Five strangers. A storm. A kidnapped girl: these are the few and simple ingredients of No Exitthe new thriller produced by 20th Century Fox and distributed here in Italy exclusively by Disney Plus available from today on the streaming platform.
The screenplay for the film is based on the novel of the same name written by Taylor Adams and first published in 2017. Without going into too much detail, No Exit tells the story of a girl who finds herself in spite of herself involved in a mysterious kidnapping case: who kidnapped that little girl among the four strangers who are there with her? And why? Will young Darby Thorne be able to save the life of that child and anyone present not involved in the kidnapping?
- Purchase Taylor Adams’ novel No Exit on which the film is based on Amazon.
No Exit: the story of Darby
A small detail that immediately strikes you is the fact that the title of the film, No Exit, he is not just referring to the seemingly no-escape situation in which Darby will find himself entangled. This is the character characterized in the most depth of the whole film, and this, together with the fact that she is the first character we see, makes us understand that she will, in some way, be the main protagonist of this story full of tension.
Darby is in a center trying to detox, when suddenly a phone call comes for her: her mother is very sick. But what can she do, she locked in a place where they don’t even allow her to call her family? Well, it is already from this initial premise that we understand that Darby’s life was a dead end street even before of running into the kidnapping of a little girl.
This particular feature, however, places Darby at a crossroads, in a dramatic moment like what will later be the true focus of the narrative: having lived many traumatic experiences in his life, including the battle against drug addictions that he is still fighting, another traumatic event could give her the final blow and knock her down forever, provided she survives. Or the fact that she is already used to experiencing extreme experiences could be the key to succeeding in the fearless enterprise of freeing the little victim.
To take on the role of Darby we find Havana Rose Liu, debut actress in the role of protagonist, who however manages to give the character that strength and drama that are required by a part like hers. The interpretation of her is intense, as also emerges from the close-ups.
Another problem certainly not negligible are the other people with whom she will find herself by chance due to a terrible storm that will prevent her from reaching, at least immediately, her mother and her sister in the hospital: Darby only knows that some of those four individuals never seen before kidnapped that little girl. Who? In this tense climate, mistrust will make its way more and more, endangering little Jay’s life even more.
No Exit: the other characters
Despite the short duration of the film, just over an hour and a half, No Exit he also paints a picture of the personalities and history of the other protagonists of this dramatic story. Our Darby is redirected by a police officer to a shelter in which to wait for the snowstorm to subside. There are already four other people there who, along with Darby and Jay, make up a large part of the cast of themselves No Exit.
To convey even more a sense of claustrophobic oppression and tension it is precisely the fact that the story takes place almost entirely in the refuge and in the external areas in the immediate vicinity; this sense of estrangement is further accentuated by the fact that the protagonists of the story are only six people: a few people, many of whom do not know each other, locked in a confined environment from which one cannot escape due to the blizzard: another dead end situation.
The last and most crucial situation with no escape route then concerns precisely the fulcrum of the story: being able to free the kidnapped child, perhaps without ending up all killed by whoever kidnapped her. But who are the other protagonists?
As a narrative device to tell their stories No Exit opt for a game of cards: while the five sit at the table intent on playing, they take the opportunity to talk a little about themselves. In this way, we learn about a part of their stories (other details will be revealed in the course of the film):
Ash, an open, kind and helpful guy, is played by Danny Ramirez (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier); Lars, a shy and withdrawn boy, is played by David Rysdahl (Nine Days); And a firm man, determined and very sure of himself, also given the fact that he is a former soldier to take on his role we find Dennis Haysbert (Sin City – A woman to kill for, Lucifer); Sandy is an affable, kind woman, as well as Ed’s wife; her to give her life in No Exit And Dale Dickey (My Name Is Earl); Jay is the little girl who was kidnapped, played by the very young Mila Harris (Dion).
High voltage
The isolated setting, the few spaces in which the story takes place, both inside and outside, and the presence of so few characters contribute to creating a claustrophobic sense of closure, really conveying the impression that there is no way out. leak. The direction and photography then highlight not only the expressions of the actors, all very credible in their roles (especially David Rysdahl), but also fundamental details for a thriller story. The tension is almost constant and follows one climax ascending several times, thus making the dynamic story and thus keeping the spectators’ attention alive.
No Exit is an old-school thriller in which a handful of characters and a small isolated place become the protagonists and scenery of a story that is dense, powerful, compelling and full of twists that shuffle the cards on the table. No Exit is available for viewing starting today exclusively on Disney Plus.
