Silent Night: Blu-Ray Review
Writer/director Camille Griffin’s feature film directorial debut, Silent Night arrives on Blu-ray this week and it brings along a stellar cast that includes Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Roman Griffin Davis, Annabelle Wallis, Lily-Rose Depp, Sope Dirisu, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Lucy Punch and Rufus Jones. While I wasn’t a fan of Adam McKay’s end-of-the-world satire Don’t Look Up, I can’t say the same for Griffin’s apocalyptic black comedy, which had me completely invested. Both films were released this past December, and what better time to celebrate the end-of-humanity, than the holidays?
Nell (Knightley) and her husband Simon (Goode) host an annual Christmas Eve dinner every year for their friends. What makes this night different than the ones prior is that a rolling gas cloud has been killing all life on Earth in the most painful way. This is to be a farewell to existence dinner, but with presents. The government has also given the lucky ones a suicide pill to prevent suffering. Joining the holiday dinner are Nell and Simon’s children, which includes Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) as Art, long-time friends Sandra (Wallis), Alex (Howell-Baptste), Tony (Jones), Bella (Punch), James (Dirisu) and his girlfriend Sophie (Depp).
Everyone has made a suicide pact that they will all take the pill and give to their children at the end of the night. However, some members of the group have become increasingly reluctant. Art has a lot of questions and isn’t quite sure that the pill is the only way to go. Sophie has recently learned that she is pregnant and doesn’t want to kill her baby, even though she will most likely die anyways. Through the night, we learn quite a bit about each of the characters, including how some of them actually feel about one another. While Silent Night has a bit of trouble when it comes to sticking with a specific tone, the cast is more than able to help make that a minor issue. As mentioned, this is a black comedy, but it is dealing with a very tense and seemingly hopeless situation that doesn’t see a happy ending in sight. If you are looking to watch something other than your run-of-the-mill Christmas movie next December with the family, I recommend checking out Silent Night.
By: Marc Ferman