Art is the ability to convey that we are not alone. When I sit down next to you in a movie theater, we get to share each other’s point of view. We become part of a collective soul. That’s the magic in the movies.
M. Night Shyamalan
Genius and gimmick. Fortune and flop. Harrowing and hokey.
The duality of M. Night Shyamalan’s craft and career is undeniable. Once lauded as the second coming of Spielberg, the filmmaker’s trajectory has taken him from inconceivable success to painful obscurity and back again. With The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, Hollywood seemed to enter a new era at the turn of the century, Shyamalan proudly nestled at its helm. As the decade progressed, however, doubt emerged in the form of The Village from 2004. The director’s trademark revelations became the punchline of nearly every tired critique of the suspense genre. This decline cascaded into the bulk of his filmography, culminating in 2010’s The Last Airbender. Shyamalan’s apparent incompetence seemed so deep even a post-apocalyptic Will Smith only further festered his wound. With the exception of a brief stint in television, his curse appeared conclusive.
Yet, with a shoestring budget and a tale of two suspicious seniors,
he somehow rebounded. The success of The
Visit in 2015 allowed him to return to his roots in his next film, Split. Now, with nearly three years of
development, Shyamalan will bring one of his earliest concepts full circle in
the form of Glass releasing later
this month. The film is expected to, in many ways, solidify a return to form
for the filmmaker. Success or failure could inevitably follow, but neither are
strangers to him at this juncture. For Shyamalan, resurrection goes further
than a narrative device. Instead, it is a process synonymous with his life’s
endeavor.
This month, The
Cinematropolis examines the heights and depths of Shyamalan’s work, dissecting
many of his most notable, infamous and lesser-known experiments along the way.
We recommend you adorn a tin foil hat and be weary of any whispering Haley Joel
Osments you may encounter; there’s bound to be a twist.
Related Films
Supplemental Viewing
TIME moderates audience questions in the wake of Shyamalan’s disastrous blockbuster, The Last Airbender
Shyamalan discusses the proximity of success and failure with The Verge
Shyamalan parodied on Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken
