A Quiet Place - Day one: Quest for life's precious moments in a city silenced by fearsome aliens

[00:00:11] Hello and welcome to Onmanorama Movie Podcast, Start, Action, Cut. Today we are decoding the English film A Quiet Place, Day one. And we have Swati here with us to discuss the film.

[00:00:24] So there are umpteen number of alien movies out there but what makes A Quiet Place, Day one, written and directed by Michael Sarnowski different, is the emotional connect it establishes with the audience.

[00:00:38] What do you say Swati?

[00:00:40] Yes, Patma Kumar. I think obviously we are all familiar with the world that A Quiet Place has created and in my opinion A Quiet Place is truly a near perfect film.

[00:00:50] I remember watching John Krasinski's directorial debut and I was completely mind blown.

[00:00:55] So from start to finish I was on the edge of my seat constantly wondering what would happen next.

[00:01:01] Suspense was intense and what made it even more powerful was the emotional family story woven into the plot.

[00:01:06] So it wasn't just a sci-fi horror movie, it had depth and heart. The second part of the film was equally remarkable with Emily Blunt delivering a phenomenal performance.

[00:01:15] So when I heard about the prequel A Quiet Place, Day One, I was curious to see what new elements would it bring to the table. As a standalone movie, it's quite enjoyable.

[00:01:25] It has enough substance to keep the audience engaged. But knowing the events that unfold in A Quiet Place universe, particularly the alien infested world, the suspense didn't hit as hard as it did in the first two films.

[00:01:38] While Day One is solid, it doesn't quite carry the same level of tension and surprise that made the original film so gripping is what I felt.

[00:01:45] Yeah, it's interesting to note that the prequel is coming after the first film.

[00:01:51] Okay, usually the other way happens, the sequel comes.

[00:01:54] But the story is by John Krasinski and Michael Sarnowski. The film stars Lupita Yongo as Samira or Sam, Joseph Quinn as Eric and Alex Wolf as Ruben and Jimon Honsu as Henry.

[00:02:12] So we are in the city invaded by a bevy of blind aliens, which are too sensitive to sounds.

[00:02:19] They go on crushing and destroying whatever comes in their way and sense the presence of living beings by the sounds they make.

[00:02:28] So there are two strands of stories running parallel in this film.

[00:02:32] One is the story of Sam, a terminally ill woman at a care center in the outskirts of New York City.

[00:02:38] And her venture to the city, dreaming to have her favorite pizza at a restaurant.

[00:02:44] The other is of course the struggle of the city dwellers who are under the spell of horribly ferocious aliens.

[00:02:52] So I think the theme must have been born out of the excruciating noise pollution in cities, say, created by the buzzers, the blaring horns, loudspeakers and the raving engines and so on.

[00:03:04] Though I haven't heard or read anything of those sorts anywhere.

[00:03:09] But by the long stretches of quietness that navigate the story ahead, so absorbingly it seems to be an ode to silence.

[00:03:17] What do you think?

[00:03:18] Yes, Patma Kumar, like you said, it is definitely an ode to silence and we can view it in our own ways.

[00:03:24] Because in the first two movies, they talked about one family and how are they dealing with alien invasion.

[00:03:30] And in the prequel, you are seeing this woman who is ill and then there is this man who comes along who sort of sees her as a mother figure.

[00:03:37] She helps him completely throughout their journey.

[00:03:41] And there are scenes where you could see he's panicking and she tells him to breathe, breathe.

[00:03:47] So he sort of clings on her like a savior, in fact.

[00:03:51] But if you look at it, she's sick.

[00:03:53] She needs his help as well.

[00:03:55] And they are like sort of living in this world, trying to help each other.

[00:03:59] That is a beautiful story there.

[00:04:00] But coming to the alien invasion part, like I mentioned before, that is not as gripping as before.

[00:04:06] Because you know what these alien or what these creatures would do, what they're capable of, what their strengths and weaknesses are.

[00:04:13] So in this movie, you already, that's already established.

[00:04:16] You are familiar with the aliens.

[00:04:17] So what could have done more was what I think the audience was looking forward to.

[00:04:22] And what I felt could have added as a fresh element of the movie was exploring the initial responses to the alien invasion.

[00:04:29] How people reacted right from the ground zero moment.

[00:04:32] It would have been interesting to see the chaos and survival instincts play out at the very beginning of the catastrophe.

