OVP: A Quiet Place (2018)

Film: A Quiet Place (2018)
Stars: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe
Director: John Krasinski
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Sound Editing)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

The trend of prestige horror has slowly (evidenced by Hereditary, too slowly) gained prominence with awards groups in the past few years, to the point where Get Out was a Best Picture nominee, only the fourth horror film to achieve that status.  Last year, A Quiet Place was at least in the running for such an honor, but like most prestige horror (even with the increased critical attention) it petered out at the end.  The film somehow, inexplicably, was one that I never got around to reviewing despite it being a big hit and Oscar-nominated, so as I continue over the next two weeks to get all of the remaining 2018 Oscar nominated films (that I haven't reviewed for posterity here), we're going to start that countdown with the movie that is most overdue a review.

(Spoilers Ahead) A Quiet Place, for those that haven't seen it yet, is the story of the Abbotts.  Set in 2020 (some people complain about this, but I genuinely like when dystopian films take place in the immediate future as it gives an extra level of creepy), the movie is about a family of four that is trying to live in a world where aliens have landed, and seem to be attracted to sound.  As a result, the film has very little spoken dialogue, with the family largely communicating through sign language, a skill they know as one of the children, Regan (Simmonds, who was also in the delightful Wonderstruck) is deaf.  The parents Lee (Krasinski) and Evelyn (Blunt), are mourning the loss of their youngest son who was eaten by the aliens after Regan gave him a toy that made noise (after Lee had taken it away).  As a result, there's a sense of animosity between the two, with Lee unable to properly express his grief and forgiveness to her.  The film unfolds with the aliens coming to their farm, with Lee eventually sacrificing himself to save his children (showing his daughter that he forgives her first, though), and Regan finds a way to defeat the aliens by using her cochlear implant to distract them while Evelyn kills them, giving the humans a fighting chance.

The film's premise is interesting, and well-acted.  Blunt had a ball in 2018 between this and Mary Poppins Returns, and has solid chemistry with her real-life husband (not always a given with actual married couples, as film history has taught us).  She plays Evelyn as a woman who likely was naturally quiet in a pre-alien world, a nice counter to Lee who was obviously the talker of the two before this happened, a smart character observation in a performance that's brimming with them.  The film got some press as an anti-abortion film (or at least pro-life-I'm still confused in 2019 how we're supposed to differentiate between these two terms as clearly the draconian laws in Alabama & Georgia are the former) as Evelyn is pregnant & gives birth during the movie, but one has to assume it's partially because there's no real access to medical care/contraception and she's living with a guy that looks like this, so girl I get it and am willing to suspend a bit of disbelief there.

But where I'm confused is some of the choices of the filmmakers.  The writers consistently feel the need to spell out things, even though we understand what's going on-the whiteboard in the basement underlining everything that we've already pieced together felt wholly unnecessary, and just lazy scripting.  Perhaps the stupidest decision of the film's creators, though, was the blaring Marco Beltrami score.  Thankfully this wasn't nominated at the Oscars, though it was shortlisted.  The score totally ruins the affect of a film where silence is supposed to reign supreme.  In many ways it feels like they're taking away or easing the fear by giving us some noise, but it also deprives a key access point into the Abbotts' lives, almost making this a fatal error in an otherwise interesting, if a little simplistic, horror film.  It also would have made the one Oscar nomination that it did earn a bit more likely to win.  The Sound Editing is good (the aliens are distinct), but it's distracted from by the score and would have been cooler if they'd have gone fully-in on their aesthetic.