M. Nightly Retrospective: 'The Village'
Beautiful to the eyes and ears, but on a story level it just doesn't work
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Photo: Touchstone Home Entertainment
- BOX OFFICE: $114,197,520 domestically, $256,697,520 worldwide and #300 all-time
- PRODUCTION BUDGET: $60 million
- M. Night Shyamalan's cameo in The Village is as a park outpost ranger
Made with such elegance, atmosphere and wonderfully mannered performances it will nestle deep inside your head, refusing to budge. The more you ponder it, the better it becomes. ~ Ian Nathan, "Empire"
ONE BAD:
A colossal miscalculation, a movie based on a premise that cannot support it, a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn. It's a flimsy excuse for a plot, with characters who move below the one-dimensional and enter Flatland. ~ Roger Ebert, "Chicago Sun-Times"
The problems with The Village started from the very first time the trailers hit the scene. At this point Shyamalan's films had come to be known for their twist/revelatory endings which instantly told any logical thinking viewer that the village referenced in the trailers was probably not being terrorized by supernatural creatures. That hurt the story. What also hurt this film was the awful dialogue, primarily the dialogue William Hurt was asked to read:
What manner of spectacle has attracted your attention so splendidly? I ought to carry it in my pocket to help me teach.
That is a line Hurt reads near the beginning of the film. It comes off forced as do all of his lines. Why the majority of the 19th century jargon was his duty to regurgitate I will never know, but it never felt authentic or believable.
Bad dialogue and the fact that this would have worked simply as a love story (which is what it really is) without the faux scares would have made this a much better film. That is, unless Night had decided to go for real scares, featuring a real threat, and ditch the twist this time around. It's a case of marketing a thriller and delivering a romance in which the thrills were unnecessary. Audiences were left cold and that spelled the demise of this film and the fact that it still made over $100 million shows audiences still believed in Night. At least we still have Howard's score and Deakins' pictures.
Now, enjoy all the pretty pictures…
Photo: Touchstone Home Entertainment
Photo: Touchstone Home Entertainment
Photo: Touchstone Home Entertainment
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I was unable to catch "The Village" in theatres, and the twist got ruined for me. As in, someone told it to me. So my first viewing of "The Village" was already ruined when I saw it. The twist just seemed so…obvious. But, like I said, it had already been told to me.
Nevertheless, something about "The Village" is very watchable. Maybe its the score and amazing photography and great acting like you mentioned. But I find myself completely engrossed in the film every time I pop it into the DVD player. Yes, its true that "The Village" is not M. Night's best film, but it's right up there in watchability factor. Not that I have any clue why. There goes M. Night's brilliance yet again…
watching all of night's movies, and know he wrote all of them, do you really think the dialogue was bad? it's funny that you mentioned "forced" because that's exactly what it's supposed to be. after understanding the twist and my thoughts about the movie after the fact, the dialogue itself was one of those brilliant clues night had slapping us in the face the whole time. of course it's forced. they are pretending. they are trying to live in this world that doesn't really exist. william hurt is a great actor playing a bad one. this realization really made the movie come together for me.
You know, that's a good way to look at it, but they have lived in that village for so long that they have sons and daughters in their 20s. I mean, if they haven't grasped the language by that point they must really be struggling.
I think you bring up a good perspective, but I have to disagree. So yes, I think the dialogue was bad.
I love this movie. Here is my M. Night list in order: (Bear in mind that I like all of his films)
5-Lady in The Water= Liked it, found it very creative and thought the performances were great (it seems he is blessed as all his films contain great acting).
4-The Village=Well acted and I do kind of buy into the point that the dialogue would be forced even though it was a little goofy sometimes. ("Don't jostle about so").
3-Unbreakable=Once again great acting and an awesome story.
2-The Sixth Sense=I would say this is his best film without a doubt and Bruce Willis is just incredible as is, of course, young Mr. Osment. It is the quintessential ghost story and it would make Hitchcock proud.
1-Signs=LOVED this movie. I saw it twice in theatres and have watched it countless times on dvd. I was on the edge of my seat throught the entire film. Being a Christian I am bias toward the fact that Graham regained his faith at the end so that helped me like this film. I just loved the story, I thought it was visually stunning in a simple way, and the acting (Mel Gibson is amazing in this movie) is top notch once again. Sixth Sense is a better film I think, but this is the one I enjoy watching most.
I can see how being a devote Christian would certainly make someone love Signs more than I did. I thought that part of the story was very well done. Overall, that film just didn't really do it for me. However, it is nice to see one more person liked Lady in the Water, I actually think that may be my favorite Night film.
My biggest grumble about the negative views of this movie are in the idea that it was intended to be a scary movie about monsters.
They complain that it wasn't scary.
The purpose of the movie was to show the simplicity of creating a society.
It was fascinating to imagine the possibilities of controlling an entire world and witnessing an example of this was beautifully enjoyable.
The feel of the movie was slightly out of place on purpose. Here we have lives of people who know only a single way of life and we get to explore their individuality within this world. The dialogue helps create this world. The dialogue was wonderful and it helped build the feel the creators of the village wanted.
The story was brilliant and the filming was amazing. It felt real.
The monsters were intentionally rediculous looking and it gave us a mirror to look at our own imaginary monsters.
The people in the town who grew up there had absolute fear and no reason not to believe. The absurd costumes allowed us to view the fragile line between what we fear and what it is that we fear.
I love this movie. My only complaint is that it was too short. It could have been a mini series and continued on with more stories.
I feel that this movie should be appreciated for its visual beauty, its language and music and for the creative uniqueness of its story.