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Silent Night

2021

Camille Griffin

Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Roman Griffin Davis, Annabelle Wallis ...

5.9

4,728

Comedy. Drama A cozy house in the English countryside. The tree has been lovingly decorated. A grand feast is being prepared. Over the sound system, Michael Bublé croons about holiday sweaters. Nell, Simon, and their boy Art are ready to welcome friends and family for what promises to be a perfect Christmas gathering. Perfect except for one thing: everyone is going to die.

	Author	Review
United States	Lovia Gyarkye The Hollywood Reporter	"This shaky apocalyptic film doesn’t land at times, but its gripping final act, a handful of standout performances and attempts at commentary about class and climate change will probably keep most audiences engaged"	POS
United States	Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"Camille Griffin wickedly weaves together holiday-movie and end-of-the-world–movie tropes, but once the shock of that juxtaposition wears off, we’re left with a slightly underboiled pudding, despite a sharp ensemble’s most valiant efforts"	NEU
United States	Guy Lodge Variety	"It’s neither funny nor haunting enough to become a holiday staple (...) [Knightley's] likable, fittingly flustered performance (...) holds this uneven enterprise together"	NEU
United States	Marya E. Gates The Playlist	"'Silent Night' effectively blends two seemingly disparate genres — holiday films and impending apocalyptic cinema (...) The tonal shifts are a bit shaky, but her strong cast holds the film together"	POS
United States	Christian Blauvelt IndieWire	"'Silent Night' has the courage to face harsh reality (...) For all of that, however, the film lacks a point of view (...) [It] gleams like tinsel, but is just as flimsy."	NEU
United States	Pete Hammond Deadline	"Keira Knightley leads fine British ensemble in not-so-merry Christmas movie"	POS
United States	Jason Shawhan AV Club	"Santa can keep this tiresomely mean-spirited apocalypse movie (...) 'Silent Night' seeks to stir holiday cheer and a staggering amount of tragic death into an enthralling seasonal cocktail. But the mixology is way off"	NEG
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"The film never snaps into sharp enough focus, ultimately blunting the story’s barbs and bleak message."	NEU
United States	Meagan Navarro Bloody Disgusting	"Knightley and Goode nail the charming but frazzled hosts and parents of three (...) Something is comforting about how Griffin uses pitch-black humor to relay her morality tale (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Ian Freer Empire	"After an unsatisfying start as a comedy, 'Silent Night' finds its feet as an ambitious, thoughtful chamber piece about what it means to peer into the abyss. Merry Christmas, everyone! (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Pat Brown Slant	"'Silent Night' serves up misdirected (...) The film misplaces the root of our current existential dilemma, then covers it with tepid droll comedy and clunky melodrama (…) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"	NEG
Canada	J Hurtado Screen Anarchy	"'Silent Night' is among this year's best at approaching both tones -tragedy and comedy- with savvy and respect (...) Wonderfully potent writing from Camille Griffin and a knockout performance from Roman Griffin Davis"	POS
United States	Hoai-Tran Bui SlashFilm	"The wild tonal swings of 'Silent Night' are more of a feature than a bug, that's for sure. But apart from its conceit of playing out as an amplified version of an awkward Christmas comedy, there isn't much beneath the surface"	POS
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"Writer-director Griffin deftly toggles between social/political commentary and the deadpan comedy/horror at hand (...) 'Silent Night' takes some gruesome and wickedly subversive turns (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Jessica Kiang Los Angeles Times	"The thin stereotypes in 'Silent Night' are weirdly uninteresting to observe in this ultimate pressure situation (...) Joyless (...) [Its] premise has become as hopelessly tangled as a poorly stored string of Christmas lights"	NEG
United States	Christy Lemire rogerebert.com	"Muddled (...) [It] doesn't reach the fizzy heights of the comedies that served as inspiration. It's never all that amusing. [It] rarely achieves the suspenseful, unsettling vibe she's aiming for (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"There is something undoubtedly startling and bizarre about seeing the end of the world generically grafted on to this jolly Britcom mode (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Charlotte O'Sullivan London Evening Standard	"As a film-maker, she has enormous potential. Her climax, however, is silent but deadly and leaves a bad smell (…) Puntuación: ★★★ (sobre 5)"	POS
United States	Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle	"There's as much Noël Coward as George Romero in her bold approach to tragicomedy that gives equal value to both elements. That's why [its] supposed peace will be interrupted by as many tears as laughs (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Siddhant Adlakha IGN	"With a stunningly honest performance from the director's son, 'Silent Night' balances the eccentricities of a Christmas get-together with nihilistic acceptance of certain doom, making for a film that's both bleak and dryly funny"	POS
United States	Aurora Amidon Paste Magazine	"Timely and engaging, 'Silent Night' is still distractingly inconsistent (...) Even with effective individual scenes, [it] fails to launch; it sets out to deceive its audience, but only really ends up deceiving itself"	NEU
United States	Jared Mobarak The Film Stage	"'Silent Night' is a blunt Christmas comedy that pulls no punches"	NEU
Canada	Gaius Bolling JoBlo	"I found myself laughing out loud while almost in an instant feeling emotionally invested (...) A film perfect for Christmas viewing when you're seeking something a bit darker than the normal fare"	POS

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