What happened to M. Night Shamalayan? Last night we watched "Signs", my favorite of his movies, and we own "Sixth Sense", "The Village", "Unbreakable" and "Lady in the Water" (my husband's favorite). But then catastrophe hit. He made the horrible one my daughter and I saw where everyone is committing suicide because of the trees revenge, then kiddie movies, then a vanity project with Will Smith and his son, which was universally bombed. I have a theory that he ran out of ideas. He should have stepped back from the screenplay and concentrated on directing alone. It's sad. Maybe too much fame too fast. All the films depend heavily on the one idea, and perhaps that is dangerous. For me every one of them seems thin except "Sixth Sense" and "Signs", is redeemed by large doses of humor, the incredible acting of Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Cherry Jones, and tiny Abigail Breslin.
Every time I think of Phoenix, Rory Calkin and Abigail Breslin in their aluminum foil hats so the aliens can't read their minds I laugh. Yet, the film is also about grief and forgiveness and faith. It's beautiful. It almost makes the viewer believe that everything has a purpose. Gibson is now in shadow, and Phoenix has struggled with demons, but Breslin is in her ascendance. What an array of talent in one movie!
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