The New Movie of the Week: A Quiet Place Day One

Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) is a terminally ill cancer patient living out her few remaining days at a hospice outside of New York City with her support cat, Frodo.  Reuben (Alex Wolff), a nurse convinces a reluctant Sam to go with a group to a marionette show in the city.  Sam agrees on the condition that they stop and get pizza before returning home.  After the show, Reuben gets word that they need to return to the hospice immediately as something is happening in the city but before they can, meteorite like objects fall from the sky and viscous creatures begin an attack.  The monsters have no eyes and cannot see, but hunt using an acute sense of sound.  Sam is knocked unconscious by an explosion and awakes back in the theatre and is reunited with Reuben and Frodo.  The military destroys the bridges leading out of New York City to prevent the aliens from spreading and instructs the survivors to make it to the South Street Seaport to be rescued by boat as the creatures cannot swim.  Sam decides she is still going to get her Pizza and instead of going with the survivors, makes her way towards Harlem.  Sam is briefly separated from Frodo, who finds Eric (Joseph Quinn), an Englishman studying law in New York.  He is in shock and suffers from panic attacks.  Frodo leads Eric to Sam, and he begins to follow her,  even after she instructs him not to. Eventually, she allows him to travel with her and Frodo.  The trio, after several encounters with the invaders, eventually acquires their goal of pizza, and begin to head to the seaport and safety.  Can Eric, Sam and Frodo all make it to the boat?  Watch and find out!

A Quiet Place: Day One is a 2024 American science fiction horror film and a prequel to the first two movies in the film franchise. It was written and directed by Michael Samoski with a story conceived by him and John Krasinski who directed and co-wrote the first movie and directed and wrote the second movie.  This creates a nice continuity as well as the inclusion of the Henri character played by  Djimon Hounsou who reprises his role from the second film.  The movie debuted at the Tribeca Festival on June 26, 2024, and was released in theatres on June 28.  The film got mainly positive reviews from critics who praised Quinn and Nyong’o’s performances as grounding the film. Polled audiences by CinemaScore gave it a B+ rating and a 79% in the PostTrak audience polling.   As of August 2, 2024, the film has grossed $255.9 million worldwide. The film was released for digital download on July 30, 2024, and is set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 8.

This film elicited an intense emotional response from me and I am not sure if it was the film or other factors within my life, most likely a combination of the two.  The movie is incredibly well made and the actors give amazing performances that allow the audience to both empathize and sympathize with the characters. Sam’s character wants to get a final piece of pizza, because it is what her and her father, who also died of cancer, used to do, after he finished playing piano at a jazz club when she was a child.  Eric, who helps her realize this goal is kind and tender but at times a liability as he is so scared and panics easily. Sam is jaded at this point and is sometimes cruel to Reuben in the beginning. Eric helps her to recover her humanity and how to live.  The chemistry between the two who quickly become friends is wonderful. The inclusion of a cat as a main character also heightens the emotional connection.  (Spoiler Alert! I had to google to make sure Frodo survives, I would not have been able to watch this movie if the cat perished.) Taking the emotional engagement one step further, the film has the audience on edge from the point the aliens attack all the way to the end with very few moments of relief.  This, combined with a leading character who is terminally ill makes a story that is both life affirming, but terribly sad in many aspects and also immensely tense with very little recovery time between encounters. By the end of this movie (and even now writing this article) I was bawling.  It is an incredibly raw and emotional film.