Shyamalan blooms again

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2005)

M. Night Shyamalan is one of those privileged minds, like Alejandro Amenábar, which have learned their lesson about how to tell stories, how to thrill, how to frighten us, how to attract people to the cinemas. Maybe they're not renovating the Seventh Art, but they sure can defend that sentence that says "the movies are meant to entertain and make fun". They're the first ones in the class when is time to tell disturbing plots, those who will keep your attention till the very end, and then will knock you out with a final twist. That's just and old trick with a big disadvantage: the second time you watch "The 6th Sense" or "The Others" you will feel a 99% less of excitement but I think that's a risk that is worth taking.
After the delusion of "Signs", Shyamalan reborns with "The Village", a precious moral fable about a group of villagers that are besieged by some creatures who live in the adjacent woods. Shyamalan demonstrates that he knows how to go beyond that spectacular-final-twist-of-the-story from "6th Sense" or "Unbreakable", that he can move us with innocence, and tenderness, even with a nice love story. He shows us only the things we need to see, he guides us, he handles us and his camera as he pleases, and he's good! His actors direction is just splendid, because it's not enough to have a bunch of great actors (Weaver, Hurt, Gleeson, Brody) no, you have to lead them with wisdom and talent, and M. Night never neglect his actors.
"The Village" is just like a fairy tale, one of those that our grandfathers used to tell us, one of those we listened with our ears wide open one of those you wouldn't want to end.
Yeah, we need Greg Aronofsky, Michael Haneke, or Takeshi Kitano; but we also need directors like M. Night Shyamalan, we need some escape, some fantasy, we need mystery. And he is quite capable of giving that to us every 2 or 3 years.
PD: Pay attention to Bryce Dallas Howard. Pay attention to that red hair, those blue eyes, and that enigmatic beauty, 'cause she's gonna set tongues wagging. And if you don't trust me just take a look at the credits of Lars Von Trier's next work: "Manderlay". Get prepared, Nicole Kidman! *My rate: 7.5/10