Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson
I got to see an early screening of Split tonight, so here's an early review.
M. Night Shyamalan has had a peculiar career. During my 2016 movie run, I watched no less than four of his films (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village, and The Last Airbender), and it baffles me that the first two films and the last two came from the same writer and director, when each pair are literal leagues apart in terms of quality. Thankfully, this film is much closer to his better work.
The film focuses on Kevin (McAvoy), a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder, whose mind contains twenty-three separate and wildly different personas. One of these personas, Dennis, kidnaps and imprisons three girls (Taylor-Joy, Richardson, and Jessica Sula), in preparation for the arrival of a twenty-fourth personality, referred to by the others as 'The Beast'.
Like Unbreakable or The Sixth Sense, Split is a study in character through a supernatural lense, with intense thrills laid over the top. We're given a story set in our world, but built around a preposterous premise, and instead of behaving as if the idea we're presented with is silly, Shyamalan doubles down on the seriousness of the situation by using the premise as away to look at character, and providing very real danger to the girls, with the added paranoia of not knowing which member of Kevin's mind will take over next.
McAvoy is incredible here; he portrays each person in Kevin's mind perfectly, able to go from hilarious to menacing within a few seconds, as he switches from nine-year-old Hedwig to the quiet but strict Patricia to the intense neat-freak Dennis. Shyamalan's direction helps here; every scene involving Kevin and the captive girls interacting has a lot of tight close-ups with a particular focus on facial expressions, as well as a lot of POV shots to convey a claustrophobic atmosphere, as if we're stuck with the girls in their nightmare. That said, this isn't a nerve-shattering horror, but it does step in to 'nope, I'm out' territory more than once.
What I found interesting was how well Taylor-Joy kept up with McAvoy in her portrayal of the character of Casey. Part of this is the fact that the film explores her struggles as much as it does Kevin's, but the scenes that stuck with me most are the ones that involved these two talking to each other; McAvoy manages to convey menace or innocence with just his eyes, and Taylor-Joy manages to stare fear, understanding and a will to survive right back at him, while what they say to each other carries to weight of their respective histories that are explored over the course of the film. McAvoy has given one of his best performances yet, but after this and The Witch (2015) Taylor-Joy is quickly becoming a very notable actress.
One more thing I want to praise in Shyamalan's direction is how restrained it is in comparison to his early work. One of my biggest disappointments in Unbreakable was the moment after the climax, as the frame freezes and we're given a few short words to summarise what should've been either shown or left to our imagination. Here Shyamalan lets moments speak for themselves; a poignant shot is left poignant, with no words or narration to help us understand what has been made clear by what we can see. There's also no focus on any particular twist in the story, the film doesn't try to whammy you in order to stick with you, just lets the disintegration of Kevin's mind and how they relate to the struggles of Casey sit with you. There is a specific surprise moment for people who are familiar with Shyamalan's work, but it has no bearing on the film's story.
The Verdict: Split is a very good return to form for Shyamalan, largely due to his solid direction and McAvoy's fantastic performance. If you enjoyed Shyamalan's early work, you should absolutely go see this.
Rating: 7/10
Published January 18th. 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment