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Topic: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film yet (Read 2523 times)

Rhune
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Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film yet
« on: Jul 30^th, 2004, 7:00pm »

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Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film yet
By David Germain
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 29, 2004 Posted: 12:13 PM EDT (1613 GMT)

(AP) -- Where to begin in terms of the revelations in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"?

Let's start with Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of director Ron Howard. With only stage roles and bit parts in her dad's movies beforehand, Howard delivers a radiant leading-lady debut that dominates the film and its excellent ensemble, which includes Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Adrien Brody.

There are the usual Shyamalan twists, certainly not as jaw-dropping as the ending of "The Sixth Sense," but still intriguing. Some will see the big surprise coming, and some may find it flimsy, even laughable, the way many greeted the conclusion of Shyamalan's "Unbreakable."

Yet unlike writer-director Shyamalan's previous films, including 2002's "Signs," the twists and gothic creepiness are not the payoff of "The Village." The rewards run much deeper in this simple story laced with a rich subtext and, like classic fairy tales, suffused with twilight terror and repressed carnality.

The real revelation is Shyamalan's growth as a storyteller, advancing from a modern Rod Serling specializing in "Twilight Zone" zingers to a mythmaker invoking the restrained passion of the Bronte sisters and the puritanical inhibitions of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

"The Village" is Shyamalan's best film yet, demanding repeated viewings and endless discussion about the morality and implications of the characters' choices.

A date on a tombstone in the opening funeral sequence establishes the year as 1897, yet "The Village" exists in a timeless void, formal speech patterns and rigid lifestyles that hark to colonial times mixing with a more progressive looseness of expression and behavior.

A child is buried, a father grieves, a tightknit community gathers for a mournful meal, prefaced by a heartfelt mantra from village elder Edward Walker (Hurt): "We are grateful for the time we have been given."

Compelling questions
With painstaking detail on the 40-acre set built in his home turf of rural Pennsylvania, Shyamalan introduces the villagers' idyllic lives of work, family and communal fealty.

But their isolated village has its boogeymen, carnivorous creatures that live in the surrounding woods, with whom the townsfolk share an uneasy coexistence. The villagers do not venture into the woods, and the beasts stay away from town.

The balance is disrupted when sturdy, taciturn youth Lucius Hunt ("Signs" co-star Phoenix) proposes journeying to the towns beyond the woods for medicines to prevent more young people from dying. After Lucius makes a test incursion into the forest, the creatures respond with a frightening foray into the village. The elders, including Lucius' mother (Weaver), take it as a warning.

Calamitous circumstance involving Lucius, his spitfire sweetheart Ivy (Howard), the blind daughter of Edward Walker, and village idiot Noah (Brody) forces an expedition to the outside world, which the elders forsook as an unwholesome and violent place.

"The Village" raises compelling questions about the lengths parents might go to shield their children from harm, and whether isolating the young ones from the phantoms in the closet might simply unleash the monsters under the bed.

Shyamalan's austere, almost childlike dialogue conceals hidden depths of anxiety, melancholy and yearning. When Phoenix's Lucius, cut from stoic Pilgrim cloth, finally lets his hair down, his quaintly tender expression of love toward Ivy somehow is both joyous and heartbreaking.

Phoenix, Hurt and Brody offer deeply textured performances, while Brendan Gleeson and Cherry Jones provide fine support as village elders. Weaver sadly is underused, and the film leaves the impression that a subplot involving hers and Hurt's characters ended up largely excised so Shyamalan could showcase Howard's Ivy.

Howard usurps the film with a willful performance as Ivy progresses from gentle, playful soul to bullheaded trailblazer resolved to overcome the hobgoblins that have pervaded her nightmares since childhood.

Discovered by Shyamalan in an off-Broadway Shakespeare play, Howard next stars in "Manderlay," taking on the role Nicole Kidman originated in "Dogville" for the second part of Lars von Trier's trilogy.

No matter how "The Village" eventually ranks in Shyamalan's filmography, the film may wind up best remembered for the emergence of Howard as a major Hollywood talent.

"The Village," released by Disney's Touchstone Pictures, is rated PG-13 for a scene of violence and frightening situations. Running time: 107 minutes. Four stars out of four.

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yesteach
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #1 on: Jul 30^th, 2004, 11:15pm »

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After seeing this, I will say this about it. It's a totally different kind of movie than Sixth Sense. This movie is deep, the psychological concepts that it brings up are very thought provoking. I think the trailers and adverts are very misleading. This is not a horror story, it's most definitely (as Shyamalan said) a love story. I was crying by the time it was over. I agree that it is his best so far, but not because of the twists and turns that it takes, but more because of the depth of the story.

