Another great movie from M. Night

Rating: 9/10 (7 December 2000)

It took two viewings, but I finally decided this is a great movie. The first time I saw it I had great expectations based on The Sixth Sense, but this is not that movie. It doesn't have the depth of meaning that that movie had, but it is a marvelously crafted piece of film art nonetheless. At some point Shyamalan will have to get past the surprise endings, but nobody does them better than he does, not even the great Hitchcock, who Shyamalan obviously is emulating. The cinematography here is also less fulfilling than that of the Sixth Sense, where Tak Fujimoto's work is transcendent from the very first frame to the last. Here the cinematography is more workmanlike, but still up to the demands of the script. It does drag at times, and the part for the young boy is not nearly as rich as Haley Joel's was, but M. Night is still fascinating to watch as he once again unwinds a totally original, completely absorbing tale. The use of the mirrors and other reflective surfaces in relation to Samuel Jackson's character is worth a chapter in a book of film history alone. See it, but see it at least twice!