Movie Reviews
In the moments that follow the funeral, Shyamalan establishes the mood. At a large feast, the saddened villagers tend slowly to the food in front of them when a low, vivid yell of some sort is heard in the forest across the field. Two women sweep their porch in peace until a red flower shows itself; the women then scurry to pick the flower and bury it in the ground.
Okay, okay, I�ll cut to the chase. From what is seen and what is said we find out that the forest that separates the village from the towns is forbidden. Access is always denied because of the alleged creatures, or Those Who We Do Not Speak Of that dwell in it. Apparently the color red (otherwise known as the �bad color�) is also not allowed because it attracts Those Who We Do Not Speak Of. However most of the villagers are at peace because of the truce that exists between those who live in the village and those who live in the woods.
�The Village� is a carefully calculated, meticulously timed thriller that has so many twists and turns that I can only tell you precious little for fear of giving some important part away. From what we�ve seen before, M. Night Shyamalan is basically a natural when it comes to fooling an audience. He did in �The Sixth Sense� and �Unbreakable�, and made us look at coincidences in �Signs�.
Which of the four is my favorite? Well, it depends. On some levels this is the best, and yet on others it�s my least favorite. As far as catching me by surprise, it�s the best. But one thing I didn�t like about the film is the proper usage language of the villagers. I understand that Shyamalan was trying to capture the period, but some of it is just way too exaggerated. So, I guess it�s a toss up. I�ll let you decide.
This is some of the more beautiful filmmaking of the year. As most of the film takes places outdoors in presumably the fall, the leaves are changing and the sky is lurid. It makes for great suspense. Shyamalan uses anything he possibly can to lead you to believe one thing, and in this, the forest becomes a character. As for the actual characters in the film, Joaquin Phoenix plays Lucius Hunt in a performance of surprisingly quiet intensity. William Hurt, who is always reliable, deals too. But this film, as far as acting goes, belongs to Adrien Brody and newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard (director Ron Howard�s daughter).
Brody broke my heart in 2002�s �The Pianist�, for which he won an Oscar for, and he does it again playing a man who has some sort of mental deficiency. I can remember watching �The Sixth Sense� and wondering where on earth they found Haley Joel Osment. Well, that�s exactly how I felt about Howard. She is the life of the film in more ways than one, and she is absolutely brilliant. Keep in mind; it�s her first film�ever.
You know, it�s almost incomprehensible the genius of this writer/producer/director and his films. He is one of the most original filmmakers in Hollywood right now, not afraid to take risks and even make some mistakes. Like Sergio Leone westerns and Quentin Tarantino crimes, Shyamalan is single-handedly reinventing the genre, and becoming the Alfred Hitchcock of my generation. In fact�I think he just might be better. ****