A Film without a home

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2019)

This is a great movie, one of my favorites, but it is destined to be an outcast.
It is a classic period piece, with beautiful music, visuals, people, and language. The plot is near perfect. Every time I watch it I notice something else that hints at the core climax of the plot, but so subtly, I only see it after many viewings. The characters are nearly perfect as well, and Adrian Brody, if his character were more prominent, would have won an Oscar.
It is also a thriller, with mystery, violence, and moments that make you jump as a horror film might. It will make you scared of the woods in autumn almost as much as The Blair Witch Project.
The fact that it is these two things at once, there lies the dilemma.
If you watch this movie without expectations, you will be disappointed, because it is fluid and changes, and is never quite what you thought it would be even as it ends. If you watch it with romance and Jane Austin era expectations, you will be disappointed because it is blurred together with something completely different. And if you watch it with Thriller expectations, the same thing happens in reverse.
I believe no one could truly love this film as they first view it because of all of these truths. I know I didn't care for it the first time. However...
If you are reading this review, and have not seen The Village before, you have a chance! A very small chance to truly enjoy an amazing movie, without knowing why until it is over.
Let the film be what it is, a truly unique outcast that will never really belong anywhere, and enter in fully, as if you are there in the story.
There are no guarantees you will fall in love like I have after just one viewing, but you might! And if you watch it a few more times after, and love great cinema, I can guarantee you will.