Review of Soft & Quiet (2022) by Noncanon — 07 Nov 2022

I wrote a six paragraph diatribe on my personal misgivings with movies that don't cater to my narrow worldview, lacking the self awareness to realize I was defending racism and Nazis and presenting them as "conservative values.".

Jokes aside, the movie itself is pretty well done, especially if you find the very real hatred of Others to be uncomfortable. The tension is sometimes palpable, and the actors do a good job of selling the whole thing.

I thought the one-shot handheld camera style was kind of a double-edged sword. It kept me laser focused, and it definitely is effective at building tension. However there were times where I wished for some traditional scenes to frame things. I suppose this is a 'me' problem, and is more of a personal preference than a criticism. By the time everything goes off the rails in the third act, the tension was pretty excruciating.

As far as the political messaging, the message of how white supremacy takes many more insidious forms than Klan members burning crosses, is relevant and incisive. As far as I can tell, the movie never veers into "all white people are evil" territory, and I never found myself personally offended (I'm white). But this is a pretty raw look at some difficult subjects and it doesn't pull many punches. I feel like if this movie really triggers you as a white person, then maybe you should try some introspection as to why that is. The issues presented here shouldn't be swept away and forgotten, but engaged with. At the end of the day, many conservatives will probably hate this movie, and many liberals will probably feel sick from it. It isn't the most well-crafted movie, but it is still solid and successful at communicating its points. I hope it can generate some honest, good faith conversation to foster more understanding of the issues it presents. But I'm pretty cynical so... yeah.