I’m a sucker for a good Christmas movie. I guess the word “good” is debatable. But I’m big on Christmas. I love decorating, listening to Christmas music, spending some solid stay home days with my family… my immediate family, and of course, watching some classic Christmas entertainment. I’m not sure if SILENT NIGHT will be added into the traditional rotation, but this extremely dark comedy does garner some respect for at least one viewing.
Nell (Keira Knightley) and her husband Simon (Matthew Goode) are hosting a Christmas Eve party with some of their oldest and dearest friends. They are borrowing Nell’s mother’s home to have enough space for each family to have their own room to stay the night. As the film opens up we see Nell and Simon doing the normal preparations like, getting dressed, preparing dinner, scrambling to get their kids ready, and releasing the chickens. Yeah, their are some very odd instances that keep coming up, that don’t seem to match the typical social norms in a friendly gathering. Their oldest son, Art (Roman Griffin Davis) cuts himself while chopping up the potatoes and no one finds it to be a big deal to clean up or throw away the bloody potatoes. Nor does a guest mind popping one into their mouth.
Writer and director Camille Griffin playfully intercuts this first family dynamic with the other guests driving to the party. We have Sandra (Annabelle Wallis), Tony (Rufus Jones) and their spoiled daughter Kitty (Davida McKenzie) in car one, Bella (Lucy Punch) and her partner Alex (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) in car two, then James (Sope Dirisu) and his young girlfriend Sophie (Lily-Rose Depp) in car three. Every character is well-developed and embodied so well by each actor cast. SILENT NIGHT is a strangely fun, well-structured evening of getting to know these characters and their quirks with humorous and thoughtful interactions. However, there is something off about the evening. And it is very quickly evident that this plans to be their last interaction and the slow reveal of what is actually happening is strangely horrific and delightfully satisfying.
The whole end of the world aspect might hit a little close to home following a real life world pandemic. Griffin creates s film that acknowledges the reality of the situation but also questions our actions and reactions, while staying true to people’s love for one another and honoring their own decisions. Of course, the focus is on the family dynamic and is all amped up in a more satirical fashion with a very humorous eye.
As I said, this is a dark film. An extremely dark film. What makes SILENT NIGHT feel particularly dark is that it is a family comedy that involves children as well. But I guess that is what defines the dark comedy. One’s level of appreciation of this very niche genre will be the outcome of one’s opinion of the film. I happen to be in the camp who enjoys this twisted absurdity, but I doubt I will revisit SILENT NIGHT during the holidays.
