A Pinoy @ The Movies: A Quiet Place

It was a clear choice from the movies showing at our local cinemas: Rampage seemed like King Kong in the city; Ready Player One seemed like Tron; and Act of Violence seemed like Taken without Liam Neeson.

A Quiet Place is just exactly like that - a quiet movie, where a family goes through their daily survival without any footwear and loud parents. 

Its story is what I found fascinating and unique. It's set in future America where blind and big creatures are hunting down Americans (probably both Republicans and Democrats) by following the noise humans make. 

Emily Blunt is the mother of three children, and her husband, played by John Krasinski (also her real-life husband) directs.

As spoken dialogues are rare in the movie, it's a lot of sign language and tiptoeing. Although you'd think it's easier for them as they need not memorize long lines, their task is doubly difficult as they have to convey most of the story through facial expressions and movements. 

Blunt, in particular, was amazing. The scenes where she was about to give birth while nursing a skewered, bloody foot and playing hide-and-seek with the creature in her own house, all of these while suppressing her screams of painful childbirth are worthy of another acting nomination.

As the creatures in the movie communicated through sounds, they reminded me of the same mysterious creatures from Matt Damon's Great Wall. The clicking sound made by the creatures from both movies sounded eerily the same.

And as to how the family survived (or did they?), you have to watch it. 

I love the film because it's a tasteful suspense-slash-horror; not a lot of mangled bodies and wasted blood everywhere. 

I love the film because it was actually fun for the audience to play hide-and-seek along with the characters. And you'd feel you'd also survive as long as you kept your breathing slow and soundless.

I love the film because there were no unnecessary scenes meant to prolong the movie. Although, for one and a half hours, I sympathized with them knowing that any loudness could end their idyllic life in the countryside or their shop-till-you-make-a-sound visit to a ghost town could end in tragedy.

As to the soundtrack, it would have been cute if they threw in Simon & Garfunkel's Sound of Silence, or Mariah Carey's I'll Be There. You don't actually need to call anyone's name. Just call out.

In the meantime, go watch it but avoid the popcorn.:-)