Director Debate: M. Night Shyamalan

johnny_ultimate

Favourite film: The Happening. Yeah, I'm deadly serious. Few mainstream film-makers have had the balls to make something as ballsy as this. Cemented by an impressively reserved performance from Mark 'Marky Mark' Wahlberg, this is a film in no way deserving of the critical ire it received. It's a sombre, touching analogy of nature and man's fickle place in the mix. With the increasing numbers of natural disasters, the film has gained an unfortunate but profound relevancy. A 'nature kicks arse' film such as this could easily come across as naff, but as Wahlberg and Deschanel embrace in the film's extraordinary conclusion, I was deeply moved by the experience, and still can't look at wind the same way (I know what you're up to, if you're reading this, you wind bastard!).

Worst film: The Sixth Sense. Again, no joke. I despise this film. In stark contrast to other directors, Shyamalan gets better and better as his career goes on. His big break film now seems like a relic of times gone past. Early Shyamalanadingdong films built themselves on nothing but silly twists (Unbreakable is another guilty party). In the worst miscasting since Hudson Hawke, Bruce Willis plays a guy who (spoiler warning for that one guy who lived on ****ing Mars for the last decade.) (You know who you are.) (Twat.)

sees dead people

. I ask: why the **** should I care? The Village and Signs combined their twists with deep rooted social commentary on religion, child abuse and the colour yellow. The Sixth Sense plays like a psychological horror written by a six year old child with an unmedicated case of ADD, with no greater narrative flow than a twist that is immediately obvious before the film even begins.

I genuinely think Shyamalan is one of the most misunderstood directors of our time. After a rough start, his films have been a triumph of subtlety, inspired scripts and directorial flair. He constantly reinvents himself, and his later films have smacked me with a baseball bat to the testicles with twists even the most intelligent film fans couldn't have seen coming. Like who'd have guessed the village was actually (don't read spoiler if you don't the most SHOCKING twist in cinema history spoiled on you)

part of the real world

? My testicles still haven't re-descended after that one.

With themes as complex as religious morality and the inherent difficulties of airbending, Shyamalanalanalanalan has proven himself a versatile, intelligent director as years have gone by. He's the great Hollywood director of our time, up there with Zack Snyder and Brett Ratner. Cinema is a more exciting, unpredictable place whenever Night falls.

Galvasean

There was a very good documentary recently about why he is so unfairly maligned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hksKLHt9Kzg

Basq

Shyamalananadingdong is an absolutely superb director and an even finer writer.

'The Happening' is without doubt the Citizen Kane of our time.

Shyamalanadoodle can take something as complex as the human condition.. he'll wrap up in mounds of well-thought out structured symbolism and deliver it like so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs1214p_qpw

Bravo sir.. bravo!

amacachi

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I genuinely think Shyamalan is one of the most misunderstood directors of our time. After a rough start, his films have been a triumph of subtlety, inspired scripts and directorial flair. He constantly reinvents himself, and his later films have smacked me with a baseball bat to the testicles with twists even the most intelligent film fans couldn't have seen coming. Like who'd have guessed the village was actually (don't read spoiler if you don't the most SHOCKING twist in cinema history spoiled on you)

part of the real world

? My testicles still haven't re-descended after that one.

With themes as complex as religious morality and the inherent difficulties of airbending, Shyamalanalanalanalan has proven himself a versatile, intelligent director as years have gone by. He's the great Hollywood director of our time, up there with Zack Snyder and Brett Ratner. Cinema is a more exciting, unpredictable place whenever Night falls.

That sums it up tbh, that someone can maintain the subtlety yet also evoke such a strong empathetic pain is truly remarkable.

liah

With all this praise, I'm assuming you guys haven't seen Devil. :pac:

johnny_ultimate

liah wrote: »

With all this praise, I'm assuming you guys haven't seen Devil. :pac:

Girl, I literally shat my pants during that one it was so frickin' scary.

