Soft & Quiet

What can sowing the seeds of racism reap? In Beth de Araújo's Soft and Quiet the answer is a helluva lot. Set over one evening in the lives of a small group of (white) women, this single-take drama goes from zero to sixty over the course of a tight 91 minutes.

That's right. A single take. Shot over the course of four days after just four days of rehearsals, Soft and Quiet tracks a gathering that starts out as quasi-support group but morphs quickly into a grievance-laden tirade of white- supremacy. These ladies think they're just "speaking common sense" or "stating facts," but the poison words that come out of these smiling mouths belie something very wrong with the situation.

From the start, the ringleader appears to be Emily (Estes), a beautiful kindergarten teacher full of ugly ideas. She's determined to "do something," using her retrograde ideas of both race and gender. It's Leslie (Luccardi), a newcomer to the group, who pushes much of the action forward after being invited by seemingly boring mom Kim (Millican). Marjorie (Pienta) is also fairly new and is the most acutely aware of how much she doesn't have in her life, blaming it all on people who look different than her.

After setting the stage with words, the movie delivers in action. When Anne (Paulo) and Lily (Ly) come into Kim's grocery store, the group discovers an outlet for their ire in these two women of color and creates a unnecessary confrontation. Details will have to wait for a viewing, but suffice it to say, things go dark quickly, with several moments of very uncomfortable conflict that will change the lives of all involved.

Cinematographer and cameraperson Greta Zozula pulls off an amazing feat with her visual storytelling. While there are a couple of inevitably plodding scenes due to the limitations of the continuous format, they are easily forgiven given the excitement and action that are captured, literally in real time. The fact that Blumhouse put their horror imprimatur on it speaks volumes.

Soft and Quiet goes after white woman specifically, exploring their place a world of racist ideas. Leslie's husband Craig (Beavers) tags along for part of the adventure as the lone male, but while he most definitely earns some culpability for what happens, he's also the only voice of reason. In a world where white men have enforced inequality, it's white women who have benefited and even perpetuated it. This film takes that concept to the extreme, showing what happens when people of bad intent feed off each others' weakness and fear. This is powerful filmmaking that goes beyond just vilifying racist scum, and asks hard questions about what hate hath wrought.