The following article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for A Quiet Place: Day One. If you have yet to watch the movie, please exercise extreme caution.
John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place franchise has given us some of the best horror movies in recent memory and countless unforgettable scenes that I’m sure we’ll be talking about for years to come. While few would argue that Michael Sarnoski’s prequel, Day One, is the best of the series, it does feature what I think is the best scene of the three movies: the marionette sequence.
I recently watched A Quiet Place: Day One with my Paramount+ subscription, and while I agreed with some of the film’s critical response and issues addressed in our official Day One review, I haven’t been able to quit thinking about this short and sweet scene, and how it captures the very best the franchise has to offer.
So, What Is The Marionette Scene Anyway?
In the opening minutes of A Quiet Place: Day One, Samira (Lupia Nyong’o), a terminally ill and bitterly pessimistic cancer patient reluctantly goes with her hospice group to a marionette show in New York City. The sequence, which is set to Alexis Grapsas’ enchanting “Marionette” composition, shows a highly-skilled performer put on a transfixing and emotionally stirring performance in which his puppet blows up a balloon that begins to float about the stage before a sudden pop and a crash back to Earth.
So why do I think this is the best scene in one of the best horror franchises of all time? Allow me to explain.
The Sequence Finds That Perfect Balance Of Art And Tension
One thing that I have loved about the Quiet Place movies ever since I saw the franchise starter back in April 2018 is how they have always found the perfect balance of art and tension. The marionette scene in Day One is probably the best example of this, which is strange considering we spend most of it watching an inanimate object being tricked into thinking it is alive.
The music, the lighting and the quick glances at the young children in the audience captivated by the show all work together to create this brilliant, beautiful and incredibly tense series of events. Watching the balloon grow larger and larger before carrying the doll about the stage, I knew it was only a matter of time before it burst and brought an end to the brief and fleeting moment of tranquility. Honestly, this whole sequence is a perfect metaphor for that balance and the anticipation that overtakes us as we wait for that scale to flip.
I Love How The Balloon Pop Pretty Much Signals The Start Of The Alien Invasion
Another thing I love about the marionette sequence is that the alien invasion pretty much starts during the middle of the show, specifically when the balloon pops. Before Samira enters the dark theater, her world is pretty much normal (besides the whole terminal disease aspect), but as soon as the loud “POP” shakes her out her seat, she enters a world that has changed drastically.
The tense conversation with her hospice nurse Reuben (Alex Wolff), the chaos on the bus, the death and destruction on the streets of New York City, and the terrifying aliens picking people off all take place after the balloon bursts. This seemingly uneventful marionette show, in this case, serves as a herald of a new reality.
The Puppet Show Also Sets The Emotional Tone Of The Film
Though there were some fears that A Quiet Place: Day One wouldn’t live up to its predecessors when it came to capturing magic on screen, the marionette scene proves that that is far from the case. Much like key moments with the Abbott family early on the first and second films set the tone and stakes of their respective stories, this short, yet powerful sequence sets the emotional tone of the prequel, and its impact can be felt throughout the subsequent 90 minutes.
I’m not saying the moving poetry, magic or piano scenes later on wouldn’t be good without the early sequence, but I felt that it was the movie’s way of preparing the audience and telling us that this movie would make us cry tears of wonder and sorrow before everything is said and done. In that regard, I think it’s highly effective, not only for setting our expectations, but also in creating an enchanting escape from the hustle and bustle, or in this case, death and destruction of reality.
The Sequence, And Its Overall Meaning, Open Up So Many Questions
As is the case with most movies, there are a lot of questions following A Quiet Place: Day One, and some of mine have to do with the marionette sequence. If I was given the opportunity to talk to Michael Sarnoski and John Krasinski about the admittedly brief scene and its overall meaning, I’m sure I’d talk their ears off until I was ushered out of the room.
I would love to know if this puppet show was a metaphor for something larger in the film, if they included it to say something about the fleeting nature of peace and harmony, or if it just served as a really cool contrast to the loud, chaotic and action-packed sequences that make up the majority of the film’s screen time. Regardless of their reasoning, I just can’t get over how much a two-minute stretch, a very small part of the movie, could impact me the way this did.
The Marionette Show Lacks Action, But That Can Be Said About A Quiet Place’s Most Iconic Scenes
Don’t get me wrong, the Quiet Place movies have featured some of the most intense action sequences of the past decade, in and out of horror, and Day One is no different in this regard. However, at the same time, the movies have also featured, for a lack of better terms, quiet and toned-down scenes that turned down the action dial and turned up the emotion and drama.
The nail and bathtub scenes from A Quiet Place and some of the more tender moments from A Quiet Place Part II have all shown these movies are about balance more than anything else. While the marionette sequence isn’t anywhere as intense as those moments, none of them are explosive action set pieces by any means.
Overall, the marionette sequence in A Quiet Place: Day One probably isn’t the first scene that comes to mind when thinking about the franchise’s best, but I believe it does a great job of capturing the beauty, essence and balance that has made these movies so much fun to watch. Now I can’t wait to see how A Quiet Place Part III, one of the most anticipated upcoming horror movies, ups the ante.