A Quiet Place

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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John Krasinski (The Office) directs a tense and arresting story titled “A Quiet Place.” In part about the nature of sound, it is reminiscent in tone to last year’s “It Comes at Night.” Both films capture the scenario of an apocalypse to excellent effect. Here, the story is about feelings and emotions, just as much as a monstrous external threat. From the start, the film builds gradually. One is put directly into the situation and it is impossible to leave.

Lee (Krasinski) and Evelyn (Emily Blunt) are father and mother to Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe). The family and the few people in the area are paralyzed in fear. It appears the aggressors are otherworldly beasts who go into homicidal rages when they hear sounds of any sort.

The family is forced to retreat to a basement shelter.

The minimalist tale excels in its portrayal of small details. They eat with their hands; plates and silverware are too noisy. When the four walk together they do it in bare feet. Metal toys are covered in cloth and rooms are soundproofed. Communication is almost exclusively through sign language. Husband and wife grieve due to the loss of a son.

At times the plot is reminiscent of the original version of Christian Nyby’s “The Thing.” The father spends days at the desk trying to find some fatal weakness that the aliens may or may not have, all the while tormented like the scientists in the aforementioned film.

He has no answer.

Though it explicitly shows an atmosphere of claustrophobia and melancholy, the movie has touches of poignance. In an imposed environment of near silence, even the sound of a kiss is perilous. The couple share a dance using earphones which play Neil Young’s Harvest Moon. The scene manages to be sensual without so much as a single lip smack.

The scare scenes play just as perfectly. The few jump-inducing moments are spare, with focus being on the family’s anxiety rather than a total creepshow. Blunt’s worry vividly comes through complemented by Krasinski’s paternal calm. The frights that are visible are used more as icing on an already rich drama. The two principal actors, Krasinski and Blunt, are married in real life, but rather than being an element of sap, this is a springboard to realism.

For the most part, Krasinski shows excellent restraint by rejecting pulp terror. This is because mother and father are grounded in the real, thanks in no small part to the acting of Millicent Simmonds, who is deaf.

The film smartly champions emotion over shock. While its “Twilight Zone” premise might seem farfetched, it is the care of both parents that pull the story into a satisfying orbit. There is something of Orson Welles’ “The War of the Worlds” in this film. In its tight atmosphere, “A Quiet Place” feels more than it reveals. In watching it, you will notice the beauty of silence and the intimacy of sound itself: the click of a button on a shirt, the movement of an arm, a fretful intake of breath, a sigh.

Though it delivers a few percussive jolts, “A Quiet Place” is more memorable for the importance it places on sound which is almost poetic in intensity. By watching and attentively listening, we experience both sound and silence together as something human, fragile, unique and terrifying.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com