Film of the Year (So Far)

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 1999)

Cole is a very disturbed kid, prone to swearing at teachers,
writing obscenities and hiding out in churches.
Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist, tortured by guilt after the suicide of a previous patient. His depression is threatening his relationship with his wife, but he sees in Cole a chance for redemption.
But Cole's problem may not be psychological. The boy claims to be plagued by visions of the dead...
So Bruce strips down to his vest, takes out an Uzi, and BLOWS THOSE GHOSTS AWAY!!!!!
Actually, I made that up, because this isn't your typical Bruce film, but it is a very good one.
Bruce does very well in it, as the shrink tormented by ghosts of his own. His performance is reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo and the film as a whole has a similar dreamlike feel to it. The film covers similar ground thematically too - the corruption of the past by the present, the hold the dead have on the living. Both Bruce and the boy are in the grip of the past and this is evoked by haunting images of Philadelphia hanging malevolently over them both.
The other performances are very fine too. The young boy conveys his terror and incomprehension very well and Toni Collette ("You're TERRIBLE Muriel!") is convincing as the fraught mother, trying to save her son from something she can't even comprehend.
The film has a washed-out, dead look to it, similar to The Exorcist and the film probes similar anxieties (the mother's impotence to protect her child from abuse). But this is a much more compassionate film than The Exorcist and stays away from in-your-face horror, inducing instead a low-key feeling of tension and unease.
It's beautifully shot, well acted, cleverly written and rather creepy.
I think it must be a good film, because it's made me come over all pretentious.

Many of the previous reviewers have dwelt on the ending of this movie. I think those who felt the film stands or falls on this one point really don't get what the movie is all about...