It has been interesting to watch director/screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan mature before my very eyes. Ever since his breakthrough effort, The Sixth Sense (which was nothing more than an exercise), Shyamalan’s films have shown an ever-growing maturity which has finally fully blossomed with the simultaneously intriguing and heartfelt The Village.
To even begin to discuss the plot of The Village is to reveal too much. What can be said though is that the movie tells the tale of a group of people who, disillusioned from the sins of the city, flee into the woods and settle a village in a clearing. They call their village Covington, and it is here where they try to live in peace, both with their inner demons and the carnivorous monsters who inhabit the woods that surround them. That is until the creatures breech the borders of the village, and a trip to the city through the woods is necessary for medicine. The soft-spoken Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) volunteers, but when he is gravely injured, it is his blind lover who must take the trip which has become a matter of the heart.
There is no doubt that The Village requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief to fully enjoy, but this is in no way a hindrance to its ultimate success. (It really irritates me how lately it seems that critics will use the double standard of “believability” to slam a movie, while simultaneously handing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 11 Oscars. Besides, does believing in Santa Claus effect your comprehension of him as a symbol of Christmas spirit? Of course not.) But if you are able to put aside some of your preconceived notions, you will be rewarded with many provocative conversation topics. The Village explores themes of violence and the lengths to which parents should go to protect their children from it, and the question the film asks is whether or not it can be shielded.
It took director Ron Howard many years in front of the camera to realize that his true potential lay behind it. His daughter Bryce Dallas Howard has realized her calling as an actress on the first shot. As Ivy Walker, the emotional center for the movie, Howard is a revelation. She delivers the best performance since Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning turn last year in Monster (speaking of Oscars, hopefully the summer release date won‘t cheap Howard out of a nomination). With stunning debut performances though, it is always hard to predict which actors are the real deal and which are just experiencing a little beginner’s luck. Let us hope it is the former.
With Bryce Dallas Howard turning in such a commanding lead performance, it may be easy to forget about the more subdued supporting performances. Of them, Joaquin Phoenix is wonderful at conveying emotion through body language and makes Lucius come alive on the screen. William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver play two of the town elders, and while neither have that meaty a role (one might think that much of their screen time was left on the cutting room floor), both are solid.
The atmosphere created in The Village is so masterfully done that the film reminds me of some sort of fairy tale that has been passed down for generations, or perhaps something read alongside “Cinderella“ in a collection of Brothers Grimm stories. All the elements are here: a charming love story, a hero, a damsel in distress (even if the “damsel” is a dude), the evil monsters who live just beyond their tiny village, and a central theme behind it all. But lest we not forget, this is an M. Night Shyamalan film, where nothing is completely as it seems.
Grade: A
© 2004 Jacob Sproul
July 2004 Archive
2004 Archive
Main Archive