M. Night Shyamalan's international breakthrough was his third feature but it came loaded with an M.O. that continues to serve him in his decades long career. With a zest for the weird tale, Shyamalan became famous for his stories' twists. A South Park episode that involved the Pentagon consulting Hollywood figures to help them with terrorists had Michael Bay offering special effects sequences and M. Night Shyamalan coming up with twists (they went with Mel Gibson; it's a hilarious episode). When you're "honoured" by South Park in the early '00s, you've pretty much made it. Then, by the time he got to Lady in the Water and The Happening the public who'd flocked to his movies were decreasingly impressed with what was feeling too much like formula. At this point, though, the engine was only getting started and felt accomplished and confident.
Shyamalan shoots his hometown Philadelphia with what feels like a nostalgic care. Overcast days bring out the colours against the blue grey of the older buildings and leafy streets. Interiors of schools and grander homes are all wood panelling and spiral staircases. This setting combines both the present of the story with the past of memory in concordance with the developing closeness of Malcolm and Cole. The man first sees the child from afar, across a street, leaving his house on his way somewhere and it's Malcolm's interception that begins their story, almost as though the man is meeting himself as a child. This adds depth to what is a fairly stretched simple story as it gives each of the paired characters a motive of discovery.
The much celebrated Haley Joel Osment as Cole keeps his side of the partnership solid, bearing a burden that might only get heavier as he grows older. His evident intelligence is clear when, in pushing the experience, he confronts what might well be fatal fear. His shouldering of the unworldly has rendered him worldly and the sophisticated kid we eventually see has shed his fear with honours.
Bruce Willis, having gone from the quirky Moonlighting tv show and into the realm of the action hero quite abruptly, had sought throughout the '90s roles that could expand his public image. He went back to quirk in Pulp Fiction but in Twelve Monkeys he spent most of his screentime drooling and sedated. There were more of these but because his biggest draws were the Die Hards and Fifth Elements he was still seen as a quipping G.I. Joe figurine. The reserve and intellect he brought to Malcolm whose actions played only in his head and whose potency seemed deactivated when faced with his wife's suitors rendered him a surprise to audiences which earned the same kind of approval as Osment. It's a sober but nuanced performance.
This wasn't Toni Collette's debut in American movies but the notices it drew from critics ensured it wouldn't be her last. Her beleaguered mother deals tough love with a bitten lip and her youthful beauty has been worn to hardness. When her breaking moment arrives her performance is delivered with a restraint that can give its witnesses the strain of the ugly cry face, as though we're downloading it. It doesn't flash into the explosiveness of her maternal role in Hereditary but shouldn't; it's one of those moments where you as audience feel prepared to be wrought by experts.
This tale of confrontation and reconciliation remains more than watchable with a confidence of conviction palpable in every scene. Shyamalan handles jump scares as effortlessly as suspense setups (the room at the top of the stairs is a terrifying moment but it's entirely suggestion). The confidence is largely due here to Shyamalan's own in pressing ahead with a story of industrial strength emotional pain in a sombre supernatural setting, offering an action hero as a melancholy figure and banking on a child actor to carry so much.
I had this film spoiled for me in one of the groups on Usenet (it was in the title, in caps, of a post, so there was no avoiding it. For a movie that was sold as a big twist fest that should have been fatal. I went to see it with a friend and didn't spoil it for him. He was impressed with the machinery of the revelation. I chose to watch scenes alternating between knowing what I knew and letting them flow over untainted. It worked differently from intention but it still worked. And that's the point, really: if you're human story is strong enough and delivered well enough you should find yourself caring that you know someone on screen is going to be unmasked as a secret real estate agent from the planet Zingo.
Shyamalan has returned from his critical wilderness with creditable fare like Old or The Knock at the Cabin. If he still indulges his twist endings he also brings solid filmmaking to the table. My gripes with his work overall is that he has also indulged tendencies toward magical plot hole fillers like in Signs (most people go on about the contradiction in the alien invasion but I can't stand the final moments and the completely uncritical acceptance of the reason given). When he keeps the twist simple and its delivery subtle he works (there's a good one in The Visit). If I prefer Unbreakable to this among his early movies it's only because the plot is more engaging but seeing this again was a pleasure, a visit from an old friend with whom you can resume a decades old conversation.
Viewing notes: I watched this on Disney + in 4k which was a delight but it has been available in a range of versions since it was new.
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