A Quiet Place: Day One

A film I've been wanting to discuss since release and... oh, boy, this one hit hard. A Quiet Place: Day One is a prequel to the horror film A Quiet Place directed by John Krasinski and talks about the initial invasion of the aliens seen in those movies. For the uninitiated, these movies focus on people surviving aliens that rely on sound to hunt their prey. This movie, set on day one of the invasion, focuses on the initial reaction to these aliens and how a big city responds to such a disaster. Taking notes from Cloverfield, War of the Worlds, and other similar films, this movie pays respect to the genre while also delivering a highly emotional story focused on death and how we make every moment count. Let's get into A Quiet Place: Day One.

PLOT: A quiet remembrance of pain.

Focused on a cancer patient going to get one last slice of pizza at the end of the world, this movie's emotional core is wallowing in grief and despair for your own life being cut short. However, at the center remains hope that people are able to survive and move past what you leave behind. This story hit hard purely on the note of the cancer patient. I thought of my own mother and my own anxieties around getting such a disease and my own experience was echoed throughout this entire movie. While the movie is low on actual scares and instead relies heavily on tension, this in turn amplifies the emotions and attaches you the the characters more. Speaking of...

CHARACTERS: The center of the film.

It is my belief that the film WOULD NOT work without solid direction and acting. Thankfully, Lupita N'yongo, Alex Wolff, and Joseph Quinn are all incredibly talented actors being lead by a solid director that knows what needs to be captured here. Towing the fine line of emoting without speaking actual words is an incredible challenge, as seen in many movies that rely on dialogue to carry the emotion. Lupita is so incredible at conveying every single thought and emotion in her face, I lost myself in her performance and felt her grief the same way she did. Alex Wolff acts as a guide for her character into the new world while Joseph Quinn is guided by her and each actor does an incredible job playing their roles. However, the best character is Frodo the cat. While I say this jokingly, the cat does manage to be the right amount of cute while also not taking away from the actors. Career-making performances all around and I hope Alex and Joseph get more work after this.

SHOTS: Stellar, but not invasive.

Strangely, I found the shots in this movie great, but never stealing away from the core of this film which is the acting and characters. While they do have incredible shots of an abandoned New York and of the aliens crawling across buildings (which itself is terrifying as a visual), but never do they linger too long as to steal the show. This movie is shot perfectly, which is to say it does its job.

SOUND: Haunting!

This soundtrack is haunting and beautiful, but never too loud as to take away the suspense. It does its job and I honestly don't have a ton to say.

WRITING: Not much!

Writing isn't really as big a concern in movies without dialogue, or so you'd think. In all actuality, a script without dialogue would likely be much much longer than a script with, as now everything has to be conveyed without dialogue and thus the script must include actual descriptions of emotion and feelings. Thus, this film, while not having much dialogue, does have great writing as to show how people would survive or die in such a horrific time.

LITTLE THINGS: The message.

The message isn't particularly unique, but it does convey it in a way I've never seen before. The idea that the film is trying to convey is that death is hard, but making each moment count up until the very end. When many films will fling this in your face with reckless abandon (cough, cough, TITANIC), this film chooses to never outright say its message and instead allow the emotions to convey it all. Ultimately, Lupita's character is on minimal time and she knows it. Instead of trying to get to safety, she goes after a slice of pizza to enjoy her last few days on Earth, knowing she likely won't be able to find meds or treatment after this. Joseph Quinn's character being the person who ultimately takes her cat and carries on her legacy is a beautiful conclusion to this story as he spends the movie following her until it's his time to forge his own path. Do this more, movies. Cancer is a sickening disease, but enjoying what time we have with people will always be more important than those lost moments. I hold my own regrets about my mom and what time I had with her, but will always appreciate the moments I did get.

VERDICT: A gut-wrenching heartache of a movie.

With two heart-aching reviews at once, it's been difficult to get through this. But, I found this movie to be beautiful, suspenseful, and, above all else, to have a great message. Even if you don't enjoy horror, you'll get a ton from this well-written, well-acted, and well-shot movie that has more to say than just "survive". Instead, it tells you to live life to the fullest even if you won't have the chance to survive past day one.

SCORE: 9/10, god this one hurt.