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Pennsylvania, 1897; the inhabitants of the utopian Covington have held an uneasy truce with the creatures that live in the woods around their village for years. But when Lucius Hunt asks permission to leave, things change for the worse.
Writer-director M Night Shyamalan’s films all seem to exist in the eternal twilight of an autumnal world. “The Village” is no exception, portraying a world of muted tones and frosty nights, the whole thing awash in leaf litter. It makes for an atmospheric backdrop in a tale where the greatest horrors are imagined and not seen. Here he delivers a taut, slow-burning psychological horror that plays on our primeval fear of the dark and the things that may be lurking in it. He ramps up the suspense through the judicious use of obscured views, half-seen creatures and a shrieking score that will send shivers down your spine. The sound design plays a big part in setting our nerves on edge; unearthly breezes and monstrous howls, as does the constant inter cutting of shots of bare tree branches, moving like skeletal hands. It leaves you in no doubt that something wicked this way comes. Unfortunately, the frosty backdrop is reflected in many of the characters who are so controlled as to be almost emotionless. Though this may be explained by the period setting, it does nothing to endear them to the watcher. And though the acting is of a high quality throughout, I got the impression I was seeing a demonstration of technical rather than emotional brilliance. Most of the characters feel so brittle, that they are in imminent danger
of shattering. This is not helped by the sometimes stilted dialogue that makes the performances even more mannered.
Shyamalan is a tricksy fellow, who loves nothing more than a good twist in the tail. If you look at his back-catalogue, that’s what links all of his films. But sometimes he doesn’t know when to let go of an idea. I went into “The Village” expecting a twist; what I didn’t expect was three twists. Now call me cynical, but that’s overkill, as far as I’m concerned. Not that this is a bad film in any respect, it’s just the constant denouements threaten to undermine the film. They’re like buses – you wait ages for one and then three turn up at once. And couldn’t he have come up with a better name for the creatures than “Those We Do Not Speak Of”?
Joaquin Phoenix is a powerful actor adept at creating complex characters. Here he plays Lucius Hunt; a strong silent type, who sees no point in speaking unless there is something that needs to be said. It is an interesting performance that resonates because it is so reductive. Phoenix says everything by doing almost nothing in his most internalised role to date, but still holds the attention as only the truly gifted can. His discomfort is almost palpable whenever he speaks and that is what makes his character so human and bewitching.
Though Phoenix may get top billing, the real star of “The Village” is relative newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of director Ron Howard. Her performance as Ivy Walker is pivotal to the film. She has an appealing youthful demeanour that makes her ideal to play the enthusiastic, tomboyish, headstrong Ivy. Ivy’s blindness is incidental to the character and Howard does not dwell on it, concentrating more on the important business of putting across her emotions. And she does an admirable job, making Ivy easily the most sympathetic of all the roles and thus ensuring that she stands out in a sea of emotionally bereft characters. It makes it far easier for us as an audience to relate to her as she is forced by tragedy to go through the forbidden woods. This performance alone should ensure that Howard has a long career.
After so many years watching Sigourney Weaver play strong capable women, it is in many ways disappointing to see her play such a passive character as Lucius’ mother Alice. She is reduced in many scenes to little more than background dressing and too little attention is paid to her unspoken love for Edward Walker. Though this role shows she has range, I can’t help feeling she was wasted.
William Hurt is a capable actor whose attitude of worthiness towards acting translates to his on-screen persona. His characters tend towards the dry and dependable, ruled by logic rather than emotion. So he is perfectly cast as Edward Walker, a school teacher with impeccable rationale and a demeanour as cold as an Arctic winter. So it seems a tad strange when he sends his blind daughter off on a mission through the woods because it was “a request from the heart”. But I suppose he has little choice with such a headstrong daughter.
Adrien Brody gives a convincing if at times over-the-top performance as village innocent Noah Percy. He is an actor who can convey much whilst saying little, but here the tics threaten to overturn the performance (think Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man” crossed with Leonardo DiCaprio in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”). That being said, he has some fine scenes, including the pivotal one with Joaquin Phoenix, where almost everything is said by their eyes.
Brendan Gleeson is another workhorse actor who seems to turn up in a supporting role in everything these days. Here he’s another supporting character, whose only role is as a plot device, so he feels wasted. Of the other supporting turns, Judy Greer stands out as Ivy’s forthright sister Kitty. Her reaction to being spurned by the man she loves gives one of the only moments of respite in an otherwise tense film.
The score is a triumph of psychologically affecting music by James Newton Howard. He knows just which buttons to press at the appropriate moment, either to prime us for impending doom or to heighten an already tense situation to almost unbearable levels. His use of strings here is particularly striking.
Shyamalan’s directing style is one that eschews special effects for more subtle camera trickery, knowing that there is nothing scarier than what the human mind can imagine. But his use of sound is masterful, suggesting the horrors that may lie beyond the village and using good old bumps in the night to good effect. However, he also falls back on his use of colour to create a sense of menace, with red being “the bad colour” once more.
Though “The Village” is a taut psychological horror that will get you thinking, it is undermined by Shyamalan’s determination to deceive the audience. You spend most of the time waiting for the twist and having three of them upsets the rhythm of the film in the second half. The mannered acting makes the majority of the characters hard to relate to and makes the whole film less emotionally satisfying than it should be. This movie had the potential to be great, but manages only to be good. Go to see it and you won’t be disappointed, but you won’t be overawed either. Perhaps I would have given it another star if it had been released closer to Hallowe’en thereby tapping into my tastes for something spooky.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Horror - Director: Danny Boyle - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Cillian Murphy, Megan Burns, Noah Huntley, Christopher Eccleston, Marvin Campbell, Brendan Gleeson
Production Year: 1984 - Horror - Director: Joe Dante - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Frances Lee McCain, Judge Reinhold, Corey Feldman
We need more films that disappoint the audience. Why should people demand to be entertained, watch what's put in front of you and then try to figure out what you think it might mean. If people want pointless films then they should make their own.
Ho hum
lush_lozenge 29.09.2004 17:36
Great review. I haven't seen this film for one reason... I know there's gonna be a twist. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you that M. Night Shylaman's style is great and enthralling but the reason the Sixth Sense was so succesful was that no one was expecting that kind of twisted ending. If he tried a film without a twist, I would be far more suprised! Fantastic review anyway, you've got me tempted to go now! Loz x
Even when his trademark twist-ending formula wears worrisomely thin as it does inThe ... more
Village, M. Night Shyamalan is a true showman who knows how to serve up a spookfest. He's derailed this time by a howler of a "surprise" lifted almost directly from "A...
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Even when his trademark twist-ending formula wears worrisomely thin as it does inThe ... more
Village, M. Night Shyamalan is a true showman who knows how to serve up a spookfest. He's derailed this time by a howler of a "surprise" lifted almost directly from "A...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Run. The truce is ending. M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Village' finds the renowned ... more
writer-director crafting a suspenseful story of a small community whose inhabitants are plagued by fear of the unknown forest that surrounds them. For years they have kep...
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From Academy Award-nominated writer, director and modern-day master of suspense M. Night ... more
Shyamalan (Nominee: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, The Sixth Sense, 1999), THE VILLAGE is a riveting, edge-of-your-seat chiller with a stellar ensemble c...
![The Village [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78514791.jpg "The Village [DVD] [2004]")
Aug 28th, 2004
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