Movie Review: The Quiet
Opening this weekend with a lack of fanfare is the flagship Burnt Orange Productions feature film, The Quiet. Seasoned film and television director Jamie Babbit (But I’m A Cheerleader, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, Nip/Tuck)directed the project as part of the Texas Film Institute’s program, which provides real-world training to University of Texas film students. The screenplay by writing team Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft was chosen by the Sundance Institute in 2003 for their infamous workshops in Park City.
Starring Elisha Cuthbert as Nina, a blonde-and-blued cheerleader living under the shiny façade of suburbia, and the powerfully understated Camilla Belle as Dot, the deaf-mute orphan recently relocated into Nina’s image-perfect world, this film is the first of a slate of three feature-length films to be produced by the Austin-based film development team.
The story delves into murky matters within dysfunctional families and the extent to which the dysfunctional will go to appear idyllic. Dot’s obsidian eyes and lack of judgment become a dumping ground for the troubled people around her as they reveal their darkest secrets, unraveling their fragile existences.
Shot in high-definition video, much of the action takes place in the blue-hued house of the Deer family. The filmmakers purposefully used smoke machines for contrived moodiness and to subdue the unforgiving detail of HD.
The film approaches some strong thematic moments about empathy for the handicapped (Nina plugs her own ears at the movies to see what it would be like to lose her hearing), the power over one’s problems through mental diversion (Nina’s mother’s pain pill and home decorating addictions) and the destructive force of female rivalry in competing for the attention of men (Dot’s interlude with the boy all the other girls want).
In the end, The Quiet is identified as a dendritic foray of Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, with this version of the story focused on the experiences of the teenaged girls. Thora Birch, who played Jane in American Beauty, was originally cast in the role of Dot, but was replaced by Belle shortly before shooting began. Many of the conversations – whether it’s the family of three at the dinner table, or sexual banter between the teenagers – ring familiar. Camera placement of Dot over the kitchen sink mimics a frame-within-frame shot of AB. The family even lives in a house with a red door.
An ambitious, educational endeavor, The Quiet opens today in Austin.
