THE QUIET comes to the big screen then back to DVD as the product of a group of television writers Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft and director (Jamie Babbit) and the film has the feeling that it would have fared better in a made for television format. It is not a film without merit - the cast is good, the atmosphere created is well captured by good camera people, the twist in the story survives - but something is missing that keeps it flat.
The Deers are a family with means whose generosity extends to taking in the victim of another family disaster: the troubles that hide in the Deer family far overpower the problems brought to the unit by the new member. Dot (Camilla Belle of When a Stranger Calls, Chumscrubber, The Ballad of Jack and Rose) is accepted into the Deer household when her deaf father dies in a freak accident: her mother died when Dot was seven and from that time to the present she has been newly deaf and mute. She is a loner, preferring to live in her own apparently silent world, finding solace in playing Beethoven piano works (the actress actually plays the works!). Her 'sister' is high school cheerleader, foul mouthed, crabby Nina (Elisha Cuthbert) who barely tolerates Dot's new role in the house and at school. Olivia Deer (Edi Falco, always excellent) is an interior designer mother who buries her disappointments in pills, being emotionally unavailable most of the time. Paul Deer (Martin Donovan) is a successful architect whose apparent kindness masks a man who is having an incestuous relationship with his daughter Nina. Dot lets the audience know early on that she is indeed not deaf or mute but elects to maintain her silence as she overhears Nina's plan to kill her father. The manner in which these two girls eventually bond and accomplish the dastardly deed and the surprising ending of the family's dissolution make up the basis for the plot development.
Taken on the basis of the story alone the film is fairly predictable, but it is after the movie is over that in retrospect we recognize how cleverly the writers and director and actors have shown us the fragility of each character: each is not black and white/good and evil but in a misty gray zone, a general statement for just about everyone who is in the cast (Connor the walking failure boyfriend - Shawn Ashmore, Michelle the rowdy slutty girlfriend - Katy Mixon). And it is this tendency to encourage the audience to ponder introspection that takes it to a higher level. It is to everyone's credit that they have taken on a tale that is bravely controversial and make it work as well as it does. Grady Harp
The Deers are a family with means whose generosity extends to taking in the victim of another family disaster: the troubles that hide in the Deer family far overpower the problems brought to the unit by the new member. Dot (Camilla Belle of When a Stranger Calls, Chumscrubber, The Ballad of Jack and Rose) is accepted into the Deer household when her deaf father dies in a freak accident: her mother died when Dot was seven and from that time to the present she has been newly deaf and mute. She is a loner, preferring to live in her own apparently silent world, finding solace in playing Beethoven piano works (the actress actually plays the works!). Her 'sister' is high school cheerleader, foul mouthed, crabby Nina (Elisha Cuthbert) who barely tolerates Dot's new role in the house and at school. Olivia Deer (Edi Falco, always excellent) is an interior designer mother who buries her disappointments in pills, being emotionally unavailable most of the time. Paul Deer (Martin Donovan) is a successful architect whose apparent kindness masks a man who is having an incestuous relationship with his daughter Nina. Dot lets the audience know early on that she is indeed not deaf or mute but elects to maintain her silence as she overhears Nina's plan to kill her father. The manner in which these two girls eventually bond and accomplish the dastardly deed and the surprising ending of the family's dissolution make up the basis for the plot development.
Taken on the basis of the story alone the film is fairly predictable, but it is after the movie is over that in retrospect we recognize how cleverly the writers and director and actors have shown us the fragility of each character: each is not black and white/good and evil but in a misty gray zone, a general statement for just about everyone who is in the cast (Connor the walking failure boyfriend - Shawn Ashmore, Michelle the rowdy slutty girlfriend - Katy Mixon). And it is this tendency to encourage the audience to ponder introspection that takes it to a higher level. It is to everyone's credit that they have taken on a tale that is bravely controversial and make it work as well as it does. Grady Harp