The Village

I few months back I watched the Lady in the Water and thought Bryce Dallas Howard was great – so I was curious to see this earlier picture. Much like in Lady, she has aura of purity about her that is simply luminescent – and it’s all the more captivating as her character is a strong and confident one. Adrien Brody and Joaquin Phoenix offer solid performances and portrait interesting characters, but Howard is the real focal point in any scene. In true M. Night Shyamalan form, there are complex psychological and social tensions rippling above, below, and at the surface. If you liked the first season of Lost, you’ll totally enjoy this film.

This film received plenty of bad reviews from professional critics – Robert Ebert said “…a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn." I’ll admit that I’m an extremely gullible audience member so perhaps other folks saw the “twist” coming from miles away but I was totally and pleasantly surprised. I’ve watched plenty of bad movies and this wasn’t one of them.