Written and directed by Camille Griffin
Starring: Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Roman Griffin Davis
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
In select theaters and streaming on AMC+ December 3

by Kristian Cortez, Staff Writer

It’s an interesting concept, pairing the end of the world with a holiday like Christmas. Both conjure up feelings of reflection, the compulsion to tell the truth or air out secrets, and contemplations on one’s existence. As separate stories they have impact, together it should result in something explosive. Camille Griffin’s debut, Silent Night, teeters this catastrophic line, dangling just over the edge with the possibility of falling, but never fully takes the plunge.

The film opens on Christmas, as Nell (Keira Knightley) and Simon (Matthew Goode) scramble to get their country house ready in time for their invited guests. Helping them is their son Art (Roman Griffin Davis), cutting carrots for Christmas dinner while his twin brothers put off getting ready in favor of video games. The intention for the night is simple, as Nell puts it: “tonight is all about love and forgiveness,” which of course has us assume—and maybe even hope—that the night will be anything but.

On their way to dinner are Sandra (Annabelle Wallis) and Tony (Rufus Jones), who make it clear within their first few minutes of screen time how unmatched they are. Accompanying them is their daughter Kitty (Davida McKenzie), the only other kid aside from the boys, in attendance. In another car is the vibrant, straightforward Bella (Lucy Punch) and her partner Alex (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), an outsider to the core group of friends. Alex is quiet, choosing to observe rather than partake. In every scene it appears there is something there, boiling under the surface, making us believe that she will have a moment of release at some point but it sadly never comes. In the final car is James (Sope Dirisu) and his very young partner Sophie (Lily-Rose Depp). Unlike Alex, Sophie is the outsider-character who actually has something to do and her purpose is to disrupt the façade all the friends are trying to put on. She is outspoken and doesn’t hold back from offering her opinions, as displayed in a particularly great moment at dinner when Simon cuts her off mid-speech forcing her into silence.

Up until this point the characters have only hinted at the disaster approaching but now it is fully on the table. To spare the children any stress, the parents have decided to not acknowledge the devastating coming events in front of them, aiming to keep things as normal as possible. Sophie, however, believes they have a right to know everything. Simon attempts to silence her a few times before finally succeeding after rising from his chair. The uncomfortable moment is the promise of a confrontation later on and for the outsider-character of Sophie, it actually occurs.

Unfortunately, it happens to be the only engaging conflict in the film. With a story like this, that takes place entirely in one night, end of the world looming, a gathering of friends who have made a pact to not bicker with each other, one would expect exactly that on the grandest of scales. An eruption of truths come to light. Perhaps a revealing so terrible that it holds no possibility of reconciliation. But the film never goes all the way. Instead, we are given some small teases at the start and only one scene after dinner when all the friends are sitting around drinking. And even so, the truths revealed really only center on two characters, everyone else is just a spectator.

Which is a shame with an ensemble cast such as this who could have done so much more. And that’s not to say that we weren’t given some fine performances because we were. Any and all of the scenes with Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, and Roman Griffin Davis are fine examples, as they manage to do a lot with the very little they were given. A stand out scene for me is the one in the car, as Nell and Simon try to reassure Art that they are making the right decision for their family. It’s an emotional scene that lands and it left me wanting more of that everywhere else, with every other character. But we simply don’t get the chance to know the other characters well enough.

As far as end of the world movies go, and Christmas movies for that matter, Silent Night isn’t completely terrible, it just isn’t completely great either. If it’s a Keira-Knightley-doomsday-film you fancy for a watch, I suggest checking out Seeking A Friend For the End of the World instead.