I've actually been hearing about the movie, Silent Night but I've just been kind of reluctant to watch it. The first time I made an attempt to watch it, being skeptical if I was going to enjoy the movie I just sort of skimmed through it by forwarding it at intervals to see if it was my kind of movie but it wasn't proving to be so.
Then some days ago a friend of mine sent me some movies to my phone and it happened to be one of them. So I just decided to watch it after all.
The Storyline
We have Keira Knightley and Matthew Good starring as Zinelle and Simon, respectively. They, along with their children, are in this large country estate getting ready for the arrival of several old friends for Christmas. And as everyone arrives, strange, cryptic and then even aggressive conversations begin to occur.
They speak vaguely of packs and decisions, which then feel very foreboding. I'm not sure if you've ever seen it, but there's an indie movie from the mid 90s called The Last Supper. It starred Cameron Diaz, Courtney B. Vance and just a bunch of other actors.
My Review
It's another very dark comedy. And at the beginning, I began to get vibes of that movie. Silent Night turns out to be completely different.
The cast in this is wonderful. And one of the standouts is Roman Griffin Davis, who plays Nell and Simon's oldest son, Art. If you're not familiar with him, he's Jojo in Jojo Rabbi, that is if you have watched the movie.
And here he gets to be very adult, which is unsettling as he's clearly a kid, but operating and speaking like someone much older. There is a ton of comedy in this, but it's pretty biting and cringy. It's one of those where, you probably shouldn't be laughing, but you can't help it.
And he didn't glance around to see if everybody else is as disturbed as you are. I went into this blind and I had fun trying to figure out what was going on, trying to decide if I believed what I was being told. The central theme is one of disaster and the question of quality of life and death.
Doomsday has arrived in the form of a toxic storm that threatens to wipe out humanity. So these friends gather for one last time together. The banter and dialogue delivery is quick and witty, despite it being incredibly mean at points.
It's like everyone in the film has turned off their filters. It just kind of speaks their minds. We can see how freeing it is at points, but also how not everyone is totally up to hearing brutal truth.
Along with the actors that I had already mentioned, we have several that I'm sure you're going to recognize. There's Annabelle Wallace. She is great in this, but she's not the most likable character.
There's Sope Derisu. I love his character in Silent Night because he brings warmth, but also a level-headed calmness and logic to his entire situation. Then there's Lily Rose Depp, Lucy Punch, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who each of them add a different dimension to the cast.
And I like them for the most part. But Lucy Punch's character was pretty off-putting because of how she kept treating her partner. I didn't realize it until I looked it up on IMDb later.
But Nell and Simon have twin sons as well as Art, and the twins are real life brothers of Roman Griffin Davis. And the family resemblance is really strong. But then the director of this turns out to be their mom.
So I'd be curious to see how the filming went with these boys being directed by their mom, especially with how the characters then behave. Despite the comedy in this, the overall tone of the film is quite morose and depressing. This one will pretty much leave you in the bell jar because there's not really any hope that's ever offered.
I think that's also what may turn you off from this. I was talking with my friend of mine and we discussed how depressing Christmas movies just aren't all that appealing, which I think makes sense. We need a bit of hope and cheer, even if there are serious or sad topics that are addressed so that at the end we are at least left slightly uplifted.
I like the contained setting that this has, where the families have gathered on an estate, and it just provides one more layer of isolation to the story. It makes our characters feel the hopelessness, even though they try to put on their best and happy face.
There are times where the environmental storm is shown, along with like some cyclone or tornado type things. And these are very clearly CGI. I don't think they're distracting enough to break you out of the narrative, but they also don't look real.
So the sense of danger or dread that can come from seeing them approach us, I think it's greatly diminished. I really had fun with this. I laughed out loud a bunch at the dark comedy.
The dialogue is quick and the banter works well between the cast. The actors do a great job of capturing hopeless desperation mixed with believably trepidatious resolve. And while this is a wildly depressing story with pretty much zero hope, the 92 minute journey is fun, even if the ending will leave you wishing for something slightly more upbeat.
I give Silent Night 6.5 out of 10. That's it for today's review, thanks for your precious time.
Congratulations @alvanozie! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 3000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP