A Quiet Place
A quiet place is what I hope for every time I visit the cinema.
Far too many times I have had my enjoyment of a movie spoilt by inconsiderate audience members who think nothing of having a conversation, checking their mobile phones, or gorging a three course plate of nachos, hot dogs, and pick and mix whilst the movie is in progress. All of which I’m convinced they do on purpose just to annoy me. Yes, I do take it personally, and that’s because, for me, going to the movies has always been a very personal experience. It’s not about a shared experience at the point where you’re watching it, and it’s not a social event. If you want that, go to a pub or a club. The moment you’re in that cinema, and the certification card is up on the screen, it’s for you, and you alone.
And credit where credit is due - my early evening audience at Cinema City Norwich was a dream come true rather than the oft anticipated nightmare - and they needed to be, because ‘A Quiet Place’ the new movie from and starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt (real life husband and wife), is also much of what I hope for when I visit the cinema.
A swift, deft introduction to the dos and don’ts of the post apocalyptic world we’ll be living in for the next 90 mins has devastating results early on, yet despite, and maybe because of this, ‘A Quiet Place’ becomes a beautiful, considered study of family, loss, survival, and sacrifice. It details the extra-ordinary trials and mundane tribulations of everyday life in a world of almost constant suffering in silence. The family endures with resilience and strength, and this motion picture delivers this determination with poise, subtlety, and heart.
And then, the movie remembers that it’s a near-future sci-fi horror movie genre mash-up. And that’s when it starts to get really nasty.
It’s simplicity is its strength - there’s little or no explanation of how life got to be this way, and it’s doesn’t matter. We need few words or unnecessary dialogue to portray the peril that our family almost constantly finds itself in. It’s a beautiful exercise in creative restraint, with some gorgeous, subtle visual storytelling. The use, and lack, of sound is its greatest crafting, and having one of the members of the family reliant on a hearing aid and sign language is a brilliant narrative choice, especially when you realise it’s probably the reason they’ve survived as long as they have. It never really pushes beyond the boundaries of what it is possible to achieve in a cinematic environment, and indeed once or twice it does almost lurch into standard contemporary horror movie territory, but the constant aural creativity, coupled with Marco Beltrami’s droning, high stakes, low range score, will have you chewing your knuckles, squirming in your seat, and remembering to take a breath seconds later than you really needed to.
To say more would be to spoil many of the elements of the movie, and being the considerate movie goer I am, I really don’t want to do that for you. Go see and hear this movie, preferably in a cinema that you know is going to give you a good viewing and listening experience. They really should be confiscating mobile phones and banning food for this one.
Sit down, switch off, shut up, and make no noise - otherwise the monsters will get you.
