead & Messed Up]

For people who've seen the flick, quick questions regarding the fire:

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1. What did the flames surrounding the camp mean? My friend and I were super confused on that. I thought that meant that his fire was connected to them through a gasline, which is why they light up right after his. He thought that meant they were neighbors signaling safety. But that made no sense to me, because that announced an entire group of characters we never see that have no impact on the narrative. Is there something obvious we're missing?

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and the forbidden basement:

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Why was Krasinski's father so adamant that his deaf daughter not come downstairs? What was he afraid of her seeing? As far as I could tell, she would see (a) radio stuff, (b) materials on the creatures from old newspapers, and (c) his efforts to fix her hearing aid. But nothing about these come off shocking or verboten to me, least of all (c), since she knows he's working on hearing aids for her (which makes her moment of grief at seeing the evidence of his love slightly nonsensical - oh, he loved me because he made these for me... which I already know because I've seen him offer me fixed ones constantly). Again, is there some crucial detail that I didn't catch?

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[TGM]

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As for your first question, I thought the same as your friend. It showed that there was still a society out there in hiding, they weren't alone, even though these trying times made it feel that way.

Edit: Also, if they were connected through a gas line, they would've lit up at the end when the kids were trying to light it. The kids were looking for a sign of life out there, which obviously didn't come, as the monsters were fully on the loose at that point, so they were likely in hiding I figured.

As to the second point, yeah, I didn't really see any reason for keeping her away from it, either.

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[Dead & Messed Up]

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As for your first question, I thought the same as your friend. It showed that there was still a society out there in hiding, they weren't alone, even though these trying times made it feel that way.

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Gotcha. That really annoys me, though, it just raises way too many questions about the struggles this family unit's going through and

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why on Earth they would choose to do it alone.

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[TGM]

Gotcha. That really annoys me, though, it just raises way too many questions about the struggles this family unit's going through and

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why on Earth they would choose to do it alone.

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They can trust each other to keep quiet? After all, we see what some of their other neighbors do after they've had enough. Can't bring that on the whole family.

In fact, trust may also explain the second question, seeing as she's the one who fucked up and got the youngest killed. He says he doesn't hold it against her, but perhaps he still doesn't fully trust her after that incident.

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[Watashi]

I pretty much only watch movies in theatres, and almost never have the experiences that people here seem to have every time they go. Cinemas are the best.

I liked this. Cool concept and remains tense and engaging throughout.

Okay. Not if you have crippling anxiety and any small noise or distraction ruins the experience for you. I don't know how Kiwi audiences behave, but America is the worst. I saw Ready Player One at a matinee with maybe 10 other people in the audience, but one guy close to me was moaning loudly anytime an action scene was happening.

More and more I just wait until I can watch it from home. Theaters aren't the sacred safe havens they used to be. Theater owners are actively trying to push towards people to stream with their ignorance to the theatrical experience.

[Skitch]

More and more I just wait until I can watch it from home. Theaters aren't the sacred safe havens they used to be. Theater owners are actively trying to push towards people to stream with their ignorance to the theatrical experience.

Same. I've been forced to leave and get my money back too many times.

"Well then why are you mad if you got your money back?"

Because I wanted to SEE THE FUCKING MOVIE!!

[Neclord]

So do they fart or not

[Dead & Messed Up]

So do they fart or not

If you really must know:

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No farts.

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[Neclord]

If you really must know:

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No farts.

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I'll suspend my disbelief for epic space operas but this is too much

[Dead & Messed Up]

I'll suspend my disbelief for epic space operas but this is too much

There's no way the writers didn't have a conversation about it at some point.

I, like you, would've been a fart booster.

[DavidSeven]

Probably a lot of butt tilting going on in that household.

I thought this was just okay. Too reliant on cheap jump scares. The premise (a great one) carries almost all of the tension. I found the surrounding execution to be mostly functional, and I didn’t think the story added much to the concept. The creature design and scoring were pretty unimaginative, which is felt pretty acutely here since so many other elements of the film are pared down by necessity.

The biggest win for Krasinski, as a director, is that he (mostly) trusted the concept to work and let it play out without too many noticeable hedges. I respect the boldness of that choice, if nothing else.

[Ezee E]

A few good set pieces (almost Spielbergian in a way) doesn't make a good movie.

Krasinski does create a world that you definitely want to know more about, so that in itself is a win. However, the drama within the family, and a considerable amount of jump points can be figured out all in the first half hour. The family drama is also pretty unoriginal, and if you hated the way Signs ended, this one has a similar technique. The alien is also pretty uninteresting, also like Signs.

Emily Blunt is pretty damn good in it though. Her scenes are clearly the best.

My theater was respectable enough. For a 8 PM Saturday showing in a rowdy neighborhood, I expected much worse.

[Ezee E]

As for the questions proposed:

1- Completely felt that was society showing who existed still. There was probably some communication between families, but otherwise left each other alone.

2- Still not quite sure what the deal was with downstairs. Maybe a push of the wrong button could've been disastrous?

My own logic seems like these things could've been easily set up for a trap. No way were these things smart enough to basically wipe out the human race.

[Mal]

This started out ok, until something happened and I immediately had one question that made me think these were the dumbest people on the planet...

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HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU HAVING SEX? HOW!!! DO YOU WAIT FOR A THUNDERSTORM? AND WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU GETTING CONDOMS FROM THE ABANDONED STORE BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU BRING A CHILD INTO THIS WORLD???? BABIES ARE FUCKING LOUD!!!!!!!!

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yeah it fell apart for me. and the movie Soft for Digging had a better riff on this kind of concept.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This started out ok, until something happened and I immediately had one question that made me think these were the dumbest people on the planet...

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HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU HAVING SEX? HOW!!! DO YOU WAIT FOR A THUNDERSTORM? AND WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU GETTING CONDOMS FROM THE ABANDONED STORE BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU BRING A CHILD INTO THIS WORLD???? BABIES ARE FUCKING LOUD!!!!!!!!

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yeah it fell apart for me. and the movie Soft for Digging had a better riff on this kind of concept.

Regarding point one:

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They most likely had sex at the waterfall.

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Regarding point two:

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Sexual desire would continue. Maybe they did use condoms unsuccessfully. Maybe they intentionally decided it was worth the risk and made their plans for how they would deal with it before they started knocking boots.

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