A Quiet Place (15.)
Directed by John Krasinski.
Starring John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds and Cade Woodward. 90 mins
Successful movies (and good ones – they don't always overlap) generally rely on a concept that is simple but compelling. But coming up with the great concept is only half the struggle – the really important bit is knowing the very best way to exploit it.
Writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck's* killer idea was a scary movie where if you make any loud noise you will die. It's not in itself that original – how many suspense scenes have been based on a need for a person in peril not to make any noise in a certain location, such as a bedroom or bank vault? Their gimmick is expanding the range to the whole world. We begin two-plus months after an alien invasion where the planet is overrun by blind creatures with very acute hearing.
So far, so good, but the clever part is choosing for your protagonists a family unit with a deaf daughter (Simmonds) which means that they are all adept at signing and can move around in virtual silence. And the really, really clever, if rather twisted, thing is making the mother (Blunt) heavily pregnant and just a few weeks away from bringing a bawling bundle of discontent into this silent world.
I'll admit I went into this in an itdbetterbebloodygood mood, frustrated at not being able to get to cover such a widely touted film in time for my print deadline. But A Quiet Place can't really be faulted. It delivers its premise seriously, while being lots of squeamish fun. You really care about this family but still thoroughly enjoy watching them being put through the wringer.
It's odd, and foolish, that this should be coming out the same week as Ghost Stories. Watching that I consistently resented all the scares and tension, the effort and contrivances that went into all the Major Jumps. In this though they are all gleefully entertaining. Maybe because there is an element of bedroom farce to it, everybody tiptoeing around desperately trying to not to make a noise and be discovered, even when they are in absolute agony.
Acting opposite his wife and mother of his children, Krasinski's third directorial project taps into a rich vein of parental anxiety. The power of the bond with your offspring and the terror that can lead to is skillfully, even touchingly, exploited. It's a bold film in being almost silent, and for largely ignoring the received wisdom that monsters in monster movies should be heard but not seen. Here you get a good old gawp at them and though these things are best left to imagination the creature design is innovative enough for this not to be a disappointment.
Perhaps the film's greatest pleasure is its ability to take you back to the time when M. Night Shyamalan made good films. It plays almost like a remake of Signs and has the intelligence, invention and daring that Emnight displayed in his early works.
*The pair have story credit, and share screenplay credit with Krasinski who would later write his own draft.
Directed by John Krasinski.
Starring John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds and Cade Woodward. 90 mins
Successful movies (and good ones – they don't always overlap) generally rely on a concept that is simple but compelling. But coming up with the great concept is only half the struggle – the really important bit is knowing the very best way to exploit it.
Writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck's* killer idea was a scary movie where if you make any loud noise you will die. It's not in itself that original – how many suspense scenes have been based on a need for a person in peril not to make any noise in a certain location, such as a bedroom or bank vault? Their gimmick is expanding the range to the whole world. We begin two-plus months after an alien invasion where the planet is overrun by blind creatures with very acute hearing.
So far, so good, but the clever part is choosing for your protagonists a family unit with a deaf daughter (Simmonds) which means that they are all adept at signing and can move around in virtual silence. And the really, really clever, if rather twisted, thing is making the mother (Blunt) heavily pregnant and just a few weeks away from bringing a bawling bundle of discontent into this silent world.
I'll admit I went into this in an itdbetterbebloodygood mood, frustrated at not being able to get to cover such a widely touted film in time for my print deadline. But A Quiet Place can't really be faulted. It delivers its premise seriously, while being lots of squeamish fun. You really care about this family but still thoroughly enjoy watching them being put through the wringer.
It's odd, and foolish, that this should be coming out the same week as Ghost Stories. Watching that I consistently resented all the scares and tension, the effort and contrivances that went into all the Major Jumps. In this though they are all gleefully entertaining. Maybe because there is an element of bedroom farce to it, everybody tiptoeing around desperately trying to not to make a noise and be discovered, even when they are in absolute agony.
Acting opposite his wife and mother of his children, Krasinski's third directorial project taps into a rich vein of parental anxiety. The power of the bond with your offspring and the terror that can lead to is skillfully, even touchingly, exploited. It's a bold film in being almost silent, and for largely ignoring the received wisdom that monsters in monster movies should be heard but not seen. Here you get a good old gawp at them and though these things are best left to imagination the creature design is innovative enough for this not to be a disappointment.
Perhaps the film's greatest pleasure is its ability to take you back to the time when M. Night Shyamalan made good films. It plays almost like a remake of Signs and has the intelligence, invention and daring that Emnight displayed in his early works.
*The pair have story credit, and share screenplay credit with Krasinski who would later write his own draft.
