rethinking
This summer after I saw The Village, I was torn in deciding if it was awful or spectacular. I recently purchased it on DVD, and maybe I'm rationalizing my blown $30, but I've been leaning more towards the latter in the past couple days. I think I've finally gotten it figured out: M. Night Shyamalan is a hopeless romantic. Thrillers, comic book influences, my EYE. If ever there was a tribute to the Bronte sisters, this film is it. He's created in Ivy Walker a pure Gothic heroine with Lucius Hunt as her uncommunicative, brooding hero. Might as well of named them Jane and Heathcliff.
I think the backlash set in when people weren't scared enough, that the story wasn't flipped on its ears. Though to be fair, since when is The Sixth Sense some super-scary film? All of Shyamalan's films have been ridiculously tame-- his ability to unnerve us is what puts us on the edge, not that we're blatantly terrified. I blame the marketing department and all-too-soon branding of Shyamalan as Twist-Ending-Director. Because the film is solid, it's beautiful and though you can see the twist coming from a mile and a half, there's a story that's being told (which is more than most films these days can admit).
Also, if James Newtown Howard isn't considered for best dramatic score in this years Oscars, it will be a major crime. Or maybe they could just give Hilary Hahn a special award for the Most Absolutely Heart-Wrenching Violin Solo in a Motion Picture. I'll take him over the increasingly repetitive Thomas Newman any day of the week (though Newman's ASoUE score is one of his better efforts-- almost up there with his work on Oscar & Lucinda and American Beauty. And I mention American Beauty grudgingly, (never mind what the Academy said) since it is practically a carbon copy of his score for Unstrung Heroes, where it anchored the story more effectively.)
Speaking of underappreciated movies, decent Thomas Newman scores, and movies recently released onto DVD, go and see Oscar and Lucinda. Some helpful links to put you on your way:
A review from Salon.com, Pixie Dust: Ralph Fiennes plays a misfit Australian gambler in the shimmering, fragmented romance 'Oscar and Lucinda'
A fan site devoted to the original novel, with pictures and links.
A thorough page with box office returns and links to several reviews.
I think the backlash set in when people weren't scared enough, that the story wasn't flipped on its ears. Though to be fair, since when is The Sixth Sense some super-scary film? All of Shyamalan's films have been ridiculously tame-- his ability to unnerve us is what puts us on the edge, not that we're blatantly terrified. I blame the marketing department and all-too-soon branding of Shyamalan as Twist-Ending-Director. Because the film is solid, it's beautiful and though you can see the twist coming from a mile and a half, there's a story that's being told (which is more than most films these days can admit).
Also, if James Newtown Howard isn't considered for best dramatic score in this years Oscars, it will be a major crime. Or maybe they could just give Hilary Hahn a special award for the Most Absolutely Heart-Wrenching Violin Solo in a Motion Picture. I'll take him over the increasingly repetitive Thomas Newman any day of the week (though Newman's ASoUE score is one of his better efforts-- almost up there with his work on Oscar & Lucinda and American Beauty. And I mention American Beauty grudgingly, (never mind what the Academy said) since it is practically a carbon copy of his score for Unstrung Heroes, where it anchored the story more effectively.)
Speaking of underappreciated movies, decent Thomas Newman scores, and movies recently released onto DVD, go and see Oscar and Lucinda. Some helpful links to put you on your way:
A review from Salon.com, Pixie Dust: Ralph Fiennes plays a misfit Australian gambler in the shimmering, fragmented romance 'Oscar and Lucinda'
A fan site devoted to the original novel, with pictures and links.
A thorough page with box office returns and links to several reviews.
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