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The Quiet (2006)
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:20
Rotten:72
Average Rating:4/10
Consensus: This psychological thriller's talented cast is undercut by leaden pacing and a problematic plot.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Jamie Babbitt (GILMORE GIRLS) makes his feature debut with this suburban melodrama tinged with the trappings of exploitation films and Gothic horror. Dot (Camilla Belle, THE CHUMSCRUBBER) is a deaf... Jamie Babbitt (GILMORE GIRLS) makes his feature debut with this suburban melodrama tinged with the trappings of exploitation films and Gothic horror. Dot (Camilla Belle, THE CHUMSCRUBBER) is a deaf and mute girl with a troubled past: her mother died when she was seven, and now her deaf father has been run over by a truck. Things get much worse for Dot, however, when she moves in with the Deer family, who make no attempt to hide their dark secrets from her. Patriarch Paul Deer (Martin Donovan) is having an incestuous relationship with his cheerleader daughter, Nina (Elisha Cuthbert, LOVE, ACTUALLY), who spends much of her time lashing out at the new addition to the family. Mother Olivia remains oblivious, shrouded in a haze of pills. Slowly, the two girls come to a tenuous understanding with one another, united in the secrets they share. The shocking conclusion is unexpectedly lurid given the quietness of the film's first half, and the two actresses carry the material beautifully. The coldly lit interior of the family home, which is undergoing renovations, ,creates an utterly creepy backdrop and sets the mood for this tone poem of suburban distress. [More]
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Camilla Belle, Edie Falco, Martin Donovan
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Camilla Belle, Edie Falco, Martin Donovan, Shawn Ashmore
Director: Jamie Babbitt
Director: Jamie Babbitt
Screenwriter: Abdi Nazemian, Micah Schraft
Composer: Jeff Rona
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Reviews for The Quiet
Rather than an indictment of depravity, the movie quickly becomes a particularly cynical example of it.
The director combines an angst-ridden look at suburban perversions with a teen titillation comedy, and the final product often comes off as pretentious, crass and overwrought.
Speaks queasy volumes about the refracted manner in which the sexualization of female adolescents is viewed as a form of perverse entertainment.
The film's focus shouldn't be Dot (Camilla Belle), a deaf, mute and orphaned teen. It should be her new family of suburbanites sliding into hell.
The film's producers would like us to keep this quiet... this is supposed to be a thriller, but the only time we were thrilled was when it was over.
what should have been heavily emotional material careens instead quite quickly into high camp
The stupider things get, the more seriously it takes itself -- and the more seriously it takes itself, the funnier it is.
A sauced teaser that skims Freudian depths it doesn't begin to fathom.
The Quiet's sense of disquiet feels unintentional, suggesting behind-the-scenes conflict.
Thematically the movie never reaches beyond the ready-for-prime-time mentality that specializes in psychological shorthand.
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