Jesus Wept

I hate him.

johnny_ultimate

The-Rigger wrote: »

I hate him.

Racist.

amacachi

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Girl, I literally shat my pants during that one it was so frickin' scary.

Same here, but that other scene after it was so tense that it all went back in. Again it's a sign of his genius that he can cause both releasing and clenching in such quick succession.

Basq

The-Rigger wrote: »

I hate him.

Whoa whoa whoa..

.. "hate" is a strong word.

Save that for the hack directors like Christopher Nolan and The Coen Brothers.

amacachi

Basq wrote: »

Whoa whoa whoa..

.. "hate" is a strong word.

Save that for the hack directors like Christopher Nolan and The Coen Brothers.

I wish one of The Coen Brothers would make a film on their own, logically it would only be half as bad as the crap they usually put out.

liah

This thread makes my heart hurt

Dempsey

Not seen the last airbender yet then johnny?

Fysh

liah wrote: »

This thread makes my heart hurt

Look, if you can't stand for Nolan and the Coens to be put in their rightful place by someone willing to recognize genius when it manifests itself, maybe you should just stay out of the Film Forum. As Mr T might have said, I pity the fool who doesn't rate M Night Shyamalan!

dr gonzo

Agree on all points, the happening was one of the most astounding pieces of cinema ive seen in quite some time, the performances were so powerful i was biting my fist with emotion, at one point i think tears even ran down my face.

Ultimately it was too much film for me though and i was forced to leave early.

Setun

I've only seen some clips of The Happening on teh interwebz, sadly. After reading this thread I think I will buy the Ultra-Extended 6-Disc BluRay Edition though so I can pass proper judgement. The scene where Mark Wahlberg converses with a shrub really grabbed me though, such tense viewing.

mikhail

It took me whole minutes to remember that it was April 1st. Well done Johnny, you had me there.

DrumSteve

no April Fools: I actually enjoyed The Happening.

Kind of in the same way you get nauseous after eating too many Burger King whoppers but your glad you ate them anyway.

krudler

What pisses me off about a lot of his movies is the way he frames a shot, then the character is seeingly unaware of anything outside the dimensions of what we the audience can see, it makes no sense.

Theres a scene in The Village where Joaquin Phoenix walks into the woods and one of the creatures is just out of shot but we hear it, then he turns around and the creature is gone, wtf?! it'd still clearly be legging it away (in an open area) into the woods, just because the audience cant see outside the frame of the film doesnt mean the character IN the movie cant! I brought this up in a filmmaking course I was doing and the guy teaching the class agreed with me, its lazy filmmaking.

Sad Professor

krudler wrote: »

What pisses me off about a lot of his movies is the way he frames a shot, then the character is seeingly unaware of anything outside the dimensions of what we the audience can see, it makes no sense.

Theres a scene in The Village where Joaquin Phoenix walks into the woods and one of the creatures is just out of shot but we hear it, then he turns around and the creature is gone, wtf?! it'd still clearly be legging it away (in an open area) into the woods, just because the audience cant see outside the frame of the film doesnt mean the character IN the movie cant! I brought this up in a filmmaking course I was doing and the guy teaching the class agreed with me, its lazy filmmaking.

I don't like it either, but it's a fairly common (if overused) film device. I can think of dozens of films that are also guilty of it. The senses of a film character are nearly always greatly reduced compared to that of a person in real life. One annoying example of this is in The Two Towers when Aragorn hears horses coming, jumps out of the way, and almost immediately Eomer and his riders enter the frame.

krudler

Sad Professor wrote: »

I don't like it either, but it's a fairly common (if overused) film device. I can think of dozens of films that are also guilty of it. The senses of a film character are nearly always greatly reduced compared to that of a person in real life. One annoying example of this is in The Two Towers when Aragorn hears horses coming, jumps out of the way, and almost immediately Eomer and his riders enter the frame.