If you see it, do yourself a favor. Do not go in looking for the twist... just enjoy the movie for what it is. A brilliant, thought provoking story about love.

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Rhune
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #2 on: Jul 31^st, 2004, 2:17am »

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I saw this tonight as well and really enjoyed it. I heard a lot of people grumbling when I left the theatre about how they didn't like the ending and wanted their money back, but I personally thought it was very good. I agree it's being marketed wrong and that could hurt it, certainly.

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sweetmisery
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #3 on: Jul 31^st, 2004, 2:44pm »

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Marketted as something gothic and horror-ish... But oh well, I will still watch it... as long as its not the cheesy chick flick love story where its always predictable in the end...

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Stormy728
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #4 on: Aug 1^st, 2004, 8:15pm »

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I am a teen, and i want to see this movie, the only problem is, my mother is not sure if it will be too scary for me, i have seen much scarier (the ring) and wanted to know if this movie is any scarier than "signs", "sixth sense" or "secret window", any feedback is appreciated

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yesteach
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #5 on: Aug 1^st, 2004, 9:18pm »

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It's not scary at all. My daughter is 19, and her comment was that too many teens are going to go see this movie expecting horror/thriller and be very disappointed. She liked it. Didn't see any of the twists coming; however, she also said that she didn't feel she was really old enough to appreciate the depth of the story. Her exact words, "I understand the story, I just think I'm not old enough to appreciate it."

You will like the movie, you'll enjoy the suspense and the love story... but like my daugther, I don't think you'll be old enough to appreciate it.

Matter of fact... take your mom to see it. She will appreciate the psychological depth of it....

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Fairies21
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #6 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 12:00am »

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We were lied to and everyone is just "ok" with this. Its like you enjoyed having your money taken from you. Is it right to market a film as something it is not? LIES.

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oceanavenue477
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #7 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 12:03am »

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Sorry I don't agree with this reveiw...It was a very good movie and there where a few moments where i really....but i think signs was his best film

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Rhune
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #8 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 3:27am »

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on Aug 2^nd, 2004, 12:00am, Fairies21 wrote:

We were lied to and everyone is just "ok" with this. Its like you enjoyed having your money taken from you. Is it right to market a film as something it is not? LIES.

I can tell that you're one of the ones who was leaving the film grumbling. Wink

Is it right to market a film as something it's not? I suppose not, in the end the people it's going to hurt the most is the movie company. A lot of people going there will not be coming back for a repeat viewing. On the other hand if they'd marketed it for what it really is, more people might being going, just a different audience. I really enjoyed the movie and would have liked it much less if it had been more of a horror movie. My mother saw this as well and really enjoyed it. They're lucky my mother even went to it though, because she's not into horror movies and basically got dragged along in a family group. Normally she would not have gone to something like they marketed it at all. On the other hand if they had marketed it like what it was, she would have absolutely...I dunno... I think it's a mistake to mis-market a film and they will pay for that in poor repeat ticket sales.

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Stormy728
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #9 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 6:48am »

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the thing is, i'm a young teen, but have seen many scary movies, ( signs, 6th sense, mothman prophecies), my mom hates scary movies, so i can't go take her to see it, tell me, is this movie any scarier than 6th sense or signs?

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Rhune
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #10 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 12:05pm »

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I have not seen signs, but I have seen the 6th sense, and I personally don't think it was scarier than the 6th sense. If you've seen the latest Harry Potter, I would put it on about the same level of scariness as that. My mother is in her 60's and does not like horror movies but really liked The Village.

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lakelady
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #11 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 12:27pm »

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I'm SO disappointed! After all these months of waiting and it's NOT a thriller. I don't even care if I see it now. Cry

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david
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #12 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 12:35pm »

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I think I will wait for DVd too many mixed reviews. I agree its marketed as a Horror/Thiller along same lines as Six Sense, Signs etc. Since it appears NOT to be what I thought I will wait till its on Netflix

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Rhune
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #13 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 2:50pm »

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It's not a horror movie. It was still suspenseful several times and has your usual twist ending, and in my opinion an interesting and thought provoking film. It was worth my $8.50.

« Last Edit: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 2:50pm by Rhune »

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sweetmisery
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Re: Review: 'The Village' Shyamalan's best film ye
« Reply #14 on: Aug 2^nd, 2004, 2:55pm »

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Ill probably still watch it. Though Im a bit disappointed cuz I expect it to be with "Sixth Sense" or "Signs" calibur. I love horror movies, I think lake knows that... Wink

But still lot still say its good, so what the heck... it costs 70 pesos here or around $1.20 at the premiere(upper side), so its not really much... But if everyone says its bad(like Catwoman), thats a different story!

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