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Counterpoint: The Sixth Sense
By: Frank Russell
The Good:
Folks, I saw a great movie today and it was called The Sixth Sense. From beginning to ending this was a movie that is well worth seeing and I went into this movie with high expectations. Oscar nominations were well deserved. It has something for everyone.The plot is not overly complex but certainly interesting. A young boy sees dead people. Sounds creepy and it is, but how the story unfolds is fantastic.
You. ll love the characters. Very detailed. You care about them, you believe them and you want to see what happens to them.
The direction (M. Night Shyamalan) is very well done, and if you see a video version you get a chance to see some director' s notes that discuss their close attention to detail. Movies that care about every single scene without trying to put an hour' s worth of symbolism in every shot make a great film. This is one of those. Part of the direction success of the film doubtless stems from the fact that Night also wrote the story and knew just exactly what he wanted to do with it. He also proved he had the skills to pull it off.
This film is a perfect example of the fact there really is no such thing as genre in a great story. People label it as a thriller but it looked like a horror film in the previews. After seeing it I' d call it a drama. See, folks, it' s about the story and the characters. Sometimes a story teller will use a different environment allegorically to help us get past our own preconceptions and biases and show us a different world with people like us, but maybe we get it this time. If you think about it I think you' ll see what I mean.
The Bad:
I don' t think I can find anything. I' ve liked Bruce Willis in films but I' ve not known him to carry what I think to be overly dramatic roles. That is simply not an issue in this film.Movies with kids as stars bug me. Not this time. The kid (Haley Joel Osment, lousy name for a kid, thank God he' s an actor) is believable and the script is superb.
The Bottom Line:
The best movie of the year.My Rating:
5 cocktails of your choice. This movie has something for everyone.