The Quiet
Starring: Camilla Belle, Elisha Cuthbert, Edie Falco, Shawn Ashmore, Martin Donovan, and Katy Mixon
Written by: Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft
Directed by: Jamie Babbit
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Rated: R
Every now and then, a film comes along that is so good at being derivative and formulaic that it transcends its nature as a genre film to be thoroughly enjoyable. With The Quiet, Jamie Babbit (director of But I’m A Cheerleader and numerous episodes of The Gilmore Girls) pieces together a family drama so completely by the book that it would almost seem to parody itself were it not so exceedingly well executed. The plot by the fledgling writing team of Nazemian and Schraft is a crazy quilt featuring threads from half a dozen Lifetime movies. With two TV movies to their credit (2004’s Celeste in the City and 2003’s Beautiful Girl) this is Nazemian and Schraft’s first cinematic feature. Its multiple (sometimes incongruous) plot elements may be the result of the team’s insecurity at being viewed in the cinema for the first time.
23-year-old Elisha Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door, House of Wax) plays 17-year-old Nina, a very popular and attractive high school student who is dealing with considerably more than the usual stresses of adolescence. Things have become considerably more difficult for her, as her parents have adopted Dot, a socially freakish teen-aged outcast played with a substantially interesting sense of mystery by 20-year-old Camille Belle (The Chumscrubber, The Ballad of Jack and Rose). Dot’s parents have both passed away, leaving her substantially scarred emotionally. Being a quiet outsider, Dot is exposed to the secret world beneath an apparently happy family.
Everyone is hiding something and because of her position, Dot is unwillingly let-in on all of it. Her adoptive mother, Olivia (Edie Falco) is almost permanently spaced-out on prescription painkillers and her adoptive father, Paul (Martin Donovan) begins to seem overbearing and manipulative. As things progress, she finds herself quite nearly opening-up to a classmate named Connor, the most popular guy in school played by a 26-year-old Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, Underclassman). Connor seems very attracted to her, which could complicate things between her and the popular girls she’d prefer not to have anything to do with. Her bedroom is just one door down from the most popular girl in school, Nina, who seems particularly cruel to her. However, with everything she’s suddenly become privy to, unwanted attention is the least of Dot’s worries.
The plot twists announce themselves well in advance of their appearance. Some of the dialogue is quite bad and, as usual, high school kids are played by actors old enough to be graduate students in college. The story is very uneven and at times strains its credibility, but the ensemble does such a good job of selling it that the film never has a chance to get dull. The ensemble is aided by a number of actors in prominent supporting roles, most notably newcomer Katie Mixon as Nina’s friend Michelle. The extra dimension that Michelle gains by film’s end isn’t written to be as subtle as it was probably intended to be, but Mixon plays it with enough depth and charm that it doesn’t feel at all forced.
The story ends in a strong friendship with some very important secrets shared through some very catastrophic events. In the end, this is a story that will appeal quite heavily to any teen-aged girl who feels like an outcast, which is jut about every teen-aged girl there is. Under Jamie Babbit’s delicate direction, it caries enough weight to appeal to just about everyone else. VS
Russ Bickerstaff is a local poet and writer. His poems can be heard regularly at Linneman's Monday Poetry Night.
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