A Quiet Place: Day One begins at the start of the disaster when the creatures of outer space first land on Earth. The story follows Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), a hospice patient outside of New York City suffering from cancer who travels into the city to see a marionette show with her fellow patients and their nurse Reuben (Alex Wolff). When the invasion begins, Samira and others try to find a place to shelter. She soon decides to walk to Harlem to enjoy a slice of pizza amidst all the chaos as she had originally planned when she meets another feeling stranger, a law student named Eric (Joseph Quinn) The two soon find comfort in each other and must work together to survive.
The Quiet Place franchise has melded character driven plot with science fiction horror elements to create stories that are both thrilling and emotionally engaging. The first famously dearth with family dynamics, grief, forgiveness with its sequel expanding upon the same themes. The emotional depth present in the scripts allowed it to connect deeply with audiences and separate itself from many other entries within its genre. This prequel film dials this signature component of the series up to 11 with perhaps the most humanistic and, no pun intended, quiet study of the humanistic components of its characters.
Through the journey of Samira and Eric, Day One displays the depth of human compassion and resiliency. Seeing how they both attempt to survive this apocalyptic world with cancer simultaneously weakening Samira, the two strangers are forced to rely on each other and each provides to strength to the other when needed. Numerous times, one must take action that could potentially end their life in order to save the other, with Eric doing so just to provide Samira comfort both physically and emotionally, wading through the a city under siege just to provide her with medication and then ensuring she can finally make it to Harlem. Through Eric’s displays of care, Samira is able to rediscover a faith in humanity that she had lost while fighting death, despite mankind’s primacy on Earth actively crumbling around her. Through the trials and fire of a New York City under attack, Samira and Eric are able to tap into the persistence of the human spirit and its need for connection even in the most perilous of times. Day One takes its time in establishing this treatise on humanity through its story and utilizing the plot’s call for silence to build the character’s connection and expound upon the film’s themes methodically and quietly. There are long periods of dialogueless scenes where the emotion is built through physical activity and non-verbal communication, but the relationship being established is impactful all the same. It makes for a film that is as much a contemplative character study as it is filled with action.
That’s not to say that Day One doesn’t continue to build upon the franchise’s gradual increase in action from one iteration to the next as its budgets increase. There is plenty of asteroid monster action in the fill that provides for tense moments for the characters and exploding, gory chase and death scenes while keeping the concept of having to remain silent and still in the face of monsters with superhearing. The film even attempts to continue to slowly world build, as the audience is given a glimpse of the monsters communicating with one another. The horror thrills in the film are present, although they do take more of a backseat to the human interest portions more than they have previously. A Quiet Place: Day One may be more contemplative than you expect, but it feels well balanced between its humanistic and fantastical components making a quality watch.
Image: Paramount Pictures
