In 2018, John Krasinski caused a sensation with his minimalist anticipation film Without a sound, in which blind aliens with overdeveloped hearing invaded Earth, plunging humanity into forced silence. From the introduction, the director and actor takes the stage alongside his wife, Emily Blunt, and carefully shows the daily life of the survivors, forced to live without making a single sound. Two years later, a second film continues the family’s saga and shows the beginnings of the invasion through a gripping flashback.
A Quiet Place: Day One aims to continue this exploration of the past, focusing exclusively on the tipping point. Unfortunately, the film fails to distinguish itself or renew the formula, creating an immediate contradiction with its promise.
Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), a young woman with cancer living in a hospice for palliative care in New York, goes on a cultural outing in the heart of Manhattan with other residents. As they are about to leave, the sky catches fire and the carnage begins. A Quiet Place: Day 1 is quick in exposure.
Very quickly, the film moves on to the most interesting part, the alien invasion. The aliens appear in the middle of New York, creating a wave of panic and a scene of carnage well felt. Darkness falls, the noise fades and Samira begins her wandering in a devastated New York, until she meets a law student, Eric (Joseph Quinn, revealed thanks to the series Stranger Things). The film also makes a connection with Without a sound 2involving the character of Djimon Hounsou, future leader of the colony.
A Quiet Place: Day 1 has an interesting main theme. When the world is turning upside down and humanity is trying to survive at all costs, what does a sick person in palliative care who is already close to his own end do?
The way Lupita Nyong’o’s character is viewed changes the usual prism of the survival film. Samira knows that her days are numbered and does not behave in the same way as the other characters (without being unconscious).
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From there, the film creates a sincere and touching relationship between Samira and Eric, who accompanies her on her journey through New York. The film authentically builds the bond between the two heroes and in fact recalls the first Without a soundin its more minimalist, more constricted aspect, contenting itself with few characters.
Strength of the first film, but feeling of repetition with this prequel. Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn can’t do anything about it. Despite two (very) solid performances, the feature film lacks surprise and seems incomplete. The cause: the total absence of context around the invasion.
Where is New York?
If A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place 2 deliberately moved away from the big cities to accentuate the road trip aspect of the characters, Without a sound: day 1 begins by stating that New York is one of the noisiest cities on the planet. The promise is underlying: the Big Apple must descend into chaos because of its specificity.
However, the film does absolutely nothing with its premise. At no time is New York really highlighted (except for a quick asphyxiating scene of human chaos), and the particularity surrounding the noisy city in a world forced to remain silent is absolutely not addressed. The film misses its promise and does not expand the mythology of the saga either. By opting for a very minimalist approach again, the lack of grandeur becomes boring and vain.
Where are the armed forces? What is the response of governments? What is really happening in the city and in the world? New York is limited here to just a few streets, none of the most iconic places are shown or mentioned. Faced with all these unanswered questions, A Quiet Place: Day 1 almost becomes cheap, broke. As if the desire to develop a touching and sincere relationship could only be achieved by removing everything superfluous and limiting oneself. Even in the production of scenes of horror or tension, Michael Sarnoski cannot match what John Krasinski did much better.
Without a sound: day 1 could have been some kind of War of the Worlds revisited, really showing how silent humanity has become. Instead, the film is content to show that the second day is like the next thousand: people walking alone, despite an interesting theme and a solid cast.
A Quiet Place: Day 1by Michael Sarnoski, with Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn and Djimon Hounsou, 1h39, in theaters June 26, 2024.
