Welcome back to The 90-Minute Movie! If it’s your first time here I hope you’ll stick around. If you can’t be bothered to sit through a 3-hour movie, you have a tiny bladder, or you just love a tight script (I happen to fall into all three categories) you will love it here.
In life news, I am seeing Twisters this week and I hope it’s fun. “No one’s fun anymore! Whatever happened to fun?!” I just want to have a good time.1
It is so rare I get to write about a new release. It’s even rarer that I get to write about a movie that WENT TO THEATERS. Talk about a thrill. A Quiet Place: Day One clocks in at 99 minutes and became available for streaming this week. So naturally, there is no better time than now for this post.
ALERT: I usually write about older movies so I’ll say it now THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE. Proceed at your own risk.
Day One is a prequel to the hugely successful A Quiet Place franchise made successful by celeb power couple Jon Krasinski and Emily Blunt (he directed the first, she starred in it alongside him). The first two installments take place further into the future where aliens who cannot see but hear REALLY, REALLY well have taken over the earth. The few humans that remain must live their lives in silence to survive. Day One takes us back to the day of the invasion and drops into the loudest place Americans could think of: New York City. (Also known as Home Sweet Home to yours truly.)
Lupita Nyong’o stars as Sam, a terminal cancer patient being dragged into the city for the day by her caring nurse, Reuben (Alex Wolff). Their simple day trip takes a sharp turn as aliens enter the airspace of the city and New Yorkers start dying in droves at the hands of these creatures. Sam has outlived every date her doctors have given her. She is already facing death. She chooses then, not to survive long term, but long enough to get a slice of her favorite pizza. The plot is simple-- there is no world to save, no solution to find-- which leaves a lot of room for character development and emotional expansion.
I would not watch this movie to gain a better understanding of the aliens. Just like all the other Quiet films we don’t know why the aliens have chosen to come to Earth or what their ultimate goal is. Day One isn’t going to answer any questions for you except for maybe what their nests look like. What Day One does give us is a punch in the gut and a look at the ephemeral nature of our lives, our memories, and the things we choose to give meaning.
When we meet Sam, she is bitter and closed off; unwilling to let anyone in when she knows that she is dying. The filmmakers really lay it on thick just how young she is (and thus just how unfair her lot is) by shooting her consistently among the other older residents of her hospice care. She is the youngest by about 50 years in her therapy group and on the field trip to the city. Reuben is her only youthful outlet but that doesn’t matter to Sam. He calls himself her friend. She calls him a nurse. Sam’s only loyalties lie with her cat, Frodo, and getting a slice of pizza-- likely her last. Surprising no one, Sam’s quest for pizza is cut short when the aliens arrive. And sadly Reuben is not long for this world. (I was pretty bummed about this because I love Alex Wolff and wanted more of him.)
I can appreciate that the major beats of this film are a little heavy-handed. Sam is young but terminally ill. Reuben reaches out to her but she cannot accept. She meets Eric (Joseph Quinn) shortly after and it is these two, up against horrible odds, that find a way to bond. Eric, a law school student, understands her desire for pizza without needing to ask why. He accepts it. Her need is not trivial to him. (We learn later it’s not to her either. The pizza place is a core memory of the time she spent with her father.) I’m ok with these being a bit on the nose but only because Nyong’o and Quinn as able to carry the emotional weight this film requires.
It’s a jarring juxtaposition-- Sam’s relentless hunt for a slice of pizza against the backdrop of the apocalypse. Day One chooses to be a study of the human condition rather than an all-out horror action flick. Something I appreciate and exactly the way you keep a franchise going. That is to say, of course, there are plenty of jump scares and terrifying moments where our leads survive attacks while many others do not. This movie serves as a horrible reminder to me just how difficult New York City would be to escape should something catastrophic happen… (There is also a fun nod to A Quiet Place II, as Djimon Hounsou reprises his role in a few select scenes.)
A Quiet Place: Day One is a prime example of the 90-minute art form. It is a contained story that gives us just enough to enjoy the world into which we are thrust. Emotional performances connect us to this light content and keep us engaged. Reduced stakes cause us to think about our own lives and what is important to us. Sure Patsy’s pizza is great, but what Sam was really after was the feeling she had with her dad before she was sick.
I wrote this before I saw the movie. I went. I saw. I had a great time. We in fact had fun!
Pure 90m artform I agree. I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. Maybe mainly cause I love cats and I ddnt want anything to happen to the kitty lol. Great read!!