A Beautiful Place

Rating: 9/10 (25 April 2018)

I just got through watching John Krasinki's "A Quiet Place" in my local theater and I absolutely loved it. A lot of other people are extremely nitpicky about certain choices the family in the film made, but personally, while I do find some merit in their arguments, I think they failed to see the larger tale being told here, a survival story about a loving family and how their lives are inexplicably altered after an unknown menace descends upon their world. This "menace" takes the form of grotesque, Lovecraftian type creatures which as the title may hint at, are completely blind and hunt using their highly developed sense of hearing.
Watching this highly suspenseful survival thriller reminded me a lot of older films with similar themes such as Shyamalan's "Signs" which also similarly focuses on one family trying to survive an alien menace descending into the world and lives, threatening to tear it apart.
The deadly creatures in this film are never fully explained as to what they are or where they came from, but I personally didn't mind that, because that's not the focus of the story, and was never intended to be. I see it more as a story about perseverance and the strength of familial bonds even under harrowing, life-threatening circumstances. Even though their lives are now completely changed and every day becomes a question of survival, that still does not prevent them from laughing, having fun, and enjoying their day to day existence. Not once do they despair over how bad things are, how their real lives are essentially over, how they'll feel safe again. They're fully aware of the sort of world they now inhabit, and that death and loss are inevitable, but life goes on.