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Movie Forums :: Reviews :: "Signs" - Shyamalan's Latest, and Greatest |
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Posted on 8/04/02
"Signs" - Shyamalan's Latest, and Greatest
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A war is being waged both in and out of Hollywood. The war is amongst those relying on explosions, visual effects, and more bullets than you or I could ever count, and those relying on facial expressions, strange noises, and finely-crafted dialogue. Films like Reign of Fire stand on one end, and films like Road to Perdition stand on the other.
On which side of the spectrum does M. Night Shyamalan's latest offering, Signs, stand? After all, it's horribly suspenseful, but nevertheless, it does have a supernatural tilt to it. The answer is clear, however: Signs is in a category of its own.
What makes Signs (and Shyamalan's other recent films, for that matter) so revolutionary is that, rather than try to excel in any one genre, it decides to excel in virtually all of them. Or, put another way: it creates a new, broader genre with its very existence. There are lines in Signs that will have some moviegoers laughing harder than anything in There's Something About Mary. There are moments that'll likely have you on the verge of tears. There are times throughout the film where the fear will rise in your throat until part of you wishes it could turn away.
So, what do we call this new genre, that visits so many genres, but lives with none? We call it "Expert Storytelling." That's what Shyamalan is: an expert storyteller. In Signs, he has created a film which does not lean on its supernatural intrigue. Like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, Signs does a wonderful job of taking things just barely beyond reality, and making them plausible. The result this time around is a film that your local zit-infested video store clerk shouldn't feel at all comfortable placing in the "Science Fiction" section.
Shyamalan, unlike many of his peers, likes to exploit the art form of filmmaking in every way possible. A book can describe events. A painting can show you an image. A tune can induce emotion. A movie, however, can do all of these at once. Shyamalan knows this, and as such, he makes great use of sound, music, and camera angles throughout his on-screen stories. Signs' remarkable score comes courtesy of James Newton Howard, who composed the scores for Night's last two flicks, as well as dozens of others over the years. The music is tense and chilling, and is used the way music ought to be used in film.
The camera-work here is breathtaking. Every other scene, it seems, offers up a cleverly placed shot. Night's framing of his characters in just the right position turns tedium into tension. In Night's hands, what could be just another glance at our protagonist, or his actions, becomes a chilling, cringe inducing first-person perspective shot. The shots are tight and the sounds are loud and forceful at all the right times. Don't be surprised if, as a result, you find yourself sweating profusely as the characters on-screen engage in relatively tame behavior that just happens to be surrounded by tense circumstances, both technically, and emotionally.
The acting is superb. The cast is relatively small, but well assembled. Mel Gibson has never been so easy to connect with...nor as believable as he is as Graham Hess, an ex-Preacher who's lost his Faith in things as a result of an accident involving a family member six months before the story takes place. Joaquin Phoenix is funny and sincere as the sometimes outrageous, but always loyal Merrill Hess (Graham's brother).
The two children in the film (played by Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin) are endearing and as realistic as you could wish for them to be. The elder of the two (Morgan Hess, played by Culkin) is intelligent and interesting and, thankfully, is completely missing the vibe many of today's intelligent movie children have: the "this child's dialogue was obviously written by an adult" vibe that dominates so many young characters in today's movies. Morgan's younger sister (Bo Hess, played by Breslin) is cute in the most realistic ways.
Every detail you could ask for is covered here. The way Bo clumsily slides a bowl of water towards a dog. The slightly warped view through the old country house windows. The small flower-shaped stickers on Bo's ballet recital tape. Night wraps us in this family's life, covering every little detail. Whereas most films about these sorts of things depict a small group of people spreading the word, and the ever-growing reaction to what happens, this film stays almost solely on the Hess family throughout. Questions are left unanswered, and the way the rest of the world reacts is left largely to our imagination. Why?
Simple: because this movie is about a man and his family. It's not about crop circles. It's not about the potential for alien invasion. These plot elements and possibilities are inconsequential to the film's narrative, which is it strongest point.
Hats off to Shyamalan. Signs is the best 2002 film thus far. This is his best film to date, and one of the most amazing, stunning, terrifying, and inspiring films in years.
The Bottom Line: Field of Dreams meets The War of the Worlds
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