[00:04:38] Of course, with Lupita Nyong'o in the cast, her performance is undeniably convincing.

[00:04:43] But as the movie progresses, it starts to tread familiar ground making it look like the first two films.

[00:04:49] So I think that could have been avoided.

[00:04:52] Because obviously you need something fresh for you to completely get absorbed in the movie.

[00:04:57] You would be interested or you would want to watch this movie, but not as invested as the first two films.

[00:05:04] Did you really like the movie?

[00:05:06] If you ask me if I really liked the movie, I would have to say 50-50.

[00:05:09] Because I was a big fan of The Quiet Place.

[00:05:12] And when it released, when I watched it, I remember having a great time.

[00:05:16] But the alien infested world, how the creatures are, all of that is already established in the first two movies.

[00:05:21] So I felt like what they could have shown in the prequel was how the people reacted on ground zero.

[00:05:28] On the day one, this happened.

[00:05:30] Obviously, there are scenes in the sequels where it is shown how John Krasinski and his family reacts to the invasion.

[00:05:38] But this was about what happens on the first day.

[00:05:41] But soon I felt like the movie just goes back into the familiar trajectory where the aliens come when you make sounds.

[00:05:48] So that is already established.

[00:05:50] So I was like, maybe they could have shown something else, something fresh.

[00:05:53] Like how these people are reacting to it initially.

[00:05:56] Like there would be shock, there would be clear paranoia, people panicking, all of that.

[00:06:02] So that was what I was expecting.

[00:06:04] But unfortunately, I did not see that happening in the movie.

[00:06:07] But actually for me, since I haven't seen the previous two movies, this quite interested me.

[00:06:13] For one thing, that the movie explores the possibility of silence.

[00:06:19] Actually, I think maybe the creators, any of the creators must have gone through such a very bad experience of noise pollution in his town.

[00:06:30] So that's one thing.

[00:06:32] And like all other alien movies, it always strikes me because that's why I am not a big fan of alien movies anymore.

[00:06:41] Because I have seen a lot of alien movies before.

[00:06:45] But it strikes me to think how weird or how different, how strange an alien can be in your imagination.

[00:06:53] In all movies, I think all the alien creatures are almost common with weird shapes and with weird limbs.

[00:07:03] And there are some might be having just one eye or some might not be having any eyes at all.

[00:07:09] Which else way you can create an alien?

[00:07:12] So Patpohumar, I watch a lot of science videos and I listen to it in my free time.

[00:07:19] So I was really curious about how an alien would look like in real life as well.

[00:07:23] But there was a scientist who was talking about how an alien would look like.

[00:07:27] And he was saying, so we can't really imagine how an alien would look like because the factors that are needed for life to sustain in other planets would be totally different.

[00:07:37] So how we have formed or the other animals, all of them kind of have a similar structure.

[00:07:42] We have two eyes, we have like animals have four legs, we have our hands and legs.

[00:07:46] But I don't think that would be how an alien would look like because we don't know if it would have an eye or a leg or it would be completely different.

[00:07:54] For example, I really liked how they portrayed aliens in the movie Arrival, Denis Villeneuve's very famous movie Arrival.

[00:08:01] So that creature is called Heptapods.

[00:08:03] They have seven legs and they communicate in a very different way.

[00:08:06] That was what was extremely striking about the movie, how creative they showed, how creative the aliens were and how they communicated.

[00:08:14] They communicate through some sign languages and some weird circles that these scientists were decoding later.

[00:08:19] But it was extremely creative because those aliens and how they communicated and the whole pod and how it was functioning,

[00:08:26] all of those was completely different from the kind of aliens and the UFOs that we've seen in other movies.

[00:08:32] So obviously, like you said, in a quiet place, the structuring of the alien is again, it's like any other alien that you'd see in other movies.

[00:08:40] So it would not be that creative or maybe the idea was to just create a monstrous creature and they went for it.

[00:08:48] But the alien discussion, how an alien would look like, I completely agree with you.

[00:08:52] We would never know how an alien would really look like in real life.

[00:08:55] Yeah, yeah. But I think since you are a human being, whichever alien shape you make will resemble something that you have seen in your life.

[00:09:02] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:09:03] In real life, it might even look like, but it will have a structure that resembles your own.

[00:09:08] Yeah.

[00:09:09] First of all.

