Making Sense of The Sixth Sense
by Michael Matessino
Just when you thought there was no intelligent life out there, THE SIXTH
SENSE becomes the third movie in history to gross $20 million for more
than three consecutive weekends. (The others were THE PHANTOM MENACE and
TITANIC. No comment.) To put it bluntly, I simply didn't have that kind
of faith in the cinema-going public, especially not the summer crowd, who
are programmed to expect endless special effects and explosions. All I
can say is that I hope the overwhelming success of this picture sends a
clear message to the studios -- you don't need huge special effects budgets
to engage a modern audience.
The question is, why is THE SIXTH SENSE so incredibly successful? I
had my answer when I went to see it for a second time, because I realized
that this film all but demands a repeat viewing, doesn't it? Off the top
of my head I can't think of any other film where the second viewing is
such a completely different experience from the first. It's been a while
since anyone really took this kind of advantage of the power of the film
medium as a cognitive experience. Another thing that occurred to me the
second time around -- as I surveyed the audience around me -- is that this
film transcends the age barrier. It's a great movie for fifteen year-olds
on a date, and a great night out for retired folks as well, along with
every conceivable demographic in between. Again, it seems like it's been
a while.
(Warning: Spoilers! See the movie before continuing!)
Speaking less tangibly now, it also occurs to me just
how brilliant this film is in one other respect: it succeeds at being the
exact opposite of what you expect, and it seems as though this was planned
even in the assembly of the trailer. You may recall that it begins by showing
you almost the entire sequence of young Cole Sear telling his mom that
he sees the ghost of an accident victim standing by his window. His mother
turns and gives him a look like he's snapped. What a great set-up for a
movie!, we all thought. And then, what the trailer sets up is a story of
a boy with a strange gift, whose mother hires a child psychologist because
she thinks he's nuts. And so we all innocently go to see THE SIXTH SENSE
expecting this to be a movie about a boy with a problem, and with Bruce
Willis as the "helper" character. But SURPRISE! It is Bruce Willis
who has the problem, and the boy who is the "helper!" And that
accident scene.... why, it's not the set-up at all... it's the resolution.
So it's not just the "twist" ending that turns your movie-going
experience up-side down, it's the whole damn picture!
My initial reaction to the film was positive but with some reservations.
It was posted on the FSM site, but as I read it again I realize that it
was written before I had reconciled that what I saw was not what I expected.
A second viewing demonstrated that the movie was actually the polar opposite
of what was expected, and therein lies its brilliance. Yes, there are certain
things that still bug me: it's still painfully slow in places, the parameters
of Cole's gift are not clearly defined, and the "hokey" elements
-- the drawers opening, the glowing in the photographs, the voice on the
tape, the automatic writing -- don't quite ring true, but these are minor
quibbles about an otherwise startling movie experience. In fact, nit-picking
is a healthy sign in a case like this because it shows that you care enough
about the whole to spend the time to look for the small things bother you.
With a bad film, it's easy to dismiss the whole thing summarily, and you
usually want to do it as quickly as possible. But with THE SIXTH SENSE,
as with M. Night Shyamalan's last film WIDE AWAKE, there are many things
to savor.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with film music, but fans
of film music are generally fans of good films. As concerns James Newton
Howard's score for THE SIXTH SENSE, it too succeeds in an understated and
interesting way, never trampling on the genuine interplay between the characters,
and basically making do with some atmospheric Penderecki-like chords and
a haunting main melody. One thing I do want to mention is the tendency
in creepy movies to musically augment each scare with a sudden blaring
orchestral sting. Very interesting... during the movie's opening sequence,
there wasn't one where you'd expect, but there was one later on when one
of Cole's ghosts passes by in the foreground. And guess what? The audience's
"jump and scream factor" was just as high each time! So here's
one final message to producers/directors/composers/mixers... any idiot
will jump when we hear a sudden loud noise, because, duh, people don't
like sudden loud noises! But scare us with silence when we are engaged
by characters and a good story -- and we'll jump anyway!
At the time of this writing, (August 30th), industry analysts are predicting
that THE SIXTH SENSE will continue to dominate the box office over Labor
Day weekend AND the week following, and I may just be helping it along!
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