As I struggle to make room on my buckling shelves for new DVDs to coexist with my old ones, my fingers took a stroll through my “Favourite Director” section and found that it was probably about time to make a change or two. My policy is to have the director section contained to a single shelf to ensure its special nature and for a long time it’s been: Terry Gilliam, Michael Mann, Cameron Crowe, Steven Soderbergh and M. Night Shyamlan. The thing is, its been a long time since M. Night has done something worthy of a spot on my shelf (I have everything up to and including The Village) and it strikes me that it’s time for him to ship off – I mean, I recently kicked David Fincher off my shelf too – now Fight Club, Seven and The Game have to mingle with the regular movies and I have to figure out what freakin’ genre Fight Club fits under… Sigh. Anyways, I’m thinking it’s time to switch out Shyamalan for Edgar Wright and as a way of sending Night off with some dignity I thought I’d offer a last tribute to the main reason he got his spot on my shelf in the first place: Unbreakable.
David Dunn (Bruce Willis, in what could be his best performance of the decade) is a mopey loser working as a security guard at the University Stadium – he’s in the midst of an indifferent divorce, and maintains a quiet arm’s length relationship with his son (Spencer Treat Clark). Just looking at him, you can see his soul has gone cold although it’s not exactly clear what has rendered it so. To accompany this hefty helping of pathos is a heaping dose of irony where the man with nothing to live for becomes the sole survivor of a deadly train crash. David Dunn can’t fathom why he would be the only one spared, but it seems that somebody has a theory: Elijah Price (a suprisingly reserved Samuel Jackson), an eccentric purple-clad comic book collector. He thinks that David survived because he has super powers, and that taking on the mantle of the superhero would probably bring the meaning to David’s life that he’s been so desperately seeking. What unfolds from here is David Dunn’s quest for self-discovery and revelations of his destiny.
…slow-paced narratives offer up a lot of room for great digital effects-free visuals…
I think that if this story were told today it would seem pretty tired and offering little in the way of discourse considering the vast array of superhero films out there, but this was made in 2000, before the comic book explosion – or perhaps on the verge of it. But while the story is compelling – Quentin Tarantino summed it up as saying “What if Superman existed, and didn’t know he was Superman” – what the most striking about this film was its photography, which has always been what struck me about Shyamalan’s films. Eduardo Serra was behind the camera for this particular outing, his other credits include What Dreams May Come and Blood Diamond. For The Village, M. Night somehow got the chance to work with the legendary Roger Deakins, my favourite cinematographer of all time. While Shyamalan’s hook endings are what he’s known (and now loathed) for, his slow-paced narratives offer up a lot of room for great digital effects-free visuals – and that’s definitely what you’ll find on display in Unbreakable – incredibly well thought out framing, great use of light and colour, and camera tricks nobody’s thought to use since Hitchcock.
So farewell, Unbreakable. I’m sure you’ll be happy in either my “Drama” section or maybe in “Superheroes”, it was nice to have you in my “Favourite Director” shelf, and you should take pride in being the reason why M. Night made it there in the first place.
PS: Those of you who are interested should definitely check out the special features: There’s some great deleted scenes.
First of all………….Fincher still deserves a spot. He may not have done anything as mind bending as the films you’ve noted since, but Zodiac alone is worthy of keeping him on that shelf. One of the most brilliant pieces of film making of the decade and a sure fire reason to solidify his genius as not dissipating. Of course that’s just my opinion.
Second……….I’m with ya on M. Nightmare and it’s a shame. Usually I get goosebumps when I see one of his trailers but Devil just made me scratch my head attempting to comprehend what straws he’s grasping at. The Happening made me realize he wasn’t only losing his grasp on execution but conception as well. Signs is one of my favorite Alien flicks of all time, but even I couldn’t see that as reason enough to keep him on a shelf of that stature (yeah to having Michael Mann up there!)………sad but yes I’d have to say goodbye.
And Fight Club can’t be pigeon holed into a genre. That alone is reason enough to put it back on the director shelf! C’Mon man!
Heather, don’t ever change!
Look, there’s no doubt Fincher has got skillz, but I just don’t understand his choices. At the heart of his greatest successes are seriously original scripts – and perhaps that was his strength. Zodiac might be a fine film, but I don’t see myself bringing it into ye olde collection. I certainly don’t see myself adding Panic Room. And does Zodiac really hold up alongside of Brazil, Out of Sight, Heat, The Fisher King, Amelie and Last of the Mohicans? So yeah, out with the old and in with the new. Fincher’s been in there for as long as he had to, and Shyamalan for much longer – time to make room for the new crew.
Fight Club will probably form its own section… to be followed by, um, I don’t know… How about 12 Monkeys? It’s the “Brad Pitt makes an odd casting decision that pays off big time” section.
And yeah, Michael Mann represent!
Oh! And I was supposed to add Almost Famous to that list of inimitable films…
Heather turns me on when she talks Fight Club!
I am an infamous M.Night apologizer but I have nothing to offer regarding the Happening. I actually love all his films up to that point and Unbreakable remains my favorite of his and in my Top 5 all time!
Funny cuz I remember it getting panned upon release but I feel like in recent years it’s been getting the respect it deserves!
Yeah, I think I’ve noticed the same trend. I think it’s because the Superhero genre really established itself as more than a fad, but failed to evolve artistically as much. That’s where Unbreakable succeeded in distinguishing itself before there was even anything to differentiate itself from.
How are your movies arranged? Do you have a fave director section? Or a