Top Box Office Movies

Signs (2002) Touchstone Pictures
1 hr. 54 mins.
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix and Rory Culkin
Directed by: M. Night Shymalan

Signs

Rating:

E-MAIL GIANCARLO DE LISI

Photo: Touchstone Pictures

The Supernatural seems to be a strongpoint for Director M. Night Shymalan. His last three films have all built themselves upon a fixation with the unexplained. In ‘The Sixth Sense’, he redefined the suspense genre with a perverse and surreal tale about immortality. In his second recognized venture, he returned with Bruce Willis and grappled with the concept of immortality once more. The Master Craftsman now teams with Mel Gibson as he creates his most thought provoking, frightful, suspenseful and intriguing tale yet.

‘Signs’ has had the marketing vehicle from Touchstone Pictures selling the image of crop circles. Yet, those who have seen the film know the double meaning of the title of this ingenious and surprisingly scary film. If one were to watch the film, the focus should not be on getting scared, but it would be to experience cinema in its’ greatest form, in its’ greatest genre – through a suspense film that is actually suspenseful.

While watching the film, if one were to immerse themselves in this gem, the frights will come naturally. The origin of those frights will remain undisclosed; no spoilers will be given because it would be a sin to reveal the nature of this intricate and well-engineered piece of film. What can be said is a suggestion: have none of your friends advise you what it is about, or what it contains in terms of plot spoilers, for the effect will be lost.

What won’t be lost is the viewer’s memory of this movie, as it will be indelibly etched in the viewer’s mind after experiencing this phenomenal piece. Mel Gibson stars as Reverend Graham Hess, a distraught man who begins to question his faith, even more than he already has, after unexplainable crop circles appear in his crops. Out in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Gibson is the man of the house as his brother (the always astounding Joaquin Phoenix) Merrill Hess, lives with him and the Reverend’s two young children. After paranoia soon turns into reality about the origin of the crop circles, the tension escalates as Shymalan brings us into an absolutely surreal journey with the supernatural (or is it?).

The film opens with long lost composer James Newton Howard’s instrumental and influential score as the credits appear in a simplistic yet effective manner. A subtle gray/blue tint serves as the background for credits seemingly in a rich Majestic font and as the credits progress, so does the tension. The music quickens, the credits roll at a quicker pace and the viewer is catapulted into a truly memorable film experience.

A difficult challenge would be to have a social discourse on the film’s flaws. This is truly an amalgamation of all elements great and results in a very satisfying film about the supernatural, and our fears. Shymalan introduces us to the supernatural in an elegant and frightful manner as he takes a page from the Hitchcock school of filmmaking in terms of the antagonistic viewpoint – ‘less is more’. The sporadic sightings of the supernatural elements in the film will make one quiver and will make one wonder if they truly are just supernatural, or something so complex in which no one has the answer to.

Shymalan pulls no punches as his well-written script has our central characters all with a story to tell. These characters are flawed and are not the most functional family members, yet when the tension escalates, (as in the boarded up basement scene right before the film’s climax), they watch out for one another.

The emphasis of the film though, is not on family. Shymalan uses the family analogy to allude to the underpinnings of the film’s nucleus, which is faith; faith in a higher deity or a higher being, whatever one’s belief may be. But the film’s focal point (besides producing some powerful frights) is to have the viewer grapple with faith and morality. The film does a fantastic job at providing situations in which the viewer can place himself or herself in.

What would you do if you knew it was the end of the world? Or, would you let your child die simply because you were too scared to go back upstairs and retrieve the child’s medicine? These debates may not be welcome by many, but these situations do allude to some of the monstrous decisions undertaken by the Reverend and his family.

The emotions conveyed are a direct result of the incredible acting brought forward under Shymalan’s direction. Shymalan himself takes another nod at acting in his own film as he did in ‘Unbreakable’ and once again follows in the steps of Master Hitchcock. He plays an integral role in the film’s progression and his character is able to capture one of the unexplainable phenomena resulting for a heart-stopping scene in which the whole theatre will have their hearts in their throats at a moment.

Shymalan has truly delivered a worthy piece of film and while it will be a commercial blockbuster, containing some traits of a commercial film, it really has so much more. In its’ detail, Shymalan employs Cinematographer Tak Fujimoto who worked with Shymalan on ‘The Sixth Sense’. Even thought the film is centrally set in rural areas, the images within the film tell so many stories. This is a trait of a great film, and once seeing the film, there will be many more stories to tell.

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Giancarlo De Lisi
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