the village

interesting movie. left me with ambivalent feelings, since there are bits that i relished and others that i disliked with almost equal vengeance. trying to think of another movie in which the parts that i resonated with, either positively or negatively, had surfaced out without the need for much probing

i liked
~the setting, with the characters in their charming Elizabeth-period costumes and in the midst of lush greenery. a treat for the eyes cos the greenery seems to contribute a dimension of spaciousness to the screen and it just made me feel shiok that my eyes can explore all that is within the screen without the burden of urban clutter. btw, had to keep reminding myself that this is an American, not British cast
~how Shyamalan effectively engages the viewer with a "Show, not tell" technique. scenes that initially left me bewildered were cleverly resolved by latter scenes, without the answers being explicitly spelt out
~how Shyamalan spices things up by abrupting ending certain scenes, only to take them up later. indeed, why must one finish one scene entirely and properly before moving on to the next scene?
~a scene in which Ivy dashed to her fiance's place, with the turned-up volume of her laborious breathing as sound effects
~a scene in which the inarticulate Lucius awkwardly started talking deeply, then gathered momentum until his inner thoughts and hidden love for Ivy came pouring out in a rush of words
~the open-ended ending. do the elders want to continue their present way of life?

i disliked
~its slow pace. my expectation that the movie build up to a rousing flourish never materialized. left me stunned when the ending occurred, because i was still expecting bigger things to happen
~overuse of bong-pong-argh amplified sound effects as cheap shock thrills
~since it's being pegged as a horror show, its weak Blair Witch Project-like main body is intriguing but hardly scary

i think the village is multi-layered because
~one can dismiss it as an overhyped show about a blind girl stumbling through the woods or one can act arty farty and draw lots of themes and symbolism from it. (e.g. how we are conditioned to fear, the price one is willing to pay to attain his ideal lifestyle, escapism from life = cowardice or valor?, yadda dadda)