Masterful Film-making

Rating: 10/10 (30 September 2004)

I never comment here on films but the amount of bad flack this one has received prompted me to throw in my two cents. Although I'm not articulate enough to do it justice, I will just say this movie is brilliant.
Flimsy premise? Yes. Less than one dimensional characters? Maybe. Absurd plot? Definitely--but I can't but help think these were all part of the grand design. It's an amazingly simple yarn about a purposefully simple people. Yeah it requires a sensibility for subtlety and some patience for slow pacing, but that's because of its old school fantastical nature. Sure there a lot of human-style secrets and guises but isn't that what the very best fairy tales are all about? And that's what this is--a really beautifully written fairy tale with some nice bite.
The people and critics who saw this film and hated it were simply expecting more of the obvious gore fest, with more horror, something more like the "Sixth Sense". In a way, I owe them thanks for spreading such bad press around, I went into the film forcing myself to have an open mind, and was therefore really able to suspend my disbelief in the way Shyamalan intended.
I'm just sorry M. Night won't receive any of the critical acclaim he deserves for this genius effort.