‘Soft & Quiet’ Review: ‘White People Are the Worst’ in Real-Time Blumhouse Thriller
13.03.2022 - 03:07
/ variety.com
Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticThat homemade cherry pie you see Emily carrying in the opening scene of “Soft & Quiet”? It’s not what you think. But then, neither is Emily, a tall blond kindergarten teacher who cuts through the woods behind school to attend a gathering of like-minded women.
Women who call themselves “Daughters for Aryan Unity” and complain about concepts such as “reverse racism.” Upon arriving, Emily removes the aluminum foil and reveals a giant swastika carved into the crust. It’s her idea of a joke — like the transgressive Nazi salute she sneaks in the parking lot after the meeting.You know what else Emily tells herself is just a joke? Gathering her spiteful white friends and driving out to the house of a local waitress — a woman who isn’t white, and who doesn’t fit Emily’s narrow idea of racial superiority — with the goal of confiscating her passport.
But that’s not a joke; it’s a hate crime, and writer-director Beth de Araújo wants audiences to feel the pure, horrific force of what such people are capable of, especially when they put their prejudices together. “The media like to paint us as these, like, big scary monsters,” one of the women tells Emily, who’s played with chilling conviction by Stefanie Estes (“Mary Last Seen”).
Their meeting serves as a “safe space” for noxious ideas, which de Araújo suggests these women think and say when in like-minded company. Maybe she’s right.
Diversity initiatives and evolving social values have threatened their standing, so these white supremacists — one of whom confides that her daddy was a chapter president of the Ku Klux Klan — have adapted. Instead of changing their views, they’ve rebranded: They’re “soft on the outside,” quiet in public, but organized.As
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