Silent as the Grave (2023), A Unique Take On Murder Mysteries and Documentary Filmmaking

Silent as the Grave (2023), a film by Brad Podowski and Dan Gremley, offers a completely fresh take on a genre that has largely been played out in recent years. Neo-noir is, by default, a revamping of existing styles and genre tropes, yet this film does an excellent job of subverting expectations. Even if you set aside the fact that Silent as the Grave is a great technical achievement, especially as a low-budget indie project, it also does something that most genre films fail to do — it draws you into a totally unrelated experience. On the surface, the film is a tense, neo-noir, whodunit thriller, but as the story progresses, it also becomes a fascinating meditation on the art of documentary filmmaking. 

The story follows Chris, a young, passionate, but relatively unsuccessful documentary filmmaker in Chicago. His screenings are lightly attended by family and friends, but he yearns to take his career to the next level. As luck would have it, his aunt is motivated to solve the mystery surrounding Chris’s uncle, a young man who died under strange circumstances in 1960. His aunt is so motivated, in fact, that she’s willing to pay Chris $5,000 to make a documentary and, ideally, solve the cold case in the process. 

The only lead is that an unknown person has been leaving flowers at his uncle’s grave for years. Chris runs with it, soon becoming obsessed with the case and the strange cast of characters who seem hellbent on preventing the truth from coming out. It gets to the point that the documentary pits Chris’s passions against the best interests of his family, including Naomi, his very pregnant wife. 

But the neo-noir thriller is just the surface-level story that keeps you engaged and fuels the film’s beautiful aesthetics. Based on true events, Silent as the Grave is very clearly a rumination on the art and sacrifice of documentary filmmaking. Every piece of information is a potential clue, a puzzle piece that a documentary filmmaker must put together to create something meaningful. Even as the glue that holds the entire thing together, Chris isn’t the most likable protagonist, but his aspirations are very relatable. He pursues his craft relentlessly, even when it threatens to destroy himself and his family. 

When most viewers think about what goes into filmmaking, they might think about the technical aspects; the camera, the lights, the editing, and so on. But when it comes to documentaries, it’s easy to forget that anyone with a cellphone and a determination to find out the truth can make it happen. We see Chris dive head-first into his investigation, fully aware that he’s meant to be making a documentary. Yet he only records with a camera on one or two occasions. He spends nearly every scene chasing down the facts, recreating a family history that remains just beyond his grasp. For Chris, and for nearly every documentary filmmaker out there, the story comes first; everything else is secondary. 

This is far and away the most fascinating aspect of Silent as the Grave. Sure, it is an entertaining and engaging mystery, but for me, it was a mystery masquerading as a filmmaker’s personal account of the blood, sweat, and tears that go into bringing a documentary to life. In Chris’s case, the story is particularly close to home, as it involves multiple members of his family, both past and present. This took inspiration straight from director Brad Podowski’s own life, as he based the narrative on his family’s experience with unexplained death and the strange combination of grieving and curiosity that followed.

If you have an affinity for slow-burning crime dramas, Silent as the Grave is a great choice. And if you want to know what it’s really like to make a documentary from scratch, even better. This film offers up exactly the kind of nuanced storytelling that makes viewers excited to see what comes next.

Silent as the Grave Movie Rating: ★★★½ out of 5

If you’d like to watch Silent as the Grave (2023), the film is currently available to rent or purchase via Amazon. You can also learn about the film and its creators on the official website. For more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film homepage!