Multilayered Masterpiece (*SPOILER*)

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2000)

Probably the best crafted movie since the great Hitchcock left the scene, though I might argue it is superior even to the master in that respect. Haley Joel gives what has to be the best performance ever by a child actor, maybe even for an actor period, and Bruce Willis is a great enough actor to get himself out of the way enough to allow the boy's brilliance to show through. There is one aspect of this movie, however, that I have yet to see anyone comment on and which to me makes this movie an even more remarkable achievement. In Buddhism (OK, I admit it, I'm a Buddhist, a monk even), the mind is considered to be the sixth sense, along with the usual five. When viewed from this perspective, how Dr. Crowe creates his own reality in his mind, it becomes quite a different film experience. Obviously many of those who have commented on or reviewed this film have no idea of what ghosts really are, i.e., minds that cannot accept the reality of their own demise and remain trapped on the physical plane until they are released (in this case by an act of restitution for perceived past failures). And no, Dr. Crowe doesn't really interact with anyone other than the boy, not if you really pay attention. He just appears to (red herrings). Also I want to add that Tak Fujimoto is a marvelous cinematographer. I've never seen a movie where I was so totally grabbed from the very first frame, the bare light bulb slowly turning on. Ditto for the music.