Last night I was flipping through channels and saw that Signs was on, and despite the recent Mel Gibson madness in the news (holy crap, Mel), I was pretty darned excited to turn that movie on. Then I realized it was on Telemundo, and since I don't know Spanish, my heart fell. Sigh. I still watched a few minutes, because hey, people speaking familiar dialogue in a language I don't understand is funny (but why?). But then I turned it off, with the double sadness of Spanish Signs and English Lady in the Water hanging over me.
So here's the thing about me and M. Night -- I love that guy. This is like, a major intellectual crush, and I would probably go so far as to say that, in certain silly ways, he's my favorite screenwriter out there right now. Why, you may ask? Well, because he knows how to tell a good, fanciful story. And because he knows how to integrate faith themes without it disrupting the story and without it having to be a movie "about" faith. And, because his are some of the only scary-ish movies I can watch without wanting to pee my pants for days afterward. And just because I do, so shut up everyone. He is great, in my opinion. And that's what's so disappointing about Lady in the Water -- with another two revisions, it could have been great too.
Too bad it's not. I'm not going to review it here. But the whole experience of seeing it left me with just enough of that good M. Night Shyamalan taste in my mouth to want more
, knowing full well I wasn't going to get what I want. So it's another long wait until his next movie comes out.
And I'd just like to say for the record, everyone please get over The Sixth Sense. Yes, it was good. Yes, we were all so surprised at the end. No, none of us felt that the "twist" at the end of The Village was as good as the twist at the end of Sixth Sense, but that's because there was no big twist. We all knew something was up from the beginning, the encounter with the modern world was just the answer to the question, "What's up with these people" -- NOT a twist.
Thank you.
This is all the more reason I was so rooting for Lady in the Water. But I'm with the critics on this one. Nevertheless, if I could write something that conveyed spiritual angst the way Signs did -- not perfectly, but well, and in the midst of a good story -- I'd be a pretty happy girl.
That's all. Thanks for listening.
