A much-talked-about premiere at SXSW earlier this year, Beth de Araújo’s thriller Soft & Quiet, shot in real-time, follows a single afternoon in the life of an elementary school teacher, Emily. She organizes an inaugural club meeting of like-minded women as their racist proclivities soon bubble up and a nightmare of white supremacy plays out. Starring Stefanie Estes, Olivia Luccardi, Eleanore Pienta, Dana Millican, Melissa Paulo, Jon Beavers, and Cissy Ly, the first trailer has now arrived ahead of a release on November 4.
John Fink said in his review, “Told in real-time across one (seemingly) unbroken shot, Beth de Araújo’s Soft & Quiet is perhaps the most provocative film to screen at SXSW this year. If it doesn’t quite fit the bill as a traditional horror film, that doesn’t mean there isn’t terror lurking under its surface. Speaking after the screening, de Araujo said her intention is to have the audience witness a hate crime play out in real-time. The film is much more—it’s a political indictment of the kind of frank, racist conversations that can play out amongst a group of like-minded (awful) individuals who are careful to moderate their tone. It’s the kind of wink, wink, nod, nod, coded language used to pull moderate voters into your cause—be it a politician in a sweater vest or a soccer mom in Target is saying it, is it that bad? Don’t they speak for all “Americans,” Tucker Carlson?”
Watch the trailer below.
Soft & Quiet opens in theaters and on VOD on November 4.