Director Brian Duffield’s science fiction home invasion film is a deceptively massive film. It’s simplistic in that it’s limited to a cast of mainly one person, and places the enormous crux of the dramatic weight on the shoulders of star Kaitlyn Dever. Thankfully Dever is more than up to the task, offering what is easily one of her best performances to date. Director Duffield mixes so many genres and sub-genres from home invasion, survival thriller, character-based drama, themes about grief and guilt, and extra terrestrials all colliding in an absolutely outstanding cinematic experience.
Young Brynn is an isolated home body who spends her days with her small model houses and dancing her in her river side home. One night her home is raided by extra terrestrials that aggressively seek her out to drag her back to their ship. After miraculously surviving the night, Brynn struggles to make sense of what unfolded, and realizes she might not be out of the woods just yet. Even worse, she might have only herself to depend on if and when the invaders return for her.
To punctuate the sheer terror of the experience, dialogue is kept to an absolute minimum. This not only adds to the inherent sense of realism and inherent terror behind the main characters’ circumstances, but we’re spared any unnecessary exposition dump. There’s literally only two small bits of dialogue muttered throughout the movie, while the rest is reliant heavily on the amazing Oscar level sound design. And when I say amazing, the sound design is absolutely top notch. “No One Will Save You” is a film that relies heavily on our ears and eyes, where everything we need to know is shown and hinted at. It’s not only a movie about a woman fighting for her survival, but a broken woman who is still on the verge of healing from a life changing event.
The team of sound designers accomplishes an amazing feat here unfolding a story that is deep down as raw and visceral as possible. So much information is disseminated through sensory experiences, and Duffield is a master of implementing sound and ace direction to relay the sheer chaos that unfolds. “No One Will Save You” simply spares no time, filling in so much of a break neck and horrifying narrative within a tight ninety five minutes. From beginning to end, the circumstances are extraordinary and utterly grim, especially as we come to realize the scope of this situation along with main character Brynn. There isn’t a ton of explanation about the alien nemeses as the whats, whys, and hows are left mainly up to us to discuss amongst ourselves when the credits have rolled.
Nevertheless, the particulars aren’t that important as Duffield makes the motivations of the aliens absolutely crystal clear the more the film unfolds. He also uses them as a means of symbolizing the deeply embedded guilt that rests with Brynn and has haunted her for years and years. “No One Will Save You” is an absolute accomplishment from head to toe with excellent writing, excellent direction, and a stellar turn from Kaitlyn Dever who really gives everything in a performance that feels like a throwback to Agnes Moorehead in The Twilight Zone’s “The Invaders.”
It’s easily one of my favorite films of 2023.
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