A Quiet Place Review
More stories from Dominic Smith
John Krasinski the writer, director and star of A Quiet Place with wife and co-star Emily Blunt.
A Quiet Place was a stupendous film that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. John Krasinski really showed his prominence as more than just the funny guy from The Office. The directing, writing and acting are fantastic throughout. The film is original. It carries an interesting concept, and delivers on a risky premise. The idea of a film with little to no dialogue may seem outlandish, because it is. But the film manages to do what Hollywood has been afraid of doing in recent years. It has managed to deliver on a risky premise from an actor not know for the genre, or even directing in general.
The strongest feature of the film is the actors. They have to be able to convey their emotions without being able to talk. The majority of the film is just their actions and their emotions. The film does manage to convey plot and character development through a unique dialogue option of sign language. Any noise would attract the monsters that have slaughtered just about everyone. So, the actors have to make do without speaking. What to other directors may be a crutch, John Krasinski turns into his advantage. It really does speak volumes to his ability as a director and as a writer to be able to create a story that operates on sheer actions, as well as his ability to direct the actors to show their emotions, intentions, and thoughts through their actions. What may seem like the film’s greatest weakness is the film’s greatest strength.
The film is pretty flawless with one major exception, the audience. The film is, as you might have guessed, pretty quiet. Large spans of the show go without any speaking or loud noises at all, making the problem with the film the other people in the movie theater. Every sound that you haven’t noticed before in a theater is now deafening. The sound of someone rustling for popcorn, or shaking their ice filled drink now conquers the entire theater. This can be distracting for some, and may even ruin the film for sensitive viewers. However, from my personal perspective, it didn’t take away from the film. The point of the silence may be missed on viewers because of the disturbances in the theater. The slightest noise in film means certain death for the main characters. They jump at and fear sound. This becomes apparent through the actions of the characters when something does make noise. The film is one filled with suspense at when the next noise will happen, and the silence is what makes the film so great. However, this idea and the suspenseful silence may be lossed to someone who is chowing down on their extra large bucket of popcorn.
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/a-quiet-place-john-krasinski-emily-blunt-wife-sxsw-2018-1201937876/