[00:09:10] Like example in the movie E.T.

[00:09:11] Yeah.

[00:09:12] It looks like a mini human being.

[00:09:13] Mini human being.

[00:09:14] And even in Independence Day.

[00:09:16] Yeah.

[00:09:17] Is that the name of the movie?

[00:09:18] The first one, Will Smith and all Independence Day.

[00:09:21] The first one, it was released in 1990s.

[00:09:24] A UFO hovers on a, and stops above a city and then the mayhem happens.

[00:09:32] So that's a challenge to the creators.

[00:09:34] If you are going to make a sci-fi movie, if I would like to watch another alien movie, I would definitely go for, I mean, expect a creature which is not like the ones that you have seen before.

[00:09:50] So that is where arrival comes into play and heptapods come into play because that is nothing like what we've seen before.

[00:09:56] But yet, how is...

[00:09:57] Maybe like an octopus, but still.

[00:09:59] But still, there is an octopus in real life.

[00:10:01] That is true, but...

[00:10:02] How can you imagine a thing that you have never seen?

[00:10:06] Is it possible?

[00:10:07] I don't think it is possible because how can we, like, obviously we can envision something and we can imagine maybe this is how it might look like, but we never know.

[00:10:16] Yeah, yeah. But maybe I have, I have heard sometimes filmmakers say that you have to have, I mean, characters or things which can resemble creatures in real life because otherwise people won't be interested in looking at it.

[00:10:33] So I think...

[00:10:34] People have to relate to them.

[00:10:35] Yeah.

[00:10:36] So it's for the sake of the audience also. It has to have that horrible, horrific figure. Otherwise, you won't feel that terrifying effect.

[00:10:45] Maybe that's the reason.

[00:10:47] I think the best example to, you know, talk about right now is the thriller series Three Body Problem, where it is about this group of aliens coming to Earth and in the show it is said that they will only reach Earth after many, many years.

[00:11:01] But, and there are points in the series where the people ask, how will these aliens look like? And can we imagine them? And the aliens actually in the human forms respond to these people saying, you cannot imagine what we look like. You cannot comprehend it. You would not be able to comprehend it.

[00:11:19] And we are never shown how these aliens look like. And because of that factor, I'm actually looking forward to see the next season because I really want to know how those aliens would look like, like something we would never comprehend or something beyond our imagination. So that I think that is the perfect example to cite here.

[00:11:35] So let's wait and see how they would look like. But yet, I think if you create something like that, people won't be interested in it. So that's what I feel. What do you say? Something that you have never seen before, something that you cannot relate with. If you are shown, you won't feel that horror. I think that horror element you need to.

[00:11:55] That would be there. I think filmmakers should bank on the fact that, or they should create something. But I don't know. Do you think that we as humans are able to imagine something so different from us, something that we've not seen before? To create a creature like that? I don't know if that is possible.

[00:12:11] That's what I say. That even if you create something like that, some unimaginable creature or with an, I mean, outlandish. No, you cannot say outlandish. It was something that you have never seen. I think you won't be able to evoke the, generate that fear factor.

[00:12:26] Fear factor, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's what I think.

[00:12:29] Because space in itself is so…

[00:12:30] They are making creations, these creations for the sake of film. They have to run it in the theatres. So they have to draw audience. So if you have to make, if you make something,

[00:12:41] which is way too different from what they imagine, it will be, I mean, risky. That's what I feel.

[00:12:47] Because space in itself is something that we've not explored. Like it is so vast and so huge. So any sort of creature can exist there. We never know.

[00:12:55] Space means infinite. There is no…

[00:12:56] Yeah, it is infinite. So, I mean, it is so interesting to think about there are other creatures out there. It is so…

[00:13:02] For me, it's very interesting. But yeah, we'll have to see if any of the filmmakers are going to create something that we have not seen

[00:13:09] and completely different from whatever we've seen in any of the movies.

[00:13:13] So, you have seen both the previous films.

[00:13:17] But actually, I haven't seen any of them.

[00:13:19] This is the first time I am introducing myself into the universe of A Quiet Place.

[00:13:26] But I can sense the detachment in the sense that the movie doesn't quite pull you right into the middle of the situation

[00:13:32] or you are not that neck deep in the adverse moments.

[00:13:37] And also, I think the excessive use of dimly lit frames deprives you of the continuity in the flow of events at times.

