The Village

[thunderw21]

What are your opinions of "The Village"?

I like it. I like the atmosphere, the innocent love and the thoughfullness of it, much like that of "The Thin Red Line" (another one I like). It's not loud or crazy, it's quiet and a bit dark.

Edit: the soundtrack is very good as well.

Your thoughts?

 

[Badluck Brody]

I liked it!

I liked it!

However after seeing the pictures and such from the elder's past, it kind tipped their hat to the twist.

We had an invite only gathering a few weeks past, and with the torches, the fire and lanterns, I couldn't help by think about the night shots with the young folks standing guard.

Well worth the rental or the purchase if you ask me!

 

[Lady Day]

I think the story would have been better (and the scare factor more effective) if they moved that scene where Ivy goes to the shed and 'sees' the creature to the end of the movie and put it right after where she is being chased by/ and defeats the creature.

LD

 

[Edward]

Not a bad little film. The problem I had with it was that when I saw it, I knew who the director was and knew there would be a twist (that's become something of an overused gimmick in his films, IMO), so I pretty much had it figured out before the end, rather than sitting back and just enjoying it as a film. Still, I think it was very entertaining nonetheless.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Highlight below to read:


One thing that I think they had missing in their town was the church - the meeting hall obviously took the place of that, but any community in the time period they were aiming for would have had a church at the centre of village life. Of course, to someone brought up there within that mythology, that wouldn't be a giveaway, but to the viewer it's something missing.

I did enjoy it, though.

 

[RetroModelSari]

I liked it a lot and so did my sweetheart. I had heard reviews that it would be too boring and stuff beforehand, but wanted to check it out anyway. I didn´t find it the least boring! It´s true it´s a quiet movie and it´s a lot more on how the community live and how they are restricted than about the "monsters from the forrest" but I liked that.

 

[Antje]

I liked the movie,

but I tought it was a scary movie so when
I saw it I was a little dissapointed that it wasn't more
scary,

What I really liked was of course the old look and the romance
of course

 

[Lady Day]

One thing that I think they had missing in their town was the church - the meeting hall obviously took the place of that, but any community in the time period they were aiming for would have had a church at the centre of village life. Of course, to someone brought up there within that mythology, that wouldn't be a giveaway, but to the viewer it's something missing.

I did enjoy it, though.

They also didnt eat meat. So there were quite a few liberties that the professor took in creating that settlement.

S

 

[thunderw21]

They also didnt eat meat. So there were quite a few liberties that the professor took in creating that settlement.

S

Yes, I think the modern twist on the 19th century utopian community did away with some things like (from what we could see) the church and the eating of meat (though you notice they have animals and made a meat 'sacrafice' to the Others). Did anyone notice anything else that seemed to be missing from a 19th century American village that could be blamed on this modern interpretation?

 

[Feraud]

Possible SPOILER!

I liked this film least of all M. Night's work.
It started out as an interesting take on Little Red Riding Hood but lost steam and story. The twist (he needs to get beyond the gimmick) was a let down in light of the society that sprung up from this social experiement.


Lady in the Water was a surprising very good fable film from M. Night.

 

[Steve]

I love the soundtrack most of all, but I also love the thoughtful and personal way that Shyamalan (one of my favorite directors,) crafted it.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'm not the world's biggest fan of Night's films, but I like this one quite a bit.

My only internal-plot complaint is that their sending the blind girl off to the towns on the rescue mission (even if she is clearly smarter and tougher than all the other young folk) is just too darn idiotic for me to accept...

 

[carebear]

Yes, I think the modern twist on the 19th century utopian community did away with some things like (from what we could see) the church and the eating of meat (though you notice they have animals and made a meat 'sacrafice' to the Others). Did anyone notice anything else that seemed to be missing from a 19th century American village that could be blamed on this modern interpretation?

Didn't see it, M. Night bugs the heck out of me.

Did they have weapons? A period village would have had muskets and swords.

As far as "monsters in the forest" go. Any boy of middling years I'm familiar with would have made it his business to actually see a monster. Nobody is that passive.

 

[Lady Day]

Didn't see it, M. Night bugs the heck out of me.

Did they have weapons? A period village would have had muskets and swords.

As far as "monsters in the forest" go. Any boy of middling years I'm familiar with would have made it his business to actually see a monster. Nobody is that passive.

**spoiler**
The reason the village was created was because the elders had horrible things happen in their real lives (they met in a grief crisis center of sorts) so they wanted to create a simpler life here with their new families.


Dr. Strange, you hit a nail on the head for me with your comment. The two characters that were the only real catalysts in the film were blind and mentally challenged. Without their ailments, there is no story, or secret, or what have you. I thought that was scape goat writing.

LD

 

[BeBopBaby]

M. Knight's past 2 movies have been disappointing to me for some reason. He seems to have fallen into that "the movies have to have a twist" trap and I think his writing has started to suffer because of it.

**SPOILER ALERT***
The Village was ruined for me because my husband guessed the twist while we were driving to the theater to see it. He said wouldn't it be funny if the twist was that they were in modern times. I had that in the back of my head the whole time I watched the movie. Besides guessing the twist, I just don't think the writing was as good.

Now Signs on the other hand, scared me and I really liked the movie! We saw it at a drive-in in the middle of the woods, so the location was creepy too.

 

[eightbore]

No offense to those who liked it, but...

Even having never walked out of a movie.....this one VERY nearly caused me to do so. I found all performances absolutely painful to watch. Granted, the universality of this may imply that it was a result not of the acting itself but perhaps of a rather awkward script or directionless editing. Frankly, the sub-terranean authoritarian themes were so immediately obvious that all characters became unsympathetic to me....either because of their position as part of the manipulative village elite or because of their role as obedient sheep. I would guess (hope) that Sigourney Weaver is embarassed by her affiliation with the film.

 

[eightbore]

My only internal-plot complaint is that their sending the blind girl off to the towns on the rescue mission (even if she is clearly smarter and tougher than all the other young folk) is just too darn idiotic for me to accept...

...but it makes sense as her experience with the outside world will be less polluting to the group upon her return as she will only be able to relay sounds and smells etc. If one wants to be really malthusian about it, one could also argue that the blind girl represents a costly element to the society and therefore becomes more expendable than someone who generates more output for the village. Again, in either case, it is the group sacrificing the weak in order to maintain an illusion and control. The fact that no one in the society really questioned any of this idiocy makes me totally despise them. Nuke the village at the beginning and roll the credits!

eightbore

 

[HamletJSD]

The main problem, to me, relates back to what Edward was saying. The writer was very, very predictable.

I can't help trying to figure it out as the movie progresses. I think most of us try. And this one was too easy to predict.

 

[Lady Day]

He said wouldn't it be funny if the twist was that they were in modern times.

I thought that once I saw the headstone in the first shot. My brain was all "What time period IS it?"

Signs is his best film. Unbreakable would be great too if it wernt for that stupid disclaimer at the begining of the film :eusa_doh:

LD

 

[A Wise Monkey]

Is it true that the girl The Village and LITW is Ron Howard's (Opie/Richie) daughter?

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yes. She's an okay actress, but her personal connections can't have hurt her career! (As is often true in Hollywood, "The son-in-law also rises.")