So...on a rather chilly new years day after a rather heavy new years eve we decided to watch a film, the only stipulation being that it was a film that we had never watched before.
and after watching "The Village" - I am actually impressed, whether this is because it is a genuinely good film or whether my expectations of it were so low before we started is by-the-by.
Yes, it is full of M Night Shyamalan's predictable trademarks; the use of bold colours (think the use of the colour red in "6th Sense") the twist ending - which I will come back to later - and his tendency when filming scenes of dialogue to just film one party to the conversation.
The film starts with a rather long-winded visual sequence where the audience is treated to artsy shots of trees (obviously to symbolise the woods and the underlying theme of the piece) alternated with the names of the cast and backed by some tribal-esque music, which at the time I thought was a little bizarre but actually, having seen the film and knowing its conclusion - tribal music was quite fitting.
The film itself is set in Ye Olde Philadelphia and focuses on a quaint village, surrounded by woodland which, if the elders will have you believe, is home to some unspeakable creatures which will not come into the village as long as none of the inhabitants of the village enters the woods. As the film progresses it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems, first we learn that the creatures actually do not exist and were created by the Elders of the village to cause fear and to encourage all of the villages inhabitants to stay in the confines of the village.
If that is not already enough, we then learn that actually, the village itself was created some time in the 1970's by Edward Walker (one of the elders) and a group of people that he met in a grief counselling group after the death of his father. The village is supposed to be an "ideal" place and in a way, it is a way for them all to start a fresh after their various bereavements.
Bryce Dallas Howard is superb as blind Ivy Walker, who has been raised in the village and knows nothing of the outside world. Joaquin Phoenix is suitably brooding as almost-mute Lucius Hunt and Adrien Brody plays the art of Noah Percy with a sensitivity that makes you feel for him even though he is responsible for stabbing Lucius and almost attacking ivy.
The film is in no way perfect but is an interesting look into the "cult culture" and the effects that can be gained by planting the seed of fear.
If you have not already seen it, I would definitely recommend it as it is totally not what I expected it to be.
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