When I realized that this movie revolved around an extraterrestrial alien encounter with all the usual tropes, I wasn’t enthralled. Sci-fi isn’t my favorite genre of film, and even less so when it features angry aliens. I like sci-fi to feature more friendly intruders, like “Close Encounters” or “E.T.”
But, this second outing from writer/director Brian Duffield is a standout. Mr. Duffield infuses all of his scary films with stories of love and longing. And this one is no different.
Take Brynn Adams (Kaitlyn Dever), for instance, our protagonist. When introduced to Brynn, we feel her plight, even though we don’t quite know what is plaguing her. Living alone in a home which can best be described as “shabby chic”, Brynn fills her days making mail order gifts and writing letters to an unseen friend, Maude.
When shipping her orders in town, we see her try to put on a smiling face around the townspeople. And she fails. It appears they know something about her that causes them to be wary.
Nothing is spelled out in the movie, leaving viewers to guess what happened in Brynn’s past. In itself, this subplot is intriguing enough, but throw in a bunch of aliens from outer space, and you have what constitutes the totality of No One Will Save You. It’s something akin to a Twilight Zone episode, where a small American town with a sad story is terrorized by invaders from space.
The look of the aliens who attack Brynn stem from recorded encounters: long vertical heads and dark black eyes that resemble a cat’s. The look is what many an actual victim of alien abduction might describe. Yet these aliens are violent. Curious, but violent. Mainly in reaction to Brynn fighting to save her haven of a home, the shelter from the dismissive townsfolk around her.
No One Will Save You then follows her as she fends off these alien intruders both at home and in town. It’s as if she is engaged in a dance with a bit of give and take (or tit for tat) where she or the aliens come out on top depending on what scene you are viewing. Not only do the intruders breach the sanctity of her home, but they even appear to overtake the townspeople. (Fans of the Alien franchise who remember “face huggers” will see a bit of commonality.)
The dance between Brynn and the aliens continues, echoing the dance at the beginning of the movie where she twirls about delightedly after receiving mail order dance lessons from the dopey mailman.
The dopey mailman? He too plays an integral part. But no spoilers here.
As the film reaches its conclusion, it becomes more ethereal and psychological, leaving the viewer to try to determine what is really happening. The narrative slowly begins to unveil what happened to young Brynn, why she writes all those letters to Maude, and what led the townspeople to dislike her.
Curiously, No One Will Save You is devoid of dialogue, the entire story told through action and music and sound. Nobody speaks throughout the entire film. And it isn’t until a third of the way through that one may ever notice, as it doesn’t detract from the flow at all.
Speaking of curiosity, it is curiousness which ultimately brings the aliens and Brynn together in a final confrontation. And it is here that the movie doesn’t quite pay off how we might expect. No Sigourney Weaver as Lt. Ripley is armed with an iconic line of dialogue at the end. It isn’t predictable. It is merely synergistic. An understanding evolves.
No One Will Save You leaves the viewer to consider that this wasn’t a battle at all, but instead, a compromise. The ending will confuse some, enchant others, and annoy those who want to be spoon fed a traditional Hollywood ending.
So, Maude, you are missed, and loved. And we welcome this story of you and Brynn, one that shows a young lonely girl finding the means to forgive herself, and realize her dreams.
No One Will Save You is a Hulu Original now streaming.
