I think that The Happening will be a great film, a comeback for M. Night Shyamalan. Call it a hunch. Call it wishful thinking. Call it what you will. I know I may be wrong here, but I’m going out on a limb anyway. I have only seen one and a half trailers, and I haven’t read about the production at all. However I am exited-almost solely-by the prospect of an ‘R’ rated Shyamalan film. I hope the rating will allow Night to delve deeper into the darkness of the human psyche.
I am a fan of Night’s, which accounts for much of my optimism in anticipating The Happening. Every one of his films is unique, well-made and compelling. He is as artful when it comes to building suspense, as he is deft in establishing a rich visual palette. Take, for example, The Sixth Sense. In classic Hitchcockian fashion Shyamalan splatters the color red all over the film. Signifying blood, death, passion, the color red was a favorite tool of Hitchcock’s, especially in the form of a red dress on a stoic blond.
The Sixth Sense employs the color red in just this way. The mother of the sick little girl is blond and wears a red dress to her daughter’s funeral. The red dress, as well as the red balloon that Cole follows up the stairs, are visual cues that stick out like a sore thumb considering the texture of the whole movie is full of tweeds and grays and blacks, all set in the faded bricks and grey streets of a chilly Philadelphia (chilly Philly). There are other instances of the color red which escape my mind, though I recall Bruce Willis’ wife wearing a red dress at least once too.
Other Shyamalan films are less crafted than The Sixth Sense, but still full of suspense and drama. Signs is an ultimate suspense movie. I remember actually jumping in my seat when the first shot of one of the aliens is shown, only an ankle in a cornfield. The movie is perfectly timed and excellently directed. Everything from the timing of the children in the silly foil hats to the timing of the alien encounters. Particularly notable is the timing of the flashbacks: of Mel Gibson recalling the night of his wife’s death. Signs is artful, if not quite the alien thriller that some movie goers expected.
It has been a while since I’ve seen Unbreakable. From what I remember, the film was a less successful attempt at constructing similar anticipation and suspense. More successful was The Village. While the plot for both films was a bit of a stretch for some, there was a genuine terror in my mind as I watched The Village. Most interesting is how Shyamalan reveals that the creatures are a fabrication, and then teases the audience into doubting this revelation and suspecting their existence after all. Again the use of the color red is a device that Shyamalan uses to preempt death and danger. The Village had the added depth of social commentary. At a time when our country was obsessed with terrorist threats and alert levels, Shyamalan’s portrayal of the paternalistic leaders of the Village was meant to be an allegory for the tyrannical quirks of our current government leadership.
The Happening too seems to be some sort of social criticism, seemingly a juxtaposition of horrible death and mayhem against a backdrop of mundane everyday consumerism. This is a successful formula that has worked before, but something tells me Shyamalan will avoid being formulaic. I look forward to seeing it and posting a review this week.
*Note* I did not mention Shyamalan’s Lady In the Water. I don’t think it is a good example of Nights work, and though the film had some minor successes, overall it was more of a fairy tale than a suspenseful flick.
