M. Nightly Retrospective: 'The Sixth Sense'
Day One of a six day look back at M. Night Shyamalan's last five films and then some...
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Photo: Touchstone Home Entertainment
- BOX OFFICE: $293,506,292 domestically, $672,806,292 worldwide and #27 all-time
- PRODUCTION BUDGET: $40 million
- Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay and three more Academy Awards
- Opened on M. Night Shyamalan's birthday
- Following The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan was said to be in talks with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to help in writing the fourth Indiana Jones film. (source)
- Bruce Willis earned about $14 million for his part in the film (source), co-star Haley Joel Osment was paid $150,000 (source). Willis's private jet tab alone was $450,000.
- M. Night Shyamalan has a cameo in the film as a doctor who examines Cole after the incident at the birthday party.
"The Sixth Sense" has a kind of calm, sneaky self-confidence that allows it to take us down a strange path, intriguingly. ~ Roger Ebert, "Chicago Sun-Times"
ONE BAD:
Too plodding to be a thriller, too one-dimensional to be psychological, and not nearly frightening enough to be chilling, this film sets up a problem, and then never bothers to solve it. ~ Jeff Gray, "Globe and Mail"
The Sixth Sense also offers up the first of many fantastic scores provided by James Newton Howard for a Shyamalan film. Howard has scored all of Night's major studio efforts and while this one isn't the best of the bunch it certainly adds a lot of welcome atmosphere to the project.
As for The Sixth Sense, from a visual perspective it is not Shyamalan's best, but it certainly is a nice starting point.
Photo: Touchstone Home Entertainment
Photo: Touchstone Home Entertainment
Click on "Next Page" to check out ten more screen grabs from The Sixth Sense.
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I am absolutely thrilled you are doing this retrospective! M. Night's films are so interesting and amazing – each and every one – and it will be nice to revisit them all. I never realized The Sixth Sense was nominated for Best Picture! I think that is really neat. It's a great film, one of the better ones. And I'm with you – I couldn't figure out the twist either until it actually happened. And, wow, was it completely shocking. M. Night truly is a genius – there's no denying that.
The twist got me as well.
Jeff Gray's critique tells me he didn't get it. He seems determined to put it into one of the standard category boxes but Night's films are somewhere in a grey area inbetween the boxes.
That and the fact that you (at least I did) sympathize with the boy's fears and frustration makes this thing work. It's a little boy with a big burden, how can it not work on your feelings.
It drew me into the slow winding river with here and there a few small rapids but nothing that really gets your hart pumping when there was suddenly that big drop at the end.
I have no problem admitting the twist got me too. In fact it actually adds to the repeated viewings, it's interesting to see the small details that escape you in the initial viewing that woud have given away the twist.
M. Night is a genius filmmaker and I'm looking forward to his upcoming "The Happening." The subtleties and smallest details bring you back for more.
I am truly enjoying the retrospective. Thank you for the walk down memory lane.
I think the red in the movie was supposed to represent if a ghost had touched the object or something of that sort. I'm not entirely sure…
I love M.Night. Here is what is bugging me though, about him at this moment. He is throwing his talent into projects that are not really for him. The Last Airbender? NoNoNo.
I read somewhere that he bought the rights to the wonderful novel, The Life of Pi.
Why Doesn't he make the movie? It has all the elements of a great film. I am waiting. Only he and maybe Speilberg could do it justice. And it has a fabulous twist ending.