[00:13:46] But there are some brilliant moments in the film at display.

[00:13:50] It shows you how a normal, mundane humdrum suddenly turns into chaos and uncertainty.

[00:13:58] And it shows how lonely are human beings on Earth,

[00:14:02] indicating that a slight cosmic aberration can leave earthly beings in distraught on an unimaginable scale.

[00:14:10] And how even a presence of a cat can give you hope and light up your life.

[00:14:18] And it was interesting to note that the cat, the character of the cat is named Frodo.

[00:14:25] And that character in the movie was played by two cats named Nico and Schnitzel.

[00:14:32] So, what are the other things, notable things that you felt like describing?

[00:14:38] One thing, Patmukhbha, that I really liked about the movie is that the main protagonist, that is Sam, played by Lupita.

[00:14:45] She is a cancer patient.

[00:14:46] And when the movie starts, she has little or no hopes about a bright future.

[00:14:52] She is like, you feel like she's given up and doesn't want to explore the world.

[00:14:57] But when the catastrophe hits and, you know, people are running in panic and, you know, trying to save themselves.

[00:15:03] Then there is a moment where she finds hope and she wants to at least survive and go to the place where she would get a slice of pizza and enjoy herself.

[00:15:12] And that journey was quite inspiring for me.

[00:15:15] Because from her perspective or through her perspective, we get to see peace of human hope and how that can survive any adversity.

[00:15:24] There is this beautiful scene in this movie between Eric and Sam, the law student who joins Hermit Bay.

[00:15:31] So, that is when, you know, they go to the restaurant and they try out, they eat the pizza.

[00:15:37] And in that moment, they are happy.

[00:15:39] They are obviously worried about the aliens crawling in, but they are in the moment enjoying that moment.

[00:15:44] So, in a way, the movie also teaches us or shows us that each moment is very valuable.

[00:15:50] And we should be grateful for what we have at the moment and not worry too much about what is going to happen.

[00:15:55] And coming to the performances, I think, I was wondering if it is because it is Lupita Nyong'o that you are really watching the film.

[00:16:02] Because she is, obviously, she is an Oscar winner.

[00:16:05] And it is very evident from the movie us that she is a very strong performer.

[00:16:09] And the fear, like when the aliens are crawling in, when they come near to them, the fear that plays on her face, I think that was very realistic.

[00:16:19] And the way she emotes those emotions were also very admirable.

[00:16:24] Because there is this scene when in front of her, her friend or the nurse gets snatched away by the alien.

[00:16:29] And she doesn't scream, but she closes her mouth and all of the emotions are shown through her eyes.

[00:16:35] It's wide open.

[00:16:37] She is in shock.

[00:16:38] But she still managed to move on and she sort of managed to escape.

[00:16:43] But the emotions, my God, I think it is just because it is Lupita that we are convinced by the fact that, okay, this is real.

[00:16:50] And it is as real as it can get.

[00:16:52] And in the last, in the climax sequence also, she pushes Eric to go reach the vessel and to escape.

[00:17:03] And then there is this scene where she is happy.

[00:17:05] Happy that he has reached that point where he wanted to go.

[00:17:09] And she is at the point where she always wanted to be.

[00:17:11] That is enjoying the city, the cool breeze.

[00:17:14] And there is this line where she means, sometimes the silence speaks a lot of words.

[00:17:18] And she is enjoying it and she has the headset on and she is listening to the music.

[00:17:23] I think that part of the movie was really admirable.

[00:17:27] And I think even without the alien invasion, this could have been a movie if this was the theme.

[00:17:32] Yeah, true.

[00:17:33] That's true, Swati.

[00:17:34] And as for the movie and the theme, the ambience, I think, like all other alien movies, this too dwells on the portrayal of creepy forms and annihilating activities of those creatures.

[00:17:50] And like all such films, this too has a final resolution and escape from the extraterrestrial creatures.

[00:17:57] But what makes it unique is the balanced use of silence and sounds played to the advantage of the captivating effect of the film.

[00:18:06] That brings us to the end of this episode.

[00:18:08] Thanks for listening to Start Action Cut, produced and hosted by me, Pat Mukumar.

[00:18:13] Follow www.onmanorama.com for more podcasts on movies.

[00:18:18] And be sure to come back for the next episode of Start Action Cut out on Mondays.

[00:18:23] Thank you.