The Requin is Le-Van Kiet’s newest thriller, when married couple Jaelyn (Alicia Silverstone) and Kyle (James Tupper) struggle to stay alive when stranded at sea with a killer shark circling. Sharks have drawn intrigue from people for years with films like Jaws and The Reef as well as the yearly shark focused programming Shark Week.
THE REQUIN WRTER/DIRECTOR REVEALS WHAT HIS MOVIE HAS IN COMMON WITH VENOM
The Illuminerdi had the opportunity to talk to Le-Van Kiet about The Requin, his newest addition to the genre. During our interview he talked about the fascination people have with sharks and how shark films have a surprising similarity to films like Venom.
“I make films for an audience and I see myself as an audience, it’s a film that, it just entices you to appreciate the unknown and also it’s a creature that is well respected, too. There is a lot of just oddness to this creature that exists in the ocean, it’s the most powerful creature and yet it is so silent and deadly, but there’s still a lot of mystery. That is why Shark Week is so big. There’s consistent movies of reinventing itself as kind of a shark genre, like The Reef. That did a lot for me, and The Shallows, and Jaws obviously.
But it always entices people’s imagination because you don’t need to see it all the time, right? It’s not a science picture, but you feel it and it’s there. But you don’t know how it’s going to react or what it’s gonna do. And it kind of speaks to us as vulnerable human beings in terms of, we think we have a lot of control, we think we know it all, we think we are down for the science and everything, but once you are actually faced with this creature who biologically has alien technology basically.Â
If you see Shark Week, they are incredibly intelligent, they smell blood like, I’ve heard miles and miles away. They can hear things better than humans. And they are so adapted to their world, and yet we think we know them very well. And I think that whenever you have this kind of movie, it’s almost like a good villain movie. Like Venom, Venom’s a bad guy obviously, but you almost appreciate his powers and technology.”
Its no surprise that people have been drawn to sharks while still being terrified of the unique danger they wield. Le-Van Kiet is no exception and the way he discusses shark’s abilities and their gravitas shows the respect he has for these creatures. His description of their abilities as almost alien is an interesting take and adds a level of danger and intrigue to how he portrays the shark in The Requin. Sharks have long been shown as the villains in stories of people stranded on the open sea especially in this genre.
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Jaws, similar to The Requin, leans into the shark filling the slot of antagonist building from them simply being a natural danger of the ocean before fully becoming a villainous force that the protagonist is actively fighting against. Given shark’s dangerously impressive abilities, their gravitas, and their mysteriousness it’s no wonder so many films have built them into the inescapable danger of people trying to survive in the ocean. The comparison to a character like Venom is a fascinating take that takes a new look at how Le-Van Kiet approached the shark in The Requin and the narrative of the protagonists.
THE REQUIN TRAILER AND SYNOPSIS
There’s terror in paradise when Jaelyn (Alicia Silverstone) and Kyle (James Tupper) arrive at a remote seaside villa in Vietnam for a romantic getaway. A torrential storm descends, reducing the villa to little more than a raft and sweeping the young couple out to sea. Suddenly, another danger appears: a school of great white sharks. With her injured husband watching helplessly, Jaelyn must battle the deadly predators alone in this tense thriller that rides an unrelenting wave of fear.
The Requin is in theaters and available on demand now. The Requin is written and directed by Le-Van Kiet. The Reuin stars Alicia Silverstone and James Tupper. Are you excited to see The Requin? Do you think of shark movies as villain movies similar to Venom? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media and check back with The Illuminerdi for more.
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