Good example, its an annoying filmmaking habit, like nothing exists outside of we can see on screen, it makes no sense.

Raekwon

mikhail wrote: »

It took me whole minutes to remember that it was April 1st. Well done Johnny, you had me there.

It took me all of 20 seconds to twig this April Fool's gag but the powers that be didn't want me to ruin their fun so they deleted my post

Dempsey

I assumed it was a method of showing that the character is distracted or unable to use his senses to see whats around him.

thebullkf

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Favourite film: The Happening. Yeah, I'm deadly serious. Few mainstream film-makers have had the balls to make something as ballsy as this. Cemented by an impressively reserved performance from Mark 'Marky Mark' Wahlberg, this is a film in no way deserving of the critical ire it received. It's a sombre, touching analogy of nature and man's fickle place in the mix. With the increasing numbers of natural disasters, the film has gained an unfortunate but profound relevancy. A 'nature kicks arse' film such as this could easily come across as naff, but as Wahlberg and Deschanel embrace in the film's extraordinary conclusion, I was deeply moved by the experience, and still can't look at wind the same way (I know what you're up to, if you're reading this, you wind bastard!).

Worst film: The Sixth Sense. Again, no joke. I despise this film. In stark contrast to other directors, Shyamalan gets better and better as his career goes on. His big break film now seems like a relic of times gone past. Early Shyamalanadingdong films built themselves on nothing but silly twists (Unbreakable is another guilty party). In the worst miscasting since Hudson Hawke, Bruce Willis plays a guy who (spoiler warning for that one guy who lived on ****ing Mars for the last decade.) (You know who you are.) (Twat.)

sees dead people

. I ask: why the **** should I care? The Village and Signs combined their twists with deep rooted social commentary on religion, child abuse and the colour yellow. The Sixth Sense plays like a psychological horror written by a six year old child with an unmedicated case of ADD, with no greater narrative flow than a twist that is immediately obvious before the film even begins.

I genuinely think Shyamalan is one of the most misunderstood directors of our time. After a rough start, his films have been a triumph of subtlety, inspired scripts and directorial flair. He constantly reinvents himself, and his later films have smacked me with a baseball bat to the testicles with twists even the most intelligent film fans couldn't have seen coming. Like who'd have guessed the village was actually (don't read spoiler if you don't the most SHOCKING twist in cinema history spoiled on you)

part of the real world

? My testicles still haven't re-descended after that one.

With themes as complex as religious morality and the inherent difficulties of airbending, Shyamalanalanalanalan has proven himself a versatile, intelligent director as years have gone by. He's the great Hollywood director of our time, up there with Zack Snyder and Brett Ratner. Cinema is a more exciting, unpredictable place whenever Night falls.

good april fool;)

johnny_ultimate

Raekwon wrote: »

It took me all of 20 seconds to twig this April Fool's gag but the powers that be didn't want me to ruin their fun so they deleted my post

Yes, we might have deleted a post or two to cover our (pretty obvious) tracks, but all in good fun!

Although I'm worried I almost convinced myself there is some sort of deep social commentary in The Happening when I tried to come up with ludicrous reasons in favour of it :eek:

Handsome Bob

Too obvious lads.

mikemac

Favourite film: The Happening. Yeah, I'm deadly serious.
Worst film: The Sixth Sense.

First I was :eek::eek::eek:
But then I remembered the date, phew

We don't need to commit you yet OP

pixelburp

Sad Professor wrote: »

I don't like it either, but it's a fairly common (if overused) film device. I can think of dozens of films that are also guilty of it. The senses of a film character are nearly always greatly reduced compared to that of a person in real life. One annoying example of this is in The Two Towers when Aragorn hears horses coming, jumps out of the way, and almost immediately Eomer and his riders enter the frame.

