The M.Night Shyamalan touch

k0bayashi

On those last few hours of the year let’s have a more lighter conversation and take a bit of those resting hours to talk about entertainment and especially about movies.

I’m a huge fan of Cinema, I’m not what we can call an academic erudite but I watch a lot of them as I love good stories, beautiful sceneries, sounds, music, lighting and colors.

Because of that, one of my preferred genre is fantastic and one of my favorite filmmaker is M. Night Shyamalan (That I’ll shorten MNS from now on).

His ability to create fantastic worlds, rooted in real life. To slowly hook you onto its universe, done with a notable attention to its spectators. Indeed, he never throw you unbelievable magical events right from the first frame, he takes time to settle an ambiance and a whole setup to the smallest details without being boring.

But what’s really remarkable about MNS is its consistency.

All of his movies are different but with similarities that can’t be unseen once you’ve noticed them.

MNS is a storyteller, to its noble meaning. He tale tales! He craft tales that want to push you to question reality and explore uncharted territories of your mind.

In a period of time where science and technology tends to be more aseptic than before, where both lost what made them incredible for a five years old, it’s to my point of view, more than interesting to get some artistic creations, it is crucial to nurture imagination of the viewer.

So, first, comes the movie title itself. Did you ever noticed that almost any MNS fantastic film title is composed of a single word or idea describing what the movie is all about ?

  • The sixth sense
  • Signs
  • Unbreakable
  • The village
  • Lady in the water
  • The happening
  • Devil
  • Split
  • Glass
  • Old
  • Trap

I’ll not make an exhaustive list but I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

He start placing bread crumbs on your way right from the beginning, and once you’ve seen that pattern, then you wait for the next movie title just as a game where you start thinking and imagining what will be the plot of it.

MNS tells fairytales, he invite you to evade for a while and as for Hop-ò-My-Thumb, he mark a trail for you to follow back, and that makes a real difference with more ordinary movies.

I almost never watch a movie twice as I’ve been gifted with a very well working photographic memory, except for MNS movies or very similar kind of movies where I do spot those interesting second layer reading trails, I then enjoy investigating and discussing with others tiny details that I spotted and that make me elaborate theories that I then need to discuss and confront with others.

Cameos

Talking about breadcrumbs did you noticed that MNS is almost always having cameos in its own movies? And not just barely noticeable appearance, he’s often playing an important second character that is essential to build a strong background to the story or drive you through.

Here are exemples from the previous listing:

  • The sixth sense - He plays Doctor Hill that assist Cole’s mother.
  • Signs - He plays Ray reddy, Graham neighbor that captured an alien, discovered their weakness and unfortunately also killed Graham’s wife.
  • Unbreakable - He plays the drug dealer that David saw in a vision, it’s the introduction for David’s powers.
  • The village - He plays a park ranger of an outpost reading and hearing news about the whole incident.
  • Lady in the water - He plays Vick Ran, a struggling writer, in a movie about a mermaid looking for a writer that will change the world!
  • The happening - He plays the guy constantly calling alma and asking her for a date.
  • Devil - One of the rare movie where he doesn’t make any cameo.
  • Split - He plays Jai, the guy that help Dr Fletcher with a cctv footage, watching back the whole trilogy will help you better understand its role and get the gotcha moment ;-)
  • Glass - He plays a customer of David Dunn video shop and tell him about the stadium, he help David getting back on track here. I’ll let you watch that sequence again and enjoy how profoundly linked are all the characters of this trilogy.
  • Old - He plays the van driver, he’s metaphorically driving you to its own world.
  • Trap - He plays lady Raven uncle and he’s the one allowing the intrigue to follow up.

All of those appearances are a casual reminder to us that everything is just a story and that there is a craftsman at the helm about to take us on a journey.

Legacy

I’ll conclude this short post by talking about what we can call the MNS legacy.

I’ve recently watched “The watchers” movie without knowing who made it. At first I was a bit puzzled as I was looking for a movie that had all MNS markers but yet a kinda unique feeling.

Fast forward to the end credits and I was surprised to find out it was indeed made by Ishana Night Shyamalan.

What’s really amazing here is that she created a very unique and wonderful fairytale, rooted on the European mythology, which is very poetic from an etymological standpoint of this very specific word.

She perfectly endorsed her legacy and decided to assume her last name, she then deliver a performance that is promising, but which can be a real burden on this business let’s be honest.

With two Night Shyamalan creators to enchant us, what could go wrong?

Original posting was made on substack