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The Village

2004

* * 1/2

            1897.  In a town surrounded by a deep forest, the townsfold live in fear of creatures surrounding the area.  In the midst of this fear, love is trying to come forward in the relationship between a blind girl (Bryce Dallas Howard) and a very quiet but almost fearless guy (Joaquin Phoenix).  Unfortunately, the village idiot (Adrien Brody) also likes the girl.  As this triangle develops, the town is becoming desperate for medical supplies.  Someone will have to venture through the woods to the towns to get medicine.  But there is a secret buried deep that cannot be revealed, and going to the towns will reveal it.

            M. Night Shyamalan is a great director when it comes to making things creepy.  In The Sixth Sense, he scared the heck out of everyone in spite of the fact that almost nothing actually happened in the entire movie.  In Signs, he seriously freaked us out with creatures which, quite frankly, looked pretty darn dumb.  Here, in spite of the twists he writes, things are always creepy and suspenseful.  The atmosphere alone sucks you in, and the film constantly creates a sense of fear and tension.

            Shyamalan is a good writer in many ways, as well.  In spite of his (intentionally) stilted dialogue here, the characters come across vividly and have compelling stories.

            And he knows how to pick the right people to work with.  Howard is superb in her first major role.  Phoenix is, as you would expect, excellent.  Brody does as well as anyone in the mentally challenged person role.  The supporting cast includes Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, and Brendan Gleason.  The cinematography by Roger Deakins is absolutely beautiful and incredibly atmospheric.  James Newton Howard's score is wonderfully creepy and subtly exciting.

            Unfortunately, in this film, Shyamalan decides to make several twists and turns.  Now, of course, this worked in The Sixth Sense. (For most people, anyway.  Those who figured the twist out halfway into the film didn?t like it.  However, those who figured it out when they saw it and those like me who knew the secret beforehand found it to work very well.) But here, the story turns out to be so incredibly implausible and ridiculous that it destroys everything else.  It?s an interesting and thought-provoking idea, but absolutely ludicrous.  Yes, you?re supposed to suspend your disbelief in this kind of film, and I did up to a point.  Even the blind girl going into the woods I accepted.  But when the actual occurances and so forth are finally revealed, it just can?t even begin to hold up.  The movie just self-destructs.

            Which is really unfortunate, because I liked this movie.  I mean I really liked this movie.  I wanted to love it.  The relationship between the main characters ? and the strength they had to show ? was involving and moving.  If the twists had been removed from the story and everything had been straight, it would have been an excellent film.  But Shyamalan just had to throw some twists in there.  The first two-thirds and even the suspense parts of the final third are about as good as horror/thrillers get.  So close? and yet so far.

            James Newton Howard deservedly got an Oscar nomination for his score, but Bryce Dallas Howard (who is Ron Howard's daughter and has no relation to J.N.) and Roger Deakins were just as deserving.