Shyamalan's touching masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (10 April 2020)

"The Sixth Sense" is a 1999 mystery horror drama directed by M. Night Shyamalan starring Bruce Willis and Hayley Joel Osment. In the wake of having watched "The Others" yesterday, I thought I'd stay in the genre and rewatch another chilling classic I consider as an example of excellent writing. Whilst I already knew about the shocking plot twist in the end upon the first time watch (thanks a lot, Doctor Cox!), I was curious about how detailedly MNS constructed his twist in terms of continuity. And man, this film is a sheer balancing act of narration as it's constantly on the brink of giving away its true nature. This is without a doubt the best movie by Shyamalan and he shows his brilliance in everything he handles. He knows to capture the quintessential melancholic nature of his magnificently perceived and superbly enacted feature oh too well. The story he has constructed with this is definitely the best one in his whole filmography. Not only does he wrap up his film properly without letting it become a mess (thank God!), before it gets there it delivers an ingenious range of genres and combines them into something unique. In the beginning, he establishes extremely well elaborated characters the audience sympathize with immediately and puts them into ... a family drama? Absolutely! It's nothing else in the first place. Dr. Crowe deals with marital difficulties all the while trying to follow his job as a child psychologist who wants to help a heavily mentally troubled boy with his problems. Doesn't really sound like a horror film, doesn't it? The best about this plot is how it only slowly introduces the horror into this already convincing drama. Before you actually have the time to realize it, it pulled off a clean genre shift in front of your eyes. I think the shift is done right after Cole speaks his famous "I see dead people" quote, as it then continues to narrate the story from his exact point of view. Then you're going to understand the director's true intentions. It's only creepy to a certain degree and solely mildly scary to let you experience Cole's perspective and how he gradually begins to accept his significant role. Speaking of which, the film lives from its child actor performance and gives him most of the responsibility to make this film a hit. Willis might have shown his most versatile performance and Collette is without a doubt gorgeous as always, but no one shines as bright as Hayley Joel Osment. He steals the show from everyone and is the main reason the film developed such a scary atmosphere. The way he hesitantly begins to face his fears is not only impressive, I also thought of it as metaphor. In a supernatural manner it stands for the stages of dealing with mental illness, especially anxiety states and shows how he step by step begins to cope with his disorder. In the end, he didn't only developed perfectly, the audience has also learned something from him and that's unexpectedly great. Oh, before I forget, let's not forget about the phenomenal plot twist in the end. It's such a powerful scene of letting go that didn't really make me cry, but hit me right in the emotionality. The film doesn't really make me feel depressed, it more a positive kind of sadness and melancholy that works its way through the story. Cole went from helpless to helper and taught everyone in this film something about themselves. What else am I supposed to feel? It's heartbreakingly heartwarming, least to say. All in all, this flick is a mystery drama par excellence that sensitively guides the viewer through a well done mix of mystery drama and horror and poses as a parable for facing one's fears, dealing with mental illness and even tackles loss and grief. It's near perfection and MNS's best. Oh, before I forget: Another thing I also wanted to point out is how Cole is designed. Not only do I think that he has some sort of The Shining, to me it also feels like an Shyamalanian origin story of a hero that could easily play in the same universe as the Glass trilogy. I mean, it's not impossible and it took sixteen years for "Unbreakable" to get a sequel. I mean, why not?