Review: The Village (A)M. Night Shyamalan is one of those picture-perfect, iconic Hollywood filmmakers that almost never see the light of day in these indie-heavy times. He grew up loving movies, made tons of bad homemade films as a child, went to film school, worked his way into a studio film and developed into one of the most commercially successful genre directors of all time. So I find it highly unusual and extremely exciting to see Shyamalan making such a risky career movie so early in his burgeoning film career. The Village is one of the most daring and though-provoking American studio films in recent memory. Predicated on Shyamalan's career reputation as a shyster and a charlatan of narrative, due to his prevalent "twist" endings, The Village is the rare film by a major Hollywood filmmaker that both expands and tears apart that filmmaker's auteurist leanings. The setup for The Village seems like a standard Shyamalan formula for chills and thrills. A colonial village, set apart geographically from the rest of the world, is surrounded by a forest creeping with creatures that are unseen, but not unheard. A wavering truce has been forged between the two sects: you don't cross us, we won't cross you. There is romance and intrigue, scandalous outbursts of violence and deep, dark secrets that threaten to bare their heads at every turn. The "twists" really shouldn't be divulged in a review, because the revelation of them is almost as rewarding as the payoff. Suffice it to say, everything is not as it seems in the village, or in The Village, as Shyamalan seems intent on turning the tables not only on the audience, but on us as willing participants in his ruse. The Village is the first major studio film that fully tackles post-9/11 paranoia and xenophobia in this country. Shyamalan has painted a stunningly effective political film (yes, political) that exposes us all for the frauds that we are. Refreshingly, the director seems to be pointing his aesthetic finger at himself as well. The Village is not only Shyamalan's best film, but his most challenging. Aesthetically, the film is flawless. Shyamalan's typically patient, often somber, style has never suited his material more fully than with this film. Less a horror film or thriller than an out-an-out character-driven drama, The Village seems poised to be the filmmaker's biggest commercial failure, even as it's his greatest artistic triumph. I believe time will be kind to The Village. The fiilm seems to be almost too progressive for its time. Most are expressing outrage at its "twists", without realizing, or simply not caring, that the real twist of the film is that there is no twist: only mirror images of a society that chooses to deal with problems by ignoring them, by making up stories about them, by, ultimately, neglecting them until they come back to haunt us. |