A Quiet Place anything but a quiet place
The silence draws in the audience to fear the inevitable, unknown
Colton Molesky
Staff Writer
A still swept through you immediately. It was not just the silent, almost paralyzing quiet of the movie, but a deep placid blanket that had enveloped the entire audience. What was different from the very start of this movie was the silence that pulled the audience in, closing in on all sides and forcing everyone present to join in the stillness brought on by the movie. (Spoilers from here on out).
It took three minutes for everyone to suddenly feel awkward about the slight munch of popcorn or slurp of pop caused by the deafening silence of the movie immediately.
John Krasinski had everyone locked in as we followed a small family through a town nearly as humble where they searched for supplies while staying under the curtain of silence. Then, just like at the beginning of the trailer, the calm is jarringly ripped apart by the noise of a child’s toy spaceship. In comparison to the still resting over not just our characters, but everyone in the theater, the noise shatters the world, which is further broken by a creature lurking from the foreboding wilderness.
The fascinating part about this unique post-apocalyptic movie has been outlined; how will key uses of sound and silence set the tone for a genre well worked in the least two years.
As the plot progresses, the story of what happened to Earth and how AVP looking monsters whose only sense is an insane hearing ability, and taking over the earth and decimating the human populace comes to sight.
The aftermath leaves survivors that live in perpetual fear of sound, for fear of bringing attention to themselves via the slightest sound above a whisper.
The effect is that what little conversation or noise ensues in the movie carries tremendous weight. From when the father (Krasinski) takes his son (Noah Jupe) to a waterfall, hearing their voices for the first time as they crow under the cover of the roaring cascade, to the anguished cry of an old man the father and son stumble across, who just lost his wife and now seeks to end his in a moment of despair.
It did not take much to break through the muted theme of the movie, but when a noise was put in play it became a powerful tool in the hands of director/actor Krasinski. After such hushed and muffled activity, the soft sobs of the mother (Emily Blunt) reminiscing the loss of their youngest was enough to put viewers on their heels.
As the calm was constantly reestablished, only to be shattered again by a grotesque monster or an accidental mishap that would send every character into paralyzing suspense, the true main character showed through, the silence itself.
It is the deep, penetrating force that controls everything in the movie, brings emotion to the smallest interactions and heralds in all hell when it is disturbed.
The movie is both unique and fantastic because of the unique quiet it inspires to all watching and the way it plays upon the calm to introduce chaos. Unlike the cluttered nature of so many movies placed following a global disaster, there is so much space to let both your imagination and the stillness clutch you in suspense.
In true M. Night Shyamalan form, the movie gives you plenty of time to fear the unknown itself, making the silence between action unbearable. The final note is this is a must-see movie in the theaters. It is hard to truly capture the sweeping hush that controls an entire theater for 90 minutes in any other setting, making this almost an essential part of the movie. Watch the movie, watch it in the theaters, watch it once or 20 times, become enveloped in noiselessness.
Photo: This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Noah Jupe, from left, Millicent Simmonds and John Krasinski in a scene from “A Quiet Place.” Horror has emerged as one of the most bankable and inventive genres for a Hollywood desperate for hits. The $50 million debut of John Krasinksi’s “A Quiet Place” suggests horror’s big 2017 has carried over to 2018.(Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures via AP)