Yeah, I hated the shit out of this movie when I first saw it (boring, dull, pretentious, mechanical). Seeing it again on it DVD recently changed my mind. It's a real shame the way M. Night's ego mars what is otherwise a fairly intelligent and graceful film. Still, it's his most coherent and satisfying film to date (even if he hasn't achieved the kind of greatness he'd like us to believe).
I think the main reason The Village got critically shafted is Shyamalan's label of popular entertainer rather than artist. His "surprise endings" are viewed primarily for their shock value, not what kind of truths they reveal to us about the narrative or the characters.
The Village is the best variation so far on Shyamalan's inherent theme of the way people cope with death (or, on a larger scale, man's psychological battle with the knowledge of its own mortality). It shows us a group of people who assume an oppressive, Puritanical stance in the wake of tragedy, something that rings very true in post-9/11 America. Watching the film a second time, now with knowledge of its conclusion, I realized how coherent it is, and how some of what seemed silly to me at first really works. This is not, after all, how people would have really talked and behaved in this time period, but rather, how we in modern times would believe it was like (which forgives the shaky dialogue).
OK, so we're certainly not talking any kind of masterpiece here. But I think what Shyamalan is doing withing the context of mainstream cinema is far more admirable and intriguing than, say, Spielberg's "God will kill all the Nazis because they are evil." It's definitely the only Shyamalan film that I wouldn't mind watching again. Now someone go slap that man upside his head so he doesn't give us another nausea-inducing cameo.
― Anthony (Anthony F), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)
Yes. (Except for the part about Spielberg, who is
sooo past his Stanley Kramer-David Lean period by this point.
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)
I've picked up on all of the qualities you've mentioned in this film, and it's only served to make the film more shallow in my mind, pretentiously attempting to tackle "big themes" and coming up laughably short. As for "coherency", that's what bothers me the most about Shyamalan's films--they're too coherent, to the extent of a complete dependence on formula. Every shot has to have a connection to another; no metaphor goes untouched. They're the most inhumane films I have ever seen & take themselves way too seriously considering the schlock that they are.
Sorry Anthony, can't agree with you on this one. This film just rubbed me the wrong way, and a repeat viewing only made it worse.
― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:21 (twenty-one years ago)