Signs of a genius in direction ?. Review on Signs Movie

M.Night Syamalan is one of my favorite Hollywood directors. Plus, Mel, the greatest is the lead actor in this movie. I had this movie “Signs” on my must see list for more than a year. I was in Bucks County, PA last year, on training – We planned to drive to the place where the shooting was going on with a faint hope that we would get to see Mel Gibson in person. Well, it was not meant to be :-(.

The Movie

The movies is set with “Crop Circles” in the backdrop which appeared all over the world in the 1970s. The mystery died down in the 1990s when it was proved to be a hoax.

The Cast, Credits

Father Graham Hess: Mel Gibson

Merrill Hess: Joaquin Phoenix

Morgan Hess: Rory Culkin

Bo Hess: Abigail Breslin

Officer Caroline Paski: Cherry Jones

Colleen Hess: Patricia Kalember

Ray Reddy: M.Night Syamalan

Written & Directed By: M.Night Syamalan

Cinematography: Tak Fujimoto

The Plot

Mel plays the Father Graham Hess who has lost faith after the tragic death of his wife. The movie begins with Father Hess discovering the appearance of strange crop circles in his cornfields. He and Merrill investigate, in the meantime, find that it is not a solitary work. These have appeared all over the world. The story builds up from here. Why does the dog bark ? What is that superhuman they saw at night ? The family goes into town and splits up to find different explanations – nothing is convincing. One of Merrill’s explanations is “30-year-old nerds who never had a girlfriend in their lives do it. Nerds were doing it 25 years ago. Nerds are doing it now.” Bo’s question is funny enough – she is not worried about aliens, but why nerds don’t have girl friends :-). Officer Paski’s explanations are plausible enough – “the work of an out-of-town woman mad for not getting her brand of cigarettes”. Well, the suspense continues to build up. Well, the good guys win at the end.

Direction:

Director is superb – couple it with good acting support, he is successful in creating a good movie even without a decent script. There is no much of a story in it – some weird patterns in corn fields, a personal tragedy, the crisis of faith, the unknown enemy/aliens. This is not an out-and-out science fiction of the “War of the Worlds”, “Independence Day” or “Martians have landed”. The director seems to be confused about this part – whether to make a science fiction movie or a renaissance of faith movie. But all in all, he is superb – the use/absence of background score/noises. He will have you listening intensely through silence.

The cinematography by Tak Fujimoto is appreciable with the play of light and shadows to build suspense. When the flash-lights go off in the corn field, or when the light goes off in the house, you are at the edge of the seat with expectation.

Highlights:

There are no “Independence Day”-isque special effects. The use of commonplace objects to move the story ahead is interesting to watch – a baby monitor that detects the presence of aliens, a shiny kitchen knife as mirror, Morgan’s idea of aluminium foil caps so that aliens can’t read their minds, Bo’s practice of leaving glasses with water everywhere (the way she says “they taste funny” is a treat to watch) - the climax too has its own share of such gadgetry (in “Martians have landed” – it was music that scared away the aliens, here it is something more commonplace).

The scene where Hess is trying to help Morgan manage his breathing while someone is pounding at his door is worth watching.

Verdict

Watch it without expecting the usual Syamalan twist to the story ending. He builds up the climax throughout the movie like a stretched rubberband and releases it without much care - result is a disappointing end, as if he was in a rush to catch the next Hollywood express.