Michael Sarnoski

A Quiet Place: Day One

06/07/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

The arrival of A Quiet Place in 2018 had a dramatic effect in cinemas across the world. Customers even ate their popcorn extra-quietly, not daring to make a noise that might summon one of the predatory aliens that were the film’s raison d’etre. In 2020, a sequel arrived and, against all the odds, managed to pull off the trick a second time. Some viewers will remember that the sequel opened with a brief glimpse of the aliens arriving in New York and that’s where the action from this prequel also plays out.

There are few franchises that can successfully stick the landing a third time and the project’s creator, John Kransinski, has handed over the reins to writer/director Michael Sarnoski, giving him carte blanche to do something a little different.

Day One begins in a hospice in New York, where terminally-ill patient, Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), is coming to terms with her own imminent demise, comforted only by her regular companion, Frodo, a cat. Friendly nurse, Reuben (Alex Wolff), manages to persuade Samira to accompany the other patients on a trip into the city, where they will visit a marionette theatre. That’ll cheer her up. She agrees – on the stipulation that she will be able to buy pizza at Patsy’s.

Inevitably, the visit is rudely disrupted by the arrival of those pesky aliens, who, as in the previous films are only truly scary when we barely glimpse them. These early scenes of devastation are the film’s strongest suit: the ensuing chaos feeling pretty immersive. Samira eventually hooks up with English law student, Eric (Joseph Quinn, last seen in the low budget Hoard), who is understandably terrified, and the three of them – Samira, Eric and Frodo – set about the tricky task of staying alive. From this point the film becomes less a sci-fi horror and more a story of friendship and loyalty; whilst I applaud the valiant efforts to change up from what has gone before, I feel that the concept doesn’t entirely come off.

Although there are some admittedly touching scenes here, the atmosphere of steadily-mounting terror exhibited in Parts 1 and 2 feels somewhat eroded.

And then there’s Frodo. I appreciate that a lot of people adore our feline friends, but I nearly lose count of the times that the cat inadvertently plunges his human companions into peril. Quite how they manage to persuade themselves not to hurl him into the jaws of the nearest alien is beyond me. But maybe that says more about me than it does the film.

Suffice to say that, while the beginning and the end are well-handled, Day One has a decidedly flabby mid-section and, the more I see of the aliens, the less fearsome they become. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot a fleeting cameo from Djimon Hounsou as Henri, who had a bigger role in Part 2. Barely anyone else in this film gets a look in, other than a startled expression seconds before they are messily consumed. While Day One is by no means terrible, it still feels like a sizeable step down and I shall certainly be thinking twice should a fourth instalment rear its scaly head over the cinematic horizon.

Meanwhile, those who enjoy the antics of cute-but-irritating cats in disastrous situations should check this out.

3.6 stars

Philip Caveney

Pig

06/02/22

Now TV

I’m late to this, mostly because of my inability to find the film showing at a cinema anywhere near me. But I’ve heard good things about it and eventually, I chase it down on the small screen. My expectations are that it will turn out to be a kind of ‘John Wick with a pig’ scenario, which isn’t a prospect I relish, but happily it is gentler and a bit more nuanced than that.

Disturbingly, though, days after the viewing, I’m still not entirely sure what it is.

Nicholas Cage plays ‘Rob,’ who ekes out a precarious existence in a tumbledown cabin in the middle of a forest in Oregon. He makes his living from harvesting truffles, along with his beloved er… pig (Brandy), who has a snout for that kind of thing. Rob is visited from time to time by young entrepreneur, Amir (Alex Wolff), who sells those foraged truffles in Portland, where they are prized by chefs at the fancier dining establishments. It’s an odd arrangement but it seems to work.

But things take a nasty turn when Rob is attacked one night and his pig stolen. So, with Amir as his driver, Rob sets out for the big city with only one thing on his mind: to get his pig back. It’s nothing to do with the truffle situation, though. Rob loves her and cannot envisage life without her.

As he and Amir travel through the city, it soon becomes clear that Rob has been here before. Once upon a time, it transpires, a near legendary chef and the very mention of his full name – Robin Feld – is enough to invoke awe in everyone who hears it. (It’s hard to imagine that the names of Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay could inspire such respect.) Along the way, Rob has some strange encounters. He volunteers to be beaten up in a private fight club (as you do), he cooks food for Amir and his ruthless father, and he makes it clear that he has nothing but contempt for his former career and for the customers who used to flock to him for his gastronomic delights.

Pig is an odd film, to say the very least. While it’s refreshing to see a Nicholas Cage project that doesn’t require him to chew the scenery, it’s also probably true to say that most of what’s going on here is in the subtext. Rob is a shambling, monosyllabic central character, covered with bruises and blood throughout the film – a scene where he books a table at a swanky restaurant and none of his fellow-diners raise so much as an eyebrow actually beggars belief – and he is single minded in his determination to get that pig back, come hell or high water.

Debut director/co-writer Michael Sarnoski’s fairy tale seems to be suggesting that greeting violence with love (and food) is the way to solve problems, and perhaps he’s right on that score, but ‘turning the other cheek’ is hardly a revelation, and it doesn’t seem enough to hang an entire movie on. While it’s also true to say that Pig never goes anywhere you expect it to, it feels somehow as though the stakes need upping a little.

Bacon sandwich, anyone?

3.4 stars

Philip Caveney