The Visit (2015)
The
Visit is a stylistic
and narrative triumph, and it’s not inappropriate, even, to term it a come-back
for a director who has seen his brand tarnished by negative reviews and box office results.
A legitimately scary and disturbing horror movie, The Visit is also an uncharacteristically and chaotically funny film for Mr. Shyamalan. When I remember his past films, I envision shades of gray, a slow-moving, trance-like camera bent on revelation, a kind of swooning approach to the unknown, and the mysteries of faith and the universe explored.
Yet there are several moments in The Visit that naturally draw out laughter, and make us feel connected to the film’s young protagonists.
This is just what the doctor ordered, in my opinion. So many critics wish to tag Shyamalan as pompous, arrogant, or self-important. This raucous, wildly-imaginative film blows holes in that image and in that argument. The Visit shows us Shyamalan as a mischief-maker, as a Loki-like trickster. An aura of wicked fun …
A legitimately scary and disturbing horror movie, The Visit is also an uncharacteristically and chaotically funny film for Mr. Shyamalan. When I remember his past films, I envision shades of gray, a slow-moving, trance-like camera bent on revelation, a kind of swooning approach to the unknown, and the mysteries of faith and the universe explored.
Yet there are several moments in The Visit that naturally draw out laughter, and make us feel connected to the film’s young protagonists.
This is just what the doctor ordered, in my opinion. So many critics wish to tag Shyamalan as pompous, arrogant, or self-important. This raucous, wildly-imaginative film blows holes in that image and in that argument. The Visit shows us Shyamalan as a mischief-maker, as a Loki-like trickster. An aura of wicked fun …
