I was serious, I've been meaning to write this essay for my blog, but ebeth gave me the excuse to finally get around to doing it. Though I probably should have spent more time on it, anything that I can pull out in an hour should be taken lightly. I apologize for any spelling mistakes or weird sentence structure, I only wrote this in an hour!
Okay, so here it is...
http://foreverlost-howitshouldbe.blogspot.com/But for those not about to click...I have it here for you...
M. Night Shyamalon = Underrated Director
Ah...M. Night Shyamalon. I'm pretty sure I understand this guy. Being a writer myself, I can see why he feels the need to get away from the "norm" of Hollywood. At least this guy is doing something to steer away from the same adventure/thriller/slasher/borer movie that comes out every week in theaters.
Its recently come to my attention that even though Shyamalon is one of my favorite directors/writers...not a lot of people like him. They think his movies are too weird, his premises do nothing for them, and a lot of people think he has a big ego for killing off a movie critic in Lady in the Water.
I can't vouch for the last thing, but his movies are supposed to be weird, and his premises are supposed to be weird as well. Let me explain.
In every single one of his movies, Shyamalon takes a seemingly ordinary character, with ordinary problems, and he puts them into an almost ordinary story. Except for one thing...he puts at least one extraordinary event, or problem, into this ordinary story, and takes the character through these events. The premise is awesome. Too often do we see our Superman's and Transformer's blow up buildings and go through the same plot lines and events in every movie. But at least Shyamalon is shaking things up. I'm going to go through each of his movies and tell why its awesome.
The Sixth Sense - Probably most everybody's favorite Shyamalon movie, it was new, it came out of nowhere and it scared the crap out of people. Plus it had a fun twist at the end that you can tell your coworkers who haven't seen it yet to piss them off. But this movie was about an ordinary man, his extraordinary problem, and some extraordinary events to move along the plot and develop the characters.
The great thing about this, is that he is trying to help a child who can see dead people, and help him to stop being so scared of seeing them. The crazy full circle wrap-around of this movie is great, I mean, Bruce Willis is killed by a previous person he gave therapy to, and then he helps a kid who has the same symptoms as the person who killed him. But he is already dead, while doing this...trust me, the movie makes more sense than I'm making it.
Signs - My personal favorite of his movies. And also a perfect example for the argument I'm making about Shyamalon's movie premises.
Ordinary man - Former Priest
Ordinary Problem - Lost his faith after the death of his wife. He is losing his chilren's respect, and his younger brother is worried about him.
Extraordinary event/problem - Aliens come and attack the Earth.
Now this movie is awesome because it isn't like Independence Day, we don't drive the aliens away, with crappy special effects and witty one-liners. But, like in every scary movie, we hardly even see what it is we are so scared of. Through these events of the character's farm being attacked, the main character gains his faith back.
Unbreakable - My second favorite of his movies, this movie shows how great of a director he is. The cinematography is amazing, and the editing is perfect.
Ordinary Man - Kinda...he's actually a superhero, he doesn't know it though.
Ordinary Problem - He is getting a divorce, his son doesn't respect him, and his life has turned into a routine. Nothing is new, and he feels sad when he wakes up in the morning...as if he feels like something is missing in his life.
Extraordinary event/problem - A crazy guy who has brittle bones keeps bugging him because he thinks he is a superhero.
This movie, has a great score, is my favorite concerning art direction. And the Superhero premise is awesome. He isn't swinging off of rooftops or flying. Because like Mr. Glass says in the movie, "It's alright to be afraid, David, because this part won't be like a comic book. Real life doesn't fit into little boxes that were drawn for it."
The Village - Probably my least favorite, but I enjoy it a lot still.
Ordinary Man - Well not one man...its about a group of people living a primitive life.
Ordinary Problem - A bunch of rich people who try to escape the horrors of life such as murder and thievery by creating a community of simplicity to raise their children in.
Extraordinary event/problem - Monsters haunt the forest around them...sorta.
Okay, so the twist at the end was disappointing. But this movie I found was really about the love the blind girl "Ivy" had for the silent "Lucius," throughout the horrors that they thought lived in the forest, and Noah trying to kill Lucius. In this movie, we find that though they tried to escape murder and such. It still happened within their own simple community. But because of this, and in spite of the monsters in the forest, a young blind girl finds the courage to trek an impossible journey to save the man she loved. I found this movie to be very good, and probably would have been better if a few changes were made. This also had a breathtaking movie score.
Lady in The Water - The most misunderstood out of his movies, but one of my favorite movies ever. I love well developed, deep, and emotionally moving characters. This movie is full of interesting and fun characters, but it has one of my all time favorite characters well acted by Paul Giamatti (I didn't think it was possible either).
Ordinary Man - Apartment Superintendent, formerly a doctor
Ordinary Problem - Wife and kids were killed while he was away from his house.
Extraordinary event/problem - A creature out of a fairy tale changes his life.
This movie is so full of symbolism and depth its amazing. Its also bizarre, and its supposed to be. Its a fairy tale, no I'm not talking about the fairy tales Disney comes out with, I'm talking about the creepy ones that Disney made kid friendly. Read some of the original stuff before disney changed it and you will know what I'm talking about.
But this movie isn't about water nymphs, or eatlons, or weird tree monkeys. This is a movie about a man who has lost everything, to an evil man. He should be angry, and yet, when asked if man deserved to be saved, Cleveland Heep replies without doubt..."yes."
This movie is supposed to be weird, but its also about Cleveland Heep, the man who lost everything, and because of extraordinary events, gained a new meaning into his life, and closure for the one he left behind. This sums up Shyamalon's style, he takes the ordinary man, and puts him through extraordinary events.
And that is why Shyamalon is great, because his movies are different, they have great characters, have amazing scores, great cinematrography, and emotionally charged stories. I emplore you to rewatch any of the movies of his over again. But instead of watching it expecting to watch a ghost movie, or an alien movie, or a superhero movie...watch it expecting to enjoy his characters, and his unique story ideas. Just remember, the aliens, ghosts, and villains are designed to move along the plot, not be the entire premise of the movie. That just isn't Shyamalon's style.
So yeah, I'm extremely excited for his new movie, The Happening. It should be amazing.
Keep in mind that I didn't write about his movies in the order that they came out...I wrote them in order of what the general audience tends to like them in. From best to last starting with Signs and ending with Lady in the Water. That isn't my favorite order though.
So yeah, there you go ebeth, this is why you should see his movie. And what the appeal is, because Shyamalon is awesome.
Well said! Very well said. Well done.
I am so sick and tired of the Shymalan bashing. I think he's one of the best directors/writers in hollywood. The Sixth Sense is a classic movie, and Signsstill stands as one of the most terrifying movie experiences I have ever had.
The Village isn't my favourite, but I liked it still. I think it got alot of negativity because it was poorly marketed. It was marketed as a horrifying creature movie when it was really more of a psychological thriller. Lady in the Water is my least favourite, however I still enjoyed it and I don't get the negativity at all. It did not deserve those Razzie awards ( what's wrong the razzies lately?! Uwe Boll clearly should've gotten the honor of worst director, not M. Night ) at all.
Either way, I'm really looking forward to "The Happening" and hope I get scared shitless by it.
