The Quiet

Because so much of this movie depends on the audience not knowing too much as the "plot" unfolds, I will keep the movie summary brief on this one. Essentially this movie is about a girl(Camilla Belle) who is deaf and mute and the things that she sees happening around her. After her fathers death, she moves in with her godparents and we are introduced to an alcoholic mother, a father who may or may not be sexually assaulting her daughter and the daughter (Elisha Cuthbert) who is the most popular girl in school, yet possibly still a virgin.


What follows is sometimes revolting, sometimes hilarious (intentionally and unintentionally), sometimes suspenseful and always confusing as hell. This is not a movie for people who enjoy there movies with endings nicely tied up in a box. Nor is it a movie for people who don't want to believe teenagers use such frank sexual terms in their conversations. To be honest, the main drawback of this movie is the dialogue. None of it flows very well and while they definitely sound like words teenagers would use, something about the script just doesn't work as well as the writer probably intended.


The acting all the way around is good, particularly Elisha Cuthbert. However, she don't really break out of either of the molds she has made in her career. Here she gets to be helpless in peril and a sex kitten. But, she does get to take a darker tone in this one and she served as a producer, so she is getting more into her career, which is good I guess. Shawn Ashmore of X-Men fame doesn't get too much to do here but he plays the role nicely, even making somewhat embarrassing dialogue feel nearly natural. Martin Donovan doesn't bring anything new to a hard ass father and Edie Falco is nothing new as your typical drunk rich wife with not much to do. Actually, most of this film seems cliched, except for how it is shot and then the actual unfolding of the plot makes for some interesting ideas. I can see what the writer was going for in terms of a message behind the film, focusing on the deaf/mute girl and how she manages to keep such secrets. I can't recommend this to too many people because the content is a bit off-putting for most people, but if you want a movie that may have you screaming "what the hell" at the screen, go for it!