What’s ‘Happening’
After seeing The Happening, I’m convinced that Manoj Shyamalan is the George Lucas of horror.
Hear me out on this.
There are some things Shyamalan/Lucas do quite well: Concept. Carefully-framed visuals. Shyamalan builds his filmi lasagnas with layers upon layers of symbolism: the compressed start and end times of 9/11, references to ’50s English poetry. The old coot from Psycho bashes her head through windowpanes like a human version of Hitchcock’s The Birds. A man offers his arms to the lions at a zoo like the kids mauled in San Francisco.
Shyamalan takes the idea that what’s unseen is frightening to its logical conclusion: the monster in The Happening is literally invisible. Seeing the suicide-inducing effects without their cause is far more chilling. There’s no cheesy, ominous gray mist for Shyamalan. Would Spiderman ever have been released without visual safety bumpers for the kiddies? Not only does he get avant garde cred, he saves a fortune on CGI. Neat.
Then there are things that Shyamalan/Lucas do badly: Dialogue. Logic. Casting. Shyamalan seems to have listened to the criticism of Lady in the Water. There’s no pompous director cameo here, no forced twist, but clunky lines are still in force. A braindead-obvious exhortation on a billboard is particularly bad.
A character who realizes the enemy has gone airborne stares dully at a rip in a tarp, when any logical being would have lunged at it with a roll of silver shiny. And Shyamalan/Lucas are wedded to the delusion that Mark Wahlberg/Hayden Christensen are decent actors. (Wahlberg’s fake beta male whining was particularly irritating here.)
Shyamalan and Lucas (and Sanjay Leela Bhansali) are highly talented in their own narrow ways. But because they’ve had early successes, they haven’t been forced to pair up with people who could fill in their glaring weaknesses. And most of the reviews haven’t given Shyamalan full due for what he does do well. Like Lady in the Water, The Happening has a lot more going on up there than most mainstream flicks.
So why is it hate-on-Manoj month at the reviewers’ table? Partly it’s that he’s so pompous. His Disney diss and his inflated self-perception make him a juicy target. Partly it’s that reviewers into good dialogue and logical plots are so turned off, they don’t give him credit. (I haven’t yet seen Signs or The Village.)
One reviewer said Shyamalan holds the distinction of having made five movies in a row where each was worse than its predecessor. But The Happening opened strongly, pulling in $30M in its opening weekend. That’s not a downward arc, that’s a bounce. Now if only someone would get it through his stubborn, talented skull that good writing matters. M. Night’s strengths and weaknesses have remained virtually unchanged since his beautiful, dull Praying With Anger, a.k.a. My Indian Summer Vacation, all those years ago.
on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008, 6:01 pm in Film, M. Night Shyamalan › 
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I sort of liked M. Night’s movies up until Signs. Okay, I really liked them, but, I am a sucker for atmosphere and always have been. I like mood pieces on film. I thought Unbreakable was better than the reviews, which were still relatively strong.
I haven’t seen anything after Signs though. I’m afraid to - I don’t wanna ruin the spell of the earlier ones.
filmi
lasagnasparathas(?):-)
I like the visual.
I saw a couple of Shyamalan’s movies..I personally dont like scary movies and dont see them at all ..But because Shyamalan makes them, I watch only his scary movies. He is a original unique movie maker, his stories are unique, direction is unique, he carved a niche for himself…I just love the themes he comes up with in each movie, very creative unique ideas…I feel that hollywood didnot give him his due..his filmcraft would be recognised may be years from now..his biggest asset is the themes on which he chooses to make movies…
Iam not going to watch his new movie because I get scared of scary movies but I love the story..people becoming suicidal inhaling gas or something supernatural happening…that is a pretty cool idea..
What person that makes movies isnt pompous? If you think you need 200 million dollars to make a movie then there is something in your brain that says, “The way I make believe is worth every penny and maybe more.”
I agree with everything you said. I havent seen this movie yet, but just by watching the unrated trailers to it I can tell the horror scenes in this movie are like nothing that has been seen before. If his whole writing career fizzles then I think he is an excellect director and should maybe just stick with that.
Another parallel drawn between Shyamalan and Lucas: http://www.metrobostonnews.com/us/article/2008/06/13/05/0959-66/index.xml
I remember reading this in the newspaper a couple of weeks back and don’t know why this line in last para had me thinking, “What would Manish/Jai(Jabberwock) make of this: Shyamalan is a more gifted director than Lucas ever was, but he needs his own Kasdan. ?”
Wise.
I should’ve stopped at sixth sense.
I’ve seen The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village and then this thing. All I know is I had two thoughts at the end:
I am suddenly reminded why I like masala films.
and
The Happening would have made a really nice short film. Like 30 minutes short.
There was a lot of repetitious nothing going on and the love story was s h a l l o w.
I cosign on Night and Bhansali as a fabulous directors (The Village looked amazing!) but these boys need to admit that their writing skills are mediocre. There aren’t enough carefully framed fluid crane shots that can make that ok…
I’d grant him up to Unbreakable.
And I’ll concede he’s something like Lucas- all about visuals and nothing about good narrative. He’s a diluted-for-the-masses Tarsem Singh.
Nice catch, Abhishek. Good to know this is derivative of a throwaway train paper :)