But for the supernatural element, tone is similar to "Kramer vs Kramer"

Rating: 9/10 (12 July 2000)

Here is an unexpectedly poignant and utterly unpretentious ghost story. Bruce Willis is understated but effective as a child psychologist who is compelled to redeem a past failure by counseling a troubled 8-year-old boy who eventually professes to being able to "see dead people". Never gimmicky or over-the-top, "The Sixth Sense" presents us with three very real people: Willis, the boy (Osment) and his mother (Collette), each trying to cope with a unique personal trauma. Not unlike "The Exorcist", the film draws us into the characters' dilemmas by devoting much of its first half to letting us empathize with the leads and share in their lives, then compelling us to experience their mounting turmoil. But unlike so many horror films of the past 20 years, "The Sixth Sense" unexpectedly eschews cheap shocks and gore for simple, potent drama and the painful revelations that accompany life and death. The three leads are uniformly excellent, but it is Willis who surprises; never in his career has Willis relied so predominantly on the subtlest of facial expressions to convey his emotional state, and here he accomplishes this vital feat admirably.