B202-DES144
DVD Review of The
Village
Copyright © by Dan Schneider,
4/1/05
I’m weird.
I seem to be the only person who recognizes how poorly written M. Night
Shyamalan’s films are. Is it because I’m a Hitchcock aficionado? No. I just
have an ability to read narrative arcs and see where things are going. It was
obvious that Bruce Willis was dead in The Sixth Sense, that Samuel L.
Jackson was the bad guy in Unbreakable, and that, well, Signs sucked
altogether. Perhaps I demand too much, ot perhaps it’s because I see in MNS a
burgeoning Spike Lee or Steven Spielberg- i.e.- someone with a great eye but no
knack for storytelling. My advice: become a cinematographer, or write better
tales! This, especially, goes out to MNS, since he writes his films, and all are
‘twist ‘ films- dependent upon that final reveal.
This means
there are two problems- 1) once the twist is revealed the film is not worth
watching a second time, and 2) he’s no Rod Serling. You see, MNS is a very
predictable and ham-handed director- utterly lacking in subtlety- HE HITS YOU
OVER THE HEAD! Yet, it turns out his weapons are rather pallid.
Here is a
capsule synopsis of The Village: a bunch of do-gooder Luddite Liberals
from the 60s get fed up with modern materialism, and decide to go Anabaptist.
Fortunately, the head nut, Edward Walker (William Hurt) is the son of a
billionaire, who buys a piece of land, walls it up as a nature preserve and he
and his friends raise their children to believe that they are living in the late
19th Century, and their village is surrounded by Those We Do Not
Speak Of- boogeymen, of sorts, who routinely terrorize the wacky villagers.
Years later, when the film begins, the next generation really believes they are
in the 19th Century, and the blind daughter, Ivy Walker (Bryce
Howard- daughter of schlockmeister Ron Howard) of the head nut has fallen in
love with a guy named Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), son of Alice Hunt
(Sigourney Weaver)- Ed’s old flame from the days of bong. The only other
character of note is psychotic Noah Percy, played by a scenery chewing Adrien
Brody.
Ivy is blind,
but desired by both Noah and Lucius- who ever wants to leave the village, so
seeks permission. Noah finds out of Lucius’s and Ivy’s love, and stabs
Lucius. This means Ivy the blind, somehow, has to go to The Towns, i.e.-
outside the preserve for medicine. She does, after being abandoned by
chickenshit companions and learning, from Ed that Those are just a hoax meant to
keep the villagers in line. Yet, as blind Ivy stumbles through the forest she is
followed by a Those. Incredibly, the blind girl ends up killing the one of
Those- who turns out to be Noah. Ivy makes it outside the preserve, meets a
friendly ranger, gets meds and returns to save Lucius. End story.
This film had
potential, but the only character developed is Ivy, and Howard could be a major
star- pretty, red haired, but not gorgeous, she reminded me of a younger version
of Canadian actress Megan Follows, of Anne Of Green Gables fame, with
girl next door looks that could make her a natural in Julia Roberts-type roles.
But, none of the other character’s had real motivations. MNS tries to jam
ideas in, but all his films are thin half hour minute Twilight Zone
episodes on steroids. As for it being an allegory on modern day life- where
elitists/religiots hoodwink the gullible masses, funded by the super-rich. Yeah,
got that well before the reveal that this was not set in the 19th
Century. This ain’t your father’s The Crucible! The acting is
generally atrocious- not so much from the clipped attempt at old English, as
much as the constant clichés these cardboard cutouts use, their melodramatic
whispers, and the dreadful close-ups MNS uses. Many of the lesser known actors,
it’s claimed in the extras, were stage trained, and their awkwardness in front
of a camera shows. Add to that many cheap, hermetic scares, where the characters
are terrified and the audience yawns, and you have a mess of a film, and cheap
explanations- after Noah stabs Lucius he is confined, only to escape via
floorboards in a Those costume, conveniently stored below. Then there are scary
things that are not and the love story has no passion as Phoenix is a terrible
actor- how he keeps getting roles is beyond me. The whole set up is silly. If
the village elders know the difference between the real world and their The
Truman Show-like irreality, why worry if a blind girl will find her way out?
Why affect a 19th Century accent, or put 1897 on a tombstone? The
Luddite kids would have no idea it was meant to connote that, for they’d not
grasp what 1897 was to be like? It could easily be claimed to be 1238 or 2467.
The only reason is to fool the viewers- thus the internal universe of the film
is logically inconsistent. Of course, there are many other inconsistencies, as
well. MNS really needs to hire good screenwriters to flesh out his ideas.
This film had potential to be as great a work of art as that other great
fictive The Village- from the 1967 tv show The Prisoner, but it fails
miserably on all levels. MNS wouldn’t know a well-written script if you beat
him with it. Am I repeating myself? Let me range a little more- I am tired of
mere cinematographers posing as auteurs. Learn narrative arcs. Perhaps I do
expect too much- like character development, plausible plots, etc. and tales not
based on a twist, but situations that logically and/or organically grow out of
situation.
Yet, a
quick review of professional critics’ reviews was astounding, for most seemed
to miss that this was a film not set in the 19th Century- instead
believing that some time tripping had occurred. As for the extras? There’s no
commentary, thankfully, for the featurettes are fellatric enough- including a
heinous diary by Bryce Howard, and an execrable bit of another of MNS’s bad
home movies from childhood. He seems to put far more care into his childhood
films selected for the DVDs than he does his actual grown up films. In short,
MNS delivers another film with a good premise, but lousy execution in all
aspects. I’ve given up on him as a film director, but I’m sure he’s got
his next twist film already in the works. (Sigh!)
[An expurgated version of this article originally appeared on the 3/05 Hackwriters website.]
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