A Quiet Place, 2018, directed by John Krasinski. Horror/Sci-fi
Let’s admit in the beginning: who is afraid of silence?! Do you feel anxious or get goosebumps when there is no sound in your environment and people around you don’t talk with you at all? How would you feel if it lasted for the whole day and night?
The Abbott’s family with their three kids from A Quiet Place don’t have much of a choice – the world where they live in, was conquered by beasts that don’t leave any remains after you. But, they’re blind and don’t have a good nose, so if you keep yourself quiet, like a mouse under a broom, then maybe you’ll survive…
Firstly, we transfer information only through sign language. An advantage for Regan, Abbott’s daughter, who only uses this way of communicating and happens to wear a CI (played by Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress). Second of all, forget about shoes, as they make too much of a noise. So, no matter if it’s summer or winter, we walk barefoot (Brr! My toes are freezing just thinking about it!). Lastly, in case of emergency we let off fireworks. If everything is falling down, may it do so with a loud BOOM! And don’t even dare to make any reckless sounds – eating baked beans is forbidden, absolutely.
Here are three challenges present in the film:
– unresolved conflict in a relationship between a father, Lee (John Krasinski) and his daughter due to an accident involving a younger sibling in the beginning of life in silence;
– the mother, Evelyn (Emily Blunt) is expecting a baby, and babies in general aren’t so quiet;
– Regan has a broken CI (technology devices are very mean: always breaking down in the worst moment. But, what has me wondering, is how they got a supply of batteries in the times of an apocalypse?). Therefore, if Regan doesn’t hear, how can she know if she is in danger?
I must admit: I simply hate horror movies and always want to buy stock of the melissa tea after watching them, to calm down. However, I watched this one with curiosity: it was so different, so… quiet (the trailer for the movie sequel contains more dialogues than the whole entire first movie). They decided to save the audience from excessive blood and guts being splattered everywhere, opting to focus more on the relationships within the family, issues related to hearing and how all-overish it is when you can’t produce any incorrect sounds. It’s worse than meeting your partner’s parents for the first time over dinner. It’s even worse than being in the court of the English Queen, when you suddenly want to burst out with the laughter, but you really can’t do this, for fear of offending Her Majesty…