Comments on: Sink or Swim: the M. Night Shyamalan Media Circus

By: efrain

efrain — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:12:49 +0000

I love M. Night Shyamalan’s movies. My favorites are Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense. To me The Village was both critique and possible apologetic for shield-you-from-the-world conservative and religious extremism. While it showed how far a group would go to hide the outside world, it also gave a weighty explanation. Not a justification, just an explanation.

Signs was a restored faith in the midst of catastrophe story, and The Sixth Sense, while definitely a spiritual exploration that possibly involves Shyamalan’s Indian and Catholic heritage/background, still has two basic themes: “there are spirits living among us and only a few can sense them” plus “ghosts have unfinished business”.

then again, those themes circle back to the question of their philosophical roots, right? So then perhaps at its root, it is all spiritual/metaphysical. hmm…

just my offthecuff opinion :: efrain

By: sk

sk — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:48:42 +0000

A couple of nights ago, Craig Ferguson made fun of Shyamalan’s movies on his show, saying how all the characters in his movies whispered their lines, and he wanted to ask them to speak up. All in good fun, I suppose, but what bothered me was that Craig Ferguson kept saying “Shalaman”. He could have made some effort to get the name right considering he was mocking the guy’s work.

By: HMF

HMF — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:06:15 +0000

To put some story he made up to his kid on the screen and expect an audience to swallow it, hook line and sinker? Yes, who thought that would be a good idea?

Apparently, some very misguided people that try kid stories for live action.

By: kishore

kishore — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:49:35 +0000

The main problem with Night (I wish he never chose this ridiculous name, what’s wrong with Manoj?), is that he is not a good writer. On the other hand he is an excellent director. He creates a wonderful sense of mood and motion in his movies that is positively captivating, but the stories/scripts are very mediocre and amateurish. Has any one watched the Sixth Sense again, and paid attention to the script? The twist ending was essentially the whole movie. My suggestion to my sepia brother would be to stick to directing, and leave the stories, scripts, and even acting to the professionals. And that’s OK, one cannot be good at everything! This way he can select the best stories and scripts the world has to offer, and do what he really does best, directing.

By: Raj

Raj — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 21:08:59 +0000

I think that the 6th sense was his best work. I think he is a little full of himself right now and is trying to be the next Speilberg, without the numerous successful films.

By: HMF

HMF — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:25:20 +0000

I'll say one thing that MNS nails very well, almost all the time, is the score and sound design for his films. James Newton Howard and Hilary Hahn did a fantastic job in the Village, it was nominated for best score, but lost to finding neverland.

By: gq

gq — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:53:14 +0000

He needs all the help he can get at this point. But Slate is another publication (if you can call online sites "publications") where the reviewer panned the film.

Had Lady in the Water received better notices, you wouldn't see any defences. No defence would be necessary. But sometimes this is what happens when we put all our hopes into one horse. He may stumble one too many times. What's needed is more American Desi filmmakers. Night isn't and shouldn't be the be-all and (especially) end-all.

By: Amardeep

Amardeep — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:37:07 +0000

And here's a defense of his work in Slate.

By: Amardeep

Amardeep — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:25:00 +0000

Manola Dargis at the NYT has measured praise: "watchable".

The film is still probably doa.

By: Amardeep

Amardeep — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:05:26 +0000

gq, Ok, I surrender: looks like we’re having Grilled Flop for dinner!