I'll see your characters with cinematic POV, and raise you helicopters. The stealth helicopter that will just burst into an otherwise quiet scene, where common sense dictates we would have seen it approach; hell we should have heard the damn thing appear. So many movies do this it's uncanny. Lethal Weapon was on late last night & sure enough, during a quiet scene of dialogue ... boom! ... a helicopter suddenly & noisily appears outside a window! Airwolf has nothing on these choppers

indough

how has 'Lady in the Water' not been mentioned? what a piece of art that was.

johnny_ultimate

indough wrote: »

how has 'Lady in the Water' not been mentioned? what a piece of fart that was.

FYP.

I haven't actually seen it.

norrie rugger

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I haven't actually seen it.

Don't

Dman001

I was gonna run out and watch The Happening because of all the praise on this thread, because I have never seen it before..................but then I realised that this thread was made yesterday.

indough

you should watch it if for nothing else then to truly appreciate the irony of the films title. the fella definitely has a sense of humour

crazygeryy

Basq wrote: »

Shyamalananadingdong is an absolutely superb director and an even finer writer.

'The Happening' is without doubt the Citizen Kane of our time.

Shyamalanadoodle can take something as complex as the human condition.. he'll wrap up in mounds of well-thought out structured symbolism and deliver it like so:



Bravo sir.. bravo!

are you for real?this thread is a "taking the mickey thread" is it?the man has the potential to be brillant but hes just not getting it right.signs and the 6th sense are good.but other than that hes god awful.

thebullkf

crazygeryy wrote: »

are you for real?this thread is a "taking the mickey thread" is it?the man has the potential to be brillant but hes just not getting it right.signs and the 6th sense are good.but other than that hes god awful.

bravo to you sir, for reading the entire thread...... i can't believe this is 'happening'

Battleflag

Unbreakable was a fantastic movie, not too keen on the rest.

Apolloyon

I'll admit that I was totally taken in by this thread when I read it on Saturday . A day late and all that!

But Battleflag is right. His one good movie is Unbreakable. Even if the rest of his career is tripe. This will still be a classic.

I think Night's problem is that he is really a writer who thinks he should be a director. And as for 'The Happening'. That's 91 minutes of my life I want back again!

ziedth

I'm going to watch the happening tonight purely from this thread

pixelburp

I've not actually seen any of his movies since "Signs". I could see the signs (oh-ho!) he was running out of ideas and talent, and from all that I've read since, it was a wise call.

norrie rugger

Signs was bloody terrible.

Alien 1: hmmmm we are severly reactive to water, it burns us.
Alien 2: We are running out of slaves!!!
Alien 1: Let's go invade that planet there and take a few million new slaves.
Alien 2: That planet there with water covering 66% of the planet? With water falling from the sky, and the atmosphere full of water? With billions of people made up mainly of water, who can shed water through their eyes, mouth and urinary systems and have water constantly coming out of their skin, so that it will burn us to touch them????
Alien 1: Yeah that's the one.
Alien 2: Sounds like a plan

SVG

Apolloyon wrote: »

I think Night's problem is that he is really a writer who thinks he should be a director. And as for 'The Happening'. That's 91 minutes of my life I want back again!

I think the opposite. I watched The Village a while back- gorgeous looking film, atmospheric, great cast- and I thought his writing was what really dragged it down; not just the twist but the dialogue also.

crazygeryy

thebullkf wrote: »

bravo to you sir, for reading the entire thread...... i can't believe this is 'happening'

oh dear i should have asked this guy :rolleyes:

Mr Freeze

Basq wrote: »

'The Happening' is without doubt the Citizen Kane of our time.

I dunno if this is sarcasm or not, but I must watch it now and see for myself.

EDIT: Note to self, read whole thread, not 3 posts in before replying. April fools indeed. I shant be watching it now.

johnny_ultimate

ziedth wrote: »

I'm going to watch the happening tonight purely from this thread

Holy **** what have I started :eek:

If for some reason the Happening is now critically re-examined as a parable about the dangers of nuclear power and the awesome power of nature, I'm quitting the internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1PK4qYzNkI