TRIBECA 2023 | Movie Review: "Somewhere Quiet"; A Palatable Psychological Thriller
8/12 ForReel Score | 3/5 Stars
What we have at the center of Somewhere Quiet is an unreliable narrator of sorts. No, our protagonist, Meg (Jennifer Kim) isn’t literally narrating the story, but she is our source of the film’s perspective on reality - a source whose recent harrowing experience has imposed unshakeable post-traumatic stress onto her. What we watch Meg perceive over the course of this narrative tests her understanding of her own psychosis, which in turn causes the audience to question what’s really going on in this story.
Image courtesy of Tribeca
The story at hand finds Meg and her husband Scott (Kentucker Audley) at his wealthy family’s remote vacation home in the woods of Cape Cod. Following her escape from a distressing abduction situation, the peaceful retreat is meant to help Meg reacclimate to her normal life. But that peace is disrupted when Scott’s cousin, Madeline (Marin Ireland), arrives unannounced. Though reluctantly accommodating at first, Meg begins to notice odd behavior between the two, causing her to speculate what’s really going on here. But knowing who or what to trust becomes increasingly difficult as the line between what’s real and what’s a PTSD-induced hallucination isn’t just blurred, but becomes entirely unidentifiable.
If Somewhere Quiet’s aim is to offer a bewildering, disorienting eye on a character in crisis, to many extents it accomplishes that objective. We want to be in Meg’s corner; we want to see her draw informed conclusions and not be naive about the state of her safety and sanity. But Somewhere Quiet is scripted in a manner that makes doubt practically unavoidable.
In fact, very little in Somewhere Quiet is ever entirely rational nor entirely irrational - much of it simply deserves extra scrutiny, and thus, so much of the narrative is subject to further questioning from the audience. Are Meg’s observations a product of paranoia borne from the effects of post-traumatic stress? Or is Meg onto something truly heinous going on around her? Somewhere Quiet excels at keeping uncertainty alive and prominent - perhaps even to a fault.
Image courtesy of Tribeca
Keep questioning, and suddenly the true extent of what should be questioned expands immensely. Was an unusual statement real or imagined? Was the odd behavior real or imagined? Were entire scenes real or imagined? That side character - real or imagined?
How large the swaths of hallucinations are have no bounds, and this is where Somewhere Quiet could use some refinement. While this opens the film up to potentially engaging conversations post-credits about various interpretations of the events, it can be difficult to derive satisfaction with the film’s themes with so much of the narrative existing in ambiguity.
Though the film just lacks a clever punch to really reign in something substantial to take away from the experience, writer and director Olivia West Lloyd’s effort to rely on psychological mistrust for entertainment rather than jump scares or cheap thrills is still immensely admirable in my book, and made the ride through Somewhere Quiet immensely intriguing film to watch.
Acting/Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 1 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer’s Preference - 1 | What does this mean?