Soft & Quiet

I started this film with almost no idea what I was getting into.

I got excited in first 20-30 minutes of the movie thinking this could go somewhere really dark.

As the movie progressed the situation became harder and harder to take seriously due to the fact that if compared to a real situation(which I would hope the film maker would try to mimic) the characters would not really be able to pull any of this off.

I found it hard not to laugh when I saw the characters, suburban women doing all these things and how unrealistic all the aspects were to it.

Maybe it was the actresses, the situation, the aggression I couldn't take seriously but it just did not work for me.

I do applause the idea of the whole movie, wish it was better put together is all.

Wow. This is one of those genuine cases of the less you know going in, the harder the film is going to hit. Everything seems normal until along comes - a shot of a pie. And nothing is the same from there out. This was a tough watch but also a really enjoyable one.

The whole film is shot as a continuous tracking shot, similar to Sam Mendes' '1917'. I understand that the films aren't actually shot this way but it doesn't bother me. I love the raw nature it provides the film.

I find this kind of movie infinitely more scary than any ghost or monster movie. These are the real horrors of the world. These are the things you need to be genuinely scared of.

This one is heavy, tense and often a very uneasy watch. But it is a great case of getting every last drop out of a limited budget and producing a highly memorable movie that will stick with people long after the credits roll. 9/10.

It's hard to review a movie like "Soft & Quiet" (and what a misnomer that title is). It's well made, well acted, involving, has some effective moments... but it is not in the least enjoyable. It's not a pleasant experience to sit through it. If we're rating it for its effectiveness at what it sets out to do, it gets high marks. If we're rating the experience of watching it for most people, who want to be entertained at the movies, we feel like we have to warn them. Most people will hate it and feel like they wasted their time sitting through it.

I know that there is an audience for challenging material like this. I know because I'm part of said audience. For people like us, I give the movie a seven for being well-made, moderately involving, and effective, even though the most effective moment is horrible to watch.

I don't score it higher than seven because I don't think I'll be thinking about the movie for much longer. It feels more like an effectively nasty little shocker than a strong statement about the world, despite allegedly being inspired by media coverage of race-related crime.

Blumhouse has a knack for provocation---and though not standardized horror or thriller in the Blumhouse mold, it lies in its own subgenre of fragile white identities gone extreme much like the fringey elements of American History X did in the past. If this film makes you uncomfortable, then it delivered its message successfully, in a one take, hardline address of racism in the US and the tendencies they bring out in what first appears to be "normal everyday group of women" meeting up for a post-workday friendly "workshop" of thoughts and daily agenda. Sounds innocent enough, but it takes no longer than the foil coming off a dessert to show what lies beneath. It's not pretty folks, but that is the gist of the narrative, that the unfounded hate and discrimination is indeed very ugly and you watch it unfold in a slick, non-gimmicky little dark film that doesn't exploit but rips the bandaid off the wound that is extremism and the violence that hides beneath. In plain sight in fact.

Does this help or heal? Neither actually, but shows what it all looks like upclose and feels all too real at times, in these times.

7 1/2 out of 10.

Soft & Quiet is a provocative and intense film, supported by great acting it provides a gut punch look into minds of twisted and warped mentalities, and it's radicalization. Whilst it flies under the banner of being a horror, it's not in a traditional sense anything like you'd expect from a horror. It's a deeply dramatic movie, with horrific elements based on opinions and actions, not gore or creepy stuff.

Directing, I have to say, it worked for me. I really loved the realism it granted and how grounded it made the movie feel. From driving to walking. You get the feeling you're there, it succeeds at that for sure. To add on to this, the framing of the shots, especially some specific ones where dialog is the main focus, the camera is put in a observing position, not caring about putting the subject in frame, but the dialog. This sometimes made it feel like you were eavesdropping, or just being that ''floating consciousness''. It definitely engaged me. That being said, not perfect. If you're sensitive to shaky camera's and or motion blur, this has a lot of it and some shots felt a bit hard to get through just visually.

Acting/writing was great. Though the characters do feel somewhat unreliable regarding their decisions, which is a shame. That might've sold it fully. But the acting was fantastic, especially Luccardi was amazing, her transformation. The writing was well done too in regards to keeping you on your toes a bit. The overall story is blunt and harsh, and gets the point across no doubt. If anything I wished for a slightly deeper layer within the characters and writing.

Besides that, good movie, uncomfortable, as it should be, but good.