Rating- * * * * * (5/5)
Few directors master their craft so early in their careers as M. Night Shyamalan has, but those who have all went on to become legends. Orson Welles, George Lucas and even The Master, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, after whom much of Shyamalan’s work is modeled, all got their big break early and had successful careers for decades. Shyamalan shows signs of being one of our generation’s greatest filmmakers and his latest work, Signs, is the perfect example of why. Shyamalan got his first big break when he wrote and directed The Sixth Sense, which starred Bruce Willis and a then-unknown Haley Joel Osment. The film garnered huge box-office receipts, critical praise and several Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Shyamalan followed up with Unbreakable, again starring Willis, this time paired with Samuel L. Jackson. The film received mixed reviews and slow sales but was nonetheless a solid piece of work and remarkably well made. Now we come to Signs, which has become one of the most hyped releases of the late summer and has created enough buzz to make even a name like M. Night Shyamalan a household name (which is not an easy task). The film stars Mel Gibson as a former priest (Episcopal, because he has kids) who has lost his faith after a terrible accident killed his wife. Joaquin Phoenix plays Gibson’s younger brother, a former minor league baseball star who moved in with Gibson after his wife’s death to help take care of his two children, played by Kieran Culken and Abigail Breslin. The story begins when the family wakes up one morning to find mysterious crop circles in their corn field. Gibson immediately dismisses the phenomenon as a hoax while the children believe it must be the work of aliens. Phoenix rather comically wavers between the two sides for the entire movie, often giving the children as much credibility as his brother. The story progresses as more strange occurrences take place but I won’t reveal any more specific plot points because it would spoil the movie. Although Shyamalan has a very distinct style all his own, the influence from Hitchcock is undeniable from the very beginning of Signs. The opening credits mirror those of Psycho or Vertigo where the title theme plays over the credits on a colored background; no photography, no people, no lines. As simple as this may seem, it helps the movie tremendously by keeping the credits and the movie totally separate and thus never breaking away from the truth and realness of the film. Again like Hitchcock, Shyamalan subscribes to the old adage of “less is more.” Hitchcock never involved anything supernatural in any of his movies like Shyamalan, but he did tackle things that were unfathomable and terrifying like the shower scene in Psycho. He never showed more than was required to get the point across of what was happening. He never showed a knife entering the skin or even the face of the murderer until the last possible moment in the film. The less the audience sees, the more their minds must intimate and the more terrifying it actually becomes to them. Shyamalan is brilliant at leaving the sight of the monsters to your imagination and making you do all the guesswork. Even when we do see the “monster” it is out of focus and hiding in the shadows. This makes the movie much scarier and more suspenseful than if we just saw a computer generated creature hobbling about and chasing the family. Another great thing about Shyamalan is his writing. He has made a big enough name for himself that he could write easy, big budget, Spielbergian extravaganzas and make hundreds of millions of dollars off of them. Instead, Shyamalan chooses very deep, personal stories that deal with exciting and creepy phenomena but still focus on how that phenomenon affects the people involved. Who else would write a ghost story that focuses on the psychological damage to the haunted family? Or a story about a superhero who is so skeptical he doesn’t believe in his own superpowers? Or perhaps most impressive, a story about an alien invasion as seen from inside a Pennsylvania farmhouse. This is the true genius of Shyamalan; he has the ability to write a screenplay with great talent and thoughtfulness, and then direct it with incomparable skill and style. Few filmmakers are as passionate about their work as Shyamalan and it shows up on screen. This is definitely his best work to date, but I am confident it will not be his last great work. I would like to cautiously declare this the Best Movie of the Summer and if you like movies, no matter what type, see Signs. It is one of the seminal films of the year and a stepping stone in what will surely be a prolific career for a great director.