The sounds of silence

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This article was published 06/04/2018 (3104 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a common complaint these days that movies are too loud.

You can’t hear yourself think, people say, a cliché that has a real core of truth to it. There are films that are so heavy and obvious with bludgeoning, non-stop noise that viewers can’t really stop and consider what’s happening on screen.

A Quiet Place is a very hushed, very quiet sci-fi-horror flick, about a family trying to survive in an America devastated by some unnamed event, is almost a novelty picture. With long, taut stretches when the only sounds are the padding of bare feet, the rush of water or the wind rustling through cornstalks, we have loads of time to think about this family and their post-apocalyptic plight.

And that plight is pretty darn scary.

The threat is there right from the get-go, as the story starts on the ominously titled “Day 89.” A father (The Office’s John Krasinski, who also makes his directing debut), mother (Emily Blunt of Sicario) and three children are silently prowling through a small-town drugstore looking for medication for a sick kid. The reason for their noiseless, wordless stealth is soon made clear, in the worst way possible.

We then jump ahead to Day 472 and what is now a family of four living in their “quiet place.” We see some old newspaper headlines reading, “Stay Silent, Stay Alive!” The alien invasion is never explained in the minimalist script (by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and Krasinski). But we know enough: They’re here. They’re hungry. And they hunt using sound.

There are horror pics that focus obsessively on one small thing (don’t let the lights go out, don’t blink, don’t go to sleep). The premise of A Quiet Place is simple — dead simple — but Krasinski follows it through with a commitment that is both admirable and slightly wacky.

The family has a crucial advantage in this new silent world. Because the oldest child is deaf (played by the wonderful deaf actor Millicent Simmonds of Wonderstruck), they already know how to communicate. Almost all the film’s sparse dialogue is in American Sign Language (with subtitles).

Their life together seems, in one way, wholesome, home-schooling, Harrowsmithy, off-the-grid. Dad fishes. Mom hangs laundry on the line. The kids play board games by lantern light.

If only there weren’t the life-and-death need for utter silence. And the lurking monsters. And now a baby on the way.

Much of the first half deals with the challenges of daily life lived in complete, blanketing quiet.

How do you cook and eat dinner without the clatter of cutlery and dishes? How do you construct a safe haven when you can’t saw wood or hammer in nails? The tense limitations of the family’s existence are conveyed with an earnest, detailed realism that is also slightly preposterous. (Really, anyone who’s ever taken a small child on a long plane flight or had an argument with a moody, door-slamming teen will be wondering how the family survived this long.)

Krasinski and Blunt are real-life husband and wife with two daughters, and their palpable connection anchors the story, which is partly about the conflicting impulses of parenting — about wanting to protect and shelter your children while also teaching them to be self-reliant. The performances are quiet (obviously!), with huge feelings — desperation, fear, grief — conveyed with minimal means. These are characters we care about, and that’s where the film’s real tension comes in.

Krasinski and Blunt are real-life husband and wife with two daughters, and their palpable connection anchors the story, which is partly about the conflicting impulses of parenting.

Some hardcore horror fans, especially gore-hounds, might find A Quiet Place, well, too quiet. High-stakes scenes pivot on a rusty nail or a child’s toy.

The monsters are derivative — the Alien franchise cut with a little War of the Worlds — and barely seen, usually a good strategy in horror movies but maybe also a practical matter here, as the CGI creature effects are just so-so.

This is basically a modest B-movie, but with compelling characters, potent performances and tight, crafted direction, it effectively explores the quiet power of its premise.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca