Reflecting on M Night Shyamalan

Haley Joel Osment, in "The Sixth Sense"

I offered the following commentary on Google+, in response to an article The Death Spiral of M Night Shyamalan's Career:

I loved "The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable" and "Signs," but M Night Shyamalan's subsequent films were mostly OK, at best, and he fell off my radar. Now, he's out with "The Visit."

The following, from Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight, sums up my sentiments:

"Here’s hoping his time in the wilderness made M. Night Shyamalan a better director of the kind of movie that made him big in the first place: tense, tightly-written thrillers with a strong emotional core. Sure, there’s probably going to be gauzy convolutions of plot, but emotional heart can cover for that. Anyone who enjoyed his early work has to be rooting for a comeback."
My post sparked a bit of a discussion, to which I added:

In a way I was glad Shyamalan fell off my radar, because I really didn't bother to read reviews or comments about him. People slamming him is unfortunate, because the dude is quite talented.

Besides the three I mentioned above, I also liked "The Village" and "The Happening" reasonably well, more because of the actors than the stories themselves. "Lady in the Water" was underwhelming, really. But I watched "Devil," and loved it, before I found out that he had written it.

BTW: I checked Wikipedia, and every single one of his films had box office returns that exceeded the budget. Not a bad run, in the least, for a talented filmmaker!

The box office success that Shymalan enjoyed makes Hickey's characterization as film making career in a death spiral rather overstated.
 

Reflecting on "Ex Machina"

Caleb meets Ava: so begins a more complex, more disturbing version of the Turing Test.

"Do you think I might be switched off, because I don't function as well as I'm supposed to?"

"If you've created a conscious machine, it's not the history of man; that's the history of gods."

Over the past several months I've posted on "Ex Machina" several times, as I am so intrigued by the story line and its wide ranging, complex implications.  This post is an effort to collate these posts, and in time prepare me to write a lengthier, more substantive commentary.
 

Reflecting on "Enemy"

"Enemy" is one of the best that I've watched in the psychological thriller - i.e. mind-bending - genre.  It's a film that would've been a must-see, a must-discuss in my course on psychopathology years ago.  I want to capture first a thoughtful commentary from Erica Bass, then two comments from me:

On a more serious note, I loved your explanation of this movie. I saw your non-spoiler video months ago and kept meaning to watch the movie... finally watched it and was feeling confused and knew I should've re-watched your video beforehand to refresh. This is not the type of movie you just watch on a whim and get up and move on, you sit and think about it for a long time and decipher the meaning, which I love. A few minutes into THIS video, I understood the movie more and was proud of myself for finally understanding one of these mindfuck movies on the first watch. I just watched Donnie Darko yesterday, read something that explained it better which helped a lot but I was still was a little confused and need to give it a second watch to fully get it.

This movie is a must watch for more intellectual moviegoers as it could end up being a great frame of reference for this phenomenon of fear of commitment and infidelity. His fear of commitment stems from the problems and unhappiness in his marriage. Instead of facing those issues and working on them as a team, he feels trapped, threatened and controlled by his wife, much like an insect would feel being trapped in a spider's web which is why he fears it and tries to run away or create a new life. This all started 6 months ago once he found out his wife was pregnant because a child would make this commitment as permanent as it gets and he needed to get a steady job that he didn't enjoy so he could support his family and he hated himself for giving up on his acting career and resented his wife for forcing him to give up his dream which is why he would rather have a girlfriend on the side than face his wife. His wife visits him at work and he begins to realize that his wife is 6 months pregnant and scared of what he's become; as Actor Jake, he can lie to her, but when she sees him as History Teacher Jake, he knows she's figured out his secret life and that's when he decides to end it once and for all. This is where Actor Jake get's the idea to accuse Teacher Jake of sleeping with his wife; he's creating a war in his mind to get rid of his cheating ways but says he wants to get even by having a date with his girlfriend and disappearing from his life. This is Jake's way of having a final fling and saying goodbye to that life. I agree that this all happens in his mind, but I'm not refusing the idea/possibility that he did actually have one last fling with his mistress and put his wedding ring on or nearby for her to find so they can fight and end it (if it was only in his mind, the breakup never happened in real life). I find it interesting that Jake turned off the radio before the newscaster announced if anyone in the accident had died. He killed off his unfaithful persona and mistress in his mind but that part of him will never be dead and gone which is proven by the very next part where he finds the key, an offer of temptation, and he takes it almost immediately with little or no hesitation. The sigh he gives when seeing his wife a spider, is as you said, disappointed acceptance, of the pattern he is about to repeat, however, it's also just the same metaphor that he understands he will be trapped in his marriage (web) regardless of his temptations which is why he accepts the key so soon after fully giving in to his wife and commitment to her, he can either stay with her and be miserable, or stay with her and have some voyeuristic adventures on the side to feed the part of him that needs to feel some sort of control or freedom in life. His look at the end and the sigh is his disappointment and disgust in himself for being unfaithful and making his wife fear him (even tho she is the predator in the scenario seeing as tho she's the spider and he is the captured insect), as well as acceptance of committing to his wife and coming to terms that they will never be happy together because of his spotty past. He accepts that his unfaithful past has made his wife distrust him and she will never trust him therefore he might as well give in to his temptations and patterns because he will never earn her trust and they will never be happy, so he agrees to stay with her and takes the key anyways because he's given up hope in his marriage.

