Disney+, Hulu 'No Exit' starring Havana Rose Liu is the ultimate isolation thriller movie
A powerful performance by Havana Rose Liu leads the ultimate isolation thriller movie No Exit (streaming on Disney+ in Canada, Hulu in the U.S.), based on the novel by Taylor Adams, also starring Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey, Danny Ramirez and David Rysdahl.
“One of the most amazing parts about this is the way that I could, and also I hope audiences can, relate to the idea of isolation,” Liu told Yahoo Canada.
That isolation component is core to the story largely focused on Darby (Havana Rose Liu), who we initially meet in a rehab facility when she gets an unexpected phone call that her mother is in the hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm. Rehab rules dictate that she can’t make any outgoing calls, so Darby breaks out of the facility, stealing an employee’s car to drive to see her mother, despite messages from her sister that Darby’s mother doesn’t want to see her and she’ll “only make it worse.”
Stuck on the road in the middle of a massive snowstorm, Darby has to stop at a local visitor’s centre to wait out the storm with four strangers, couple Ed and Sandy (Dennis Haysbert and Dale Dickey) who seem relatively friendly, Ash (Danny Ramirez) who is initially asleep when Darby arrives, and Lars (David Rysdahl) who spends much of his time alone in the corner, seemingly anxious.
While stepping outside the visitor’s centre in an attempt to get cell phone service, Darby notices a little girl, taped up and trapped in a van in the parking lot, which sets Darby off on her solo attempt to find out who has kidnapped this little girl, and to get her to safety.
It’s Darby’s feeling of isolation, paired with the film mostly only taking place in and around the visitor’s centre, that elevates this isolated feeling throughout the film, almost, as Liu describes it, like watching a live theatre performance.
“I think we've been through two years of aggressive isolation, for most, and I think that this world in which she's stuck in, even in a rehab facility, and then stuck again in this centre, I think is a powerful idea, and also one that we can all relate to, and definitely one that did help me sort of process the role,” Liu said.
“Walking into that studio every day and just seeing the stage we were in, felt a lot like a play.”
Gritty but with a unique vulnerability for a 'heroic' character
The actor added that she was “obsessed” with the role and was really able to “fall in love” with Darby.
“I was able to fall in love with Darby right off the bat, there [were] no questions asked, it was unconditional from the start,” Liu said. “I thought she was gritty and bold and powerful, and vulnerable in a way that I don't often see [the] heroic character being.”
“I think I really needed her in the moment that she came to me. She allowed me to find a certain level of strength in my own desire to find my own self esteem and my own footing in a new world of acting. I think she's pretty powerful and complex, and was definitely part of what drew me in.”
Funny enough, even though Liu was able to “fall in love” with Darby, she’s not a fan of being scared.
“I don't watch scary things because I'm absolutely terrified of being afraid, so this was definitely out of my normal comfort zone,” she said. “But I will say, how surprising it is, and also how flawed yet also really redeemable all of the characters are, is something that makes this film feel like it has its own very unique beating heart.”
“I think that, for me, the twisty, turn-y nature of this film, and how many times it surprised me in reading it, and still sometimes surprises me when I'm sort of thinking about it or seeing it, is something that, yes, I've seen films that are this surprising before, but I just feel like it keeps me on my toes in a way where I remember I literally had to get up and stretch afterwards because I was so tense.”
