Let It Snow (2019), Shameik Moore, Isabela Moner, Netflix
Let It Snow is a comedy/romance starring Kiernan Shipka, Shameik Moore, Odeya Rush and Isabela Moner.
Directed by Luke Snellin, at the centre of the story is a group of young people in a small town on Christmas Eve who are brought together by a snowstorm.
The involvement of Moore and Shipka are the reasons I’m most interested. This film’s premise also kind of reminds me of Valentines Day (2010) and New Years Eve (2011). Except of course that the characters are much younger.
Mitchell Hope, Miles Robbins, Mason Gooding, Liv Hewson, Anna Akana, Victor Rivers, Matthew Noszka, Joan Cusack, Genevieve DeGraves and Andrea de Oliveira also star.
I’ve accepted the idea that Hollywood movies are currently embracing the ‘silence or you die’ theme. First came A Quiet Place (2017), then Bird Box (2018), and now director John R. Leonetti’s The Silence.
The premise of The Silence is similar to that of the above mentioned movies. All three feature a family who have to stay silent in order to survive the deadly creatures terrorising Earth.
Starring Stanley Tucci, Kiernan Shipka and John Corbett, I settled into the pace and style of The Silence at the start quite nicely. Especially the introduction of the family at the centre of the story. I enjoyed this phase so much that I did then miss it once the scary creatures came to obliterate the peace.
I like that there’s a fair amount of tension-filled ‘scary’ moments in The Silence. Not the kind of scary that would induce nightmares but rather the more ‘suspenseful-scary’ variety. In fact, for me the most horrifying thing in The Silence isn’t actually the deadly, primeval species with acute hearing – but rather the intentions of a specific group within the story. I also liked the Tucci / Corbett dynamic and the design of the primeval species.
Overall I think The Silence is OK. The parts I wasn’t overly enthused by include the final cut of the car crash because it looked to me as though a clip of the crash was missing. There’s also a moment when the family seemed to have forgotten about a vulnerable family member during a particularly dangerous time that annoyed me. I know that almost anything can happen during desperate times, however… maybe I just don’t know, but I found it hard to believe that everyone forgot to do a ‘head count’ of their loved ones during such a desperate moment. The last part that left me wanting is the ending. I understood it but it felt flat and disappointing.
On summary, none of the ‘silence or you die’ movies are perfect but A Quiet Place does sit at the top in my mind. It did come first but I also really connected with the characters, appreciated the pace, the heart and I was more impressed by the cleverness / ingenuity when it came to how to survive a silent world. In second place is Bird Box, mainly because of the films last thirty minutes.
Starring Kiernan Shipka, Stanley Tucci, Miranda Otto, John Corbett and with John R. Leonetti as director, The Silence is the latest horror film from Netflix
Set during a time when the world is being terrorised by a deadly, primeval species with acute hearing, a family seeks refuge to wait out the invasion as they wonder what kind of world will remain by the time they emerge.
I’m guessing that this is the kind of horror film that will make me jump several times, but then once it’s over, I soon forget about it. I could be wrong of course. Either way, I just hope it’s clever. I really think that I’m going to need something about The Silence to be clever.
Kate Corbett, Dempsey Bryk, Kyle Breitkopf, Billy MacLellan, Callum Shoniker, Hannah Gordon and Taylor Love also star.
The Movie My Life 