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A Convenient User's Guide to Who's Misunderstanding M. Night Shyamalan Today
Posted by Defamer Hollywood at 3:30 AM on June 6, 2008
Lest you thought that literally everyone with access to a modem was piling on the ever-accelerating M. Night Shyamalan/Happening Backlash-Wagon, we have found one defender of the faith — one deeply committed Shyamaphile whose allegiance to the beleaguered filmmaker manifests itself today in a pro-Manoj screed so penetrating it could cut glass. Or maybe lick the glass. But don't take our word for it; after the jump, Brad Brevet has what may be the final word on the myriad misunderstandings trailing The Happening to its June 13 release.
THE CRITICS DON'T GET HIM: [I]f my last film was Lady in the Water and it was unfairly judged before it was even screened for critics I would be a little pissed. If it then received a 29% [Rotten Tomatoes] rating and several of the reviews included the words on par with "ego" and "pretentious" I would be even more upset. This would tell me that the people reviewing the film didn't even give the film a chance. ... Just because it is an M. Night film doesn't mean he is trying to scare you James from Sci-Fi Movie Page!
THE FANBOYS DON'T GET HIM: [T]he "lackluster work" part is a matter of opinion so I will let them have that. However, hating how the film is presented as the next "big movie" is not his fault. He doesn't handle marketing, you critiquing the studio in this case, not the movie or the director. When this person then says we know to "expect a slow pace, lots of emotionalism, experimental camera angles, possibly a cameo of Shyamalan himself, and a twist ending" I am trying to figure out where the problem is. Then to say there is nothing "ground-breaking" tells me that this person is expecting Shyamalan to be the second coming, something he then goes on to say he most certainly isn't. Well, guess what, he is just a guy making movies.
HELL, NOBODY GETS HIM: The final argument against Night is that he is egotistical. ... Let's say Night thinks he is the greatest director of all-time. First off, what does that hurt? How does it hurt his films? A commenter at IMDb believes Lady in the Water is to be taken literally and believes Night is trying to say "he's the WRITER THAT WILL SAVE THE WORLD!!!" Then again, by that logic Clint Eastwood believes he is a Wild West gunslinger as well as a bad arse San Francisco cop. To that I must ask Clint to make a decision, you can't have both.
From this brain we're promised a whole week of reintroductions to "all five of Night's previous films," starting Sunday with The Sixth Sense — which, of course, was actually the director's third film after 1992's Praying With Anger and 1998's Wide Awake. Leave it to a true fan to prove his idol's forgettability.
[Photo credit: Rope of Silicon]
- M. Night Shyamalan is Public Enemy #1 Because... [Rope Of Silicon]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Sleepyhead
Posted 4:29 AM 6/6/08
His hair was the best part of Lady In The Water. Slightly better than the cereal-boxes-as-mystical-oracular-devices motif that we all loved so much.
Sleepyhead
CourageousCoward
Posted 4:26 AM 6/6/08
@dango: That's 'cause Western PA is the heartland of zombies.
CourageousCoward
dango
Posted 4:23 AM 6/6/08
Western Pennsylvania is the heartland of zombie films.
dango
kookla
Posted 4:18 AM 6/6/08
The last movie I saw in a theater was "The Village" surrounded by what can only be described as village idiots consisting of snickering teenagers, urbanites with pimped out ringtones, and old people that had to be explained the plot.
kookla
Juancho
Posted 4:06 AM 6/6/08
@JudgeFudge: Um, Bucks County is on the other side of the state.
Juancho
JudgeFudge
Posted 4:03 AM 6/6/08
Right now the majority of Manoj's fan base are disafected suburban teenagers who, after dropping similar "outsider" idols like Marilyn Mansun and that girl from Evanescence, have showed up in spades to his films copping his signature slightly mussled hair and L. Bean t-shirt and chino look. Some of his more devoted fans have even made pilgramidges to the heartland of misunderstood auterism, the foothills of Western Pennsylvania.
JudgeFudge
A Pimp Named DaveR
Posted 3:57 AM 6/6/08
Remember, kids -- there is no failure, there is only "you just don't understand my art...."
A Pimp Named DaveR
A Pimp Named DaveR
Posted 5:31 AM 6/6/08
Hey -- at least he tries. I give him credit for that. He could just as easily turned the success of Sixth Sense into a string of movies ripped off from obscure '50s horror flicks and cashed in without expending a lick of creativity.
All M. really needs is someone to tell him which parts of his scripts are crap BEFORE the film is made and released. He's a creative guy who fails in the execution of his otherwise good ideas. I think there's hope for him yet.
A Pimp Named DaveR
KNau
Posted 6:07 AM 6/6/08
Hmmm...."Manoj - you know that part of script between page 1 and page 140? Can we cut that?"
Is the Hollywood talent pool really so shallow that you can work for the rest of your life based on the good will from one hit movie? Please forward this question to Tarantino and Rodriguez for their input.
KNau
Splendid
Posted 8:39 AM 6/6/08
@A Pimp Named DaveR: I'm with you. His movies can pretty objectively be described as ponderous and pretentious, but he's trying to do his own thing. Are there other directors who can be described that way who should be more famous than him? I'm sure there probably are. But there's also Uwe Boll, and then there's a hundred ego-maniacal jackasses who care more about what girls they'll see at the club that night than what's happening on set right in front of them (cough cough *Ratner*).
So there you are. Now I'm content with just looking at the background of M. Night's films because he shoots around where I grew up and I'm stuck out here in LA. I ignore the horror and just get homesick for green places.
Splendid
A Pimp Named DaveR
Posted 1:02 AM 7/6/08
@Splendid: Are you from Bucks too? I grew up in Holland, a.k.a. "That South Part of Northampton Twsp".
A Pimp Named DaveR
clarknhilldale
Posted 4:28 AM 7/6/08
It's not his direction, which can be very entertaining. The fact that the party scene in Lady in the Water was beautifully put together meant nothing as the story was a big, dumb, self-pitying, unintentionally hilarious pile-o-shit. Who's the REAL scrunt, Shammy?
clarknhilldale
regisgoat
Posted 2:23 AM 8/6/08
Maybe he has a script this time. Experience says, nope. Hey, it's R-rated. Kids, r-rated horror! The scary kind, really! They don't let underage people in! Scarrrry!
I was so disappointed when Lady in the Water turned out not to have Philip Marlowe in it.
regisgoat
FentonLeopard
Posted 11:52 PM 6/6/08
I enjoyed "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable", "Signs", "The Village", and thought "Lady in the Water" was pleasant to watch, even if very confusing. The main reason I like his movies is because they're not typical Hollywood garbage, either remakes or special-effects with no plot/story. The characters in Shyamalan's movies seem to have more substance than most movie characters these days -- Jackson's LOTR and the Potter movies' characters were pretty enjoyable for me too. No other movies really stand out for me recently as far as characters go. I really appreciate that Shyamalan writes his own scripts since he gives us characters that aren't as shallow as most. I really like his background scenes: They're believable instead of pretentious and strained, and often very peaceful and soothing too (well, until he scares or freaks us LOL). But, I also think many of his scenes rely too much on overly-loud music to hype tension; a lot of directors are guilty of that though. If Shyamalan's future movies are like his earlier movies -- not as confusing as "Lady in the Water" -- then he'll continue to be a sure watch for me. Sherri
FentonLeopard