English film analysis

 A quiet place 

A Quiet Place is a 2018 American post-apocalyptic horror film directed by John Krasinski. The screenplay was written by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods from a story they conceived, with contributions by Krasinski after he joined the project. The movie tells the story of a mother (Emily Blunt) and father (Krasinski) who struggle to survive and raise their children (Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind extraterrestrial creatures with an acute sense of hearing.

Beck and Woods developed the concept for the story while in college, and began writing the screenplay in January 2016. They told Platinum Dunes producers that they wanted Blunt for the role of the mother. In July 2016, Krasinski read their script for the role of the father. He spoke with Blunt about his ideas for the story, and she suggested he direct the film. Blunt initially did not take the role, but later felt connected to the story after reading the script. The two collaborated on ideas for the film during pre-production. Krasinski was announced as director, co-writer, and co-star with Blunt in March 2017. Filming took place in upstate New York from May to November 2017.

A Quiet Place premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2018, and was released in the United States on April 6, 2018, by Paramount Pictures. It grossed more than $340 million worldwide and received critical acclaim. The film was chosen by the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2018, and received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Blunt won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. It is the first film in the A Quiet Place universe. Its sequel, A Quiet Place Part II, was released in 2021.

Plot

Sightless aliens with sharp hearing and impenetrable armored skin have taken over the planet and killed most of the human population. The Abbott family – father Lee, mother Evelyn, deaf daughter Regan, and sons Marcus and Beau – live on their isolated farm in the middle of a forest in upstate New York, and have survived by taking precautions such as laying sand paths to avoid stepping on crunching leaves and using American Sign Language when communicating.

When the family goes into the nearby town for supplies, Beau finds a toy space shuttle, but Lee makes him leave it behind due to the noise it would make if powered on. As they are getting ready to leave, Regan secretly gives him back the toy, but without its batteries. When they leave, Beau takes back the batteries without anyone noticing. While walking back home, Beau turns on the space shuttle, which starts making noise. Almost immediately, Beau is killed by a nearby creature before Lee can reach him. Regan suffers terrible guilt thereafter, which she hides from her parents, although Marcus is aware of it.

Over a year after Beau's death, Evelyn is several months pregnant. Marcus reluctantly goes fishing with Lee while Regan, upset that she cannot go, visits Beau's grave. While the rest of the family is gone, Evelyn goes into labor. While heading to the basement, she accidentally steps on an upright nail and drops a photo frame, alerting a nearby alien which enters the house. Struggling to stay silent amidst the pain, Evelyn flips a switch in the basement, turning the surrounding lights around the house red. The creature enters the basement soon after, but Evelyn distracts it with the loud clicks of an egg timer and escapes upstairs. Upon returning to the farm and seeing the red lights, Marcus and Lee lure the alien out of the house by lighting off fireworks, allowing Evelyn to safely give birth to her baby.

Regan, seeing the fireworks, runs back to the house. Lee enters the house armed with a shotgun and finds the baby and Evelyn, then brings them into a hiding spot under the floor in the barn outside. The baby cries, and a creature enters the barn. The alien fails to find the source of the noise, but breaks some water pipes. Evelyn wakes up in the flooded hideout with the alien still inside and hides behind the falling water to mask her and the baby's sound.

Marcus and Regan climb to the top of a corn silo and light a signal fire to alert their father, but Marcus falls into the silo and almost becomes sucked into the corn. Hearing this, the alien, which is hunting for Evelyn, runs towards the silo and attacks Regan and Marcus. The creature's disruptive effect on electronics causes Regan's cochlear implant to emit a high-pitched noise, which causes the creature to reel in pain and retreat, breaking a hole in the silo which frees the children. Lee finds Regan and Marcus, directing them to his truck and is wounded when a creature attacks him. Marcus cannot stifle a scream, and the alien attacks the truck. Lee signs to Regan that he has always loved her and proceeds to yell to draw the creatures attention, sacrificing himself in order to allow Marcus and Regan to drive the truck back to the house safely.

Reuniting with a grieving Evelyn they make their way back into the house, followed by a creature. Regan, remembering the reaction it had to the high-pitched noise from her implant, places it on a microphone which amplifies the noise. The creature screeches in pain and exposes the vulnerable tissue beneath the armor plating on its head, allowing Evelyn to kill it with Lee's shotgun. Armed with a new weapon, the family prepares to defend themselves from the approaching pack of creatures who heard the shot.