In response to

But the woman on the photo is not his wife. She is a woman that is not even in the movie... where does she fit in?

maybe it's the woman in the sex club??

You're on to something, Paul, with the idea that the woman in the photo is Anthony's wife AND may also be the woman in the sex club. It's hard to tell for sure, but here's my speculation: Anthony still loves his wife and is sexually attracted to her. But he longs for their earlier life, when they were younger, perhaps just dating, and weren't expecting a child. Psychologically, Anthony wants that earlier, sexier wife to squash the current, pregnant wife (symbolized by the plump spider). Anthony doesn't seem to be enjoying the sex show, and looks downright conflicted and morose. Why? He's wrestling with an internal, psychological battle, which Chris spoke to in his review.

A terrific, well-argued interpretation, Chris! After seeing the film a second time, I also believe that the "real" character is Anthony Claire and he's deeply troubled by all the implications of a pregnant wife, which you mentioned. It's a very intriguing psychological profile indeed, suggestive of a Dissociative Identity Disorder. There is reason to believe that Anthony's "real" personality is portrayed by Adam, because his wife seems quite familiar and comfortable with Adam. So to build on the argument that Anthony is deeply troubled by his wife's pregnancy, Anthony deploys two defense mechanisms simultaneously: (a) He splits off (unconsciously) his real identity and renames him Adam Bell the history professor (his "respectable job") and (b) he fashions (consciously) another identity as Daniel St. Claire the actor. In a way, then, the battle is between Adam and Daniel, the outcome of which, psychological speaking, is (a') the return of the real identity back to Anthony and to his wife, and (b') the symbolic destruction of the sexualized, philandering Daniel in the car crash. All of this is very good, but the journey back to health and fidelity is only part way done: Anthony has re-owned himself, that is, rid himself of those two identities. But the elemental trouble of a pregnant wife remains deeply rooted and unresolved within him. So unless he undergoes psychoanalysis, or rather finds the means and determination to keep on that journey back to health and fidelity, he is quite liable to stray again. That big spider in the room, which in Anthony's psyche represents his pregnant wife, is horrified at the prospects of his infidelity recurring. Put in another way, that spider is a construct of his unconscious and therefore knows exactly what's going on in that unconscious. Anthony himself recognizes this, and therefore feels unsurprisingly resigned, even dispirited at being tempted once again to go back to the sex club. Chris, I absolutely agree: This is one fine masterpiece of cinema!
 

The Scan

When a woman seeks a diagnosis for pain, her search raises provocative questions about how we store and record psychic and physical trauma.

In the future we will have technology like a PET scan to see the things that cause us deep sorrow.  That technology will be dispassionate, that technology will possess no empathy.  So, in the future, we must engage souls for kindliness, understanding, and nurture.
 

(5) She Sings For Me - The Met

Annette Dasch and James Morris

The lengthy Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City last season.

(4) She Sings For Me - The Piece

"Selig, wie die Sonne" is the operatic piece (Quintet from Act III) that Holly hears from inside her neighbor's house.

 

(3) She Sings For Me - The Cobbler

One main character in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is the real-life mastersinger Hans Sachs, who was a cobbler and poet. Coincidentally for Holly, in Davey's short film "She Sings for Me," the man she encounters in her neighborhood is a shoemaker (i.e. cobbler).