Soft and Quiet has slipped quietly from its release in November 2022. It was picked up by Blumhouse Productions after Jason Blum himself watched it. As a matter of fact, it made him uncomfortable and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. That’s one way, to sum up, a film that simply wants to make you think about something most people don’t like to think about. You could be forgiven for expecting a different kind of film too. The poster gives the impression there is some kind of supernatural element at play. What’s more, Soft and Quiet is labeled as a drama and horror-infused mystery. Combined with that and its distributor, I certainly didn’t think I would be getting such a political statement as I sat down to watch it.
There’s no easy way to start talking about Soft and Quiet, except to just dig in. The title takes every sordid and abhorred idea promoted by equal opportunity and equal rights and takes aim at it. Not only does it fire arguments against such rhetoric, but instead of seeing it come from a skin-head neo-nazi group of mean-looking men, this is a group of women. Women fronting groups of this nature is probably not a new idea. But seeing it from this angle possibly could be. The group comprises a mother, Kim who has a bunch of kids and runs a store, and one of her employees, Marjorie. A well-spoken teacher called Emily and a pretty softly-spoken woman called Nora. A newly invited woman, fresh out of jail also joins the meeting held at the beginning of the film.
Swastika Pie
The penny certainly drops when Emily uncovers the freshly made pie she made adorned with a Swastika. Soft and Quiet wants to address the slippery slope of where some of the violence in our society might stem from. White trash and criminals alongside educated people who all agree that their country would be better served with as close to zero multicultural aesthetic as possible. They are the ones who will create this dynamic by finding and partnering with others of the same ilk. No minority group is left out of the massive serve of dialogue as these women brainstorm how to increase their numbers. They give unfettered and brutal accounts of instances of working and living alongside anyone not white enough.
The film ambles on in conversation jabbed with ominous music cues in the first quarter. The sound design is meant to infer that nothing about anything these characters are doing is innocent. In the opening scene where Emily encourages one of her students to criticize a cleaning lady, to the way she emasculates her husband, this is the type of movie that was never going to have a happy ending.
Soft and Quiet is a Personal Story
Soft and Quiets’ writer-director is a woman. I have to admit when I watch films of this hard-hitting nature I always make assumptions. Especially when there is extreme violence in the narrative. It could be assumed Beth de Araújo, with her Chinese-American mother and her Brazillian father could have used personal experience to fuel a story like this along. I couldn’t help but resolve that query. I found the answer straight away in an interview on IndieWire. She did, and that makes it even more off-putting. The interview delves into the heart of the characters that feature in the close-knit “White Power” group. It’s a great interview and article, give it a read if you have the time.
Soft and Quiet is rated
2.5 One-time watches are enough out of 5
