[MOVIE] The Village
(Well, when I started this journal, I did figure it'd be somewhat erratic. ^^)
The Village, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. First viewing.
The Village was apparently marketed as a horror film. I wouldn't know; the only time I see trailers for movies is when I go to movies, which happens maybe once or twice a year. I don't watch broadcast television. Few of my friends see a lot of moves. So when our friend Scott brought this by a while ago, he told us it was a horror movie, and I almost opted out of watching it.
That would have been a very bad move. I'm really glad I saw this film.
I'm not at all familiar with any of Shyamalan's work, except that I do know the gimmick behind Sixth Sense (my sister told me, for reasons I don't remember). If I had to categorize this movie, I'd probably call it a thriller, but that's not particularly accurate. It sets itself up as a thriller, and has some moments that really got under my skin (in the way that feels disturbing at the time but is kind of fun later. Better, I suspect that those moments would continue to be effective during a rewatch, which is hard to pull off).
The premise is that a small village in the middle of nowhere, which has chosen to sever all ties with other communities ('the towns'), has a pact with mysterious, dangerous creatures that live in the woods surrounding them. The woods belong to the creatures, which are spoken of only in whispers and never by any real name. But within the village itself, the people are safe, and they live good, simple lives. This long-standing deal between man and monster begins to break down as the movie begins, and the story centers around some of the villagers as they try to understand the change and its consequences.
I don't know how to discuss the premise in any more detail without hinting at the way things play out, and The Village's effectiveness would be badly undermined by giving it away at all. It's handled incredibly well, and when things are revealed, they're shown with a delicacy and without ever breaking the flow of the movie with a round of "look how clever this is!". Since this is far from being a professional review, I can stop there and advise anyone reading this who hasn't seen the movie to go give it a look. I really enjoyed it, emotionally and analytically. The cast isn't perfect, but there are no glaringly bad performances, and the ones who are good are really very good, in an understated way.
The Village, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. First viewing.
The Village was apparently marketed as a horror film. I wouldn't know; the only time I see trailers for movies is when I go to movies, which happens maybe once or twice a year. I don't watch broadcast television. Few of my friends see a lot of moves. So when our friend Scott brought this by a while ago, he told us it was a horror movie, and I almost opted out of watching it.
That would have been a very bad move. I'm really glad I saw this film.
I'm not at all familiar with any of Shyamalan's work, except that I do know the gimmick behind Sixth Sense (my sister told me, for reasons I don't remember). If I had to categorize this movie, I'd probably call it a thriller, but that's not particularly accurate. It sets itself up as a thriller, and has some moments that really got under my skin (in the way that feels disturbing at the time but is kind of fun later. Better, I suspect that those moments would continue to be effective during a rewatch, which is hard to pull off).
The premise is that a small village in the middle of nowhere, which has chosen to sever all ties with other communities ('the towns'), has a pact with mysterious, dangerous creatures that live in the woods surrounding them. The woods belong to the creatures, which are spoken of only in whispers and never by any real name. But within the village itself, the people are safe, and they live good, simple lives. This long-standing deal between man and monster begins to break down as the movie begins, and the story centers around some of the villagers as they try to understand the change and its consequences.
I don't know how to discuss the premise in any more detail without hinting at the way things play out, and The Village's effectiveness would be badly undermined by giving it away at all. It's handled incredibly well, and when things are revealed, they're shown with a delicacy and without ever breaking the flow of the movie with a round of "look how clever this is!". Since this is far from being a professional review, I can stop there and advise anyone reading this who hasn't seen the movie to go give it a look. I really enjoyed it, emotionally and analytically. The cast isn't perfect, but there are no glaringly bad performances, and the ones who are good are really very good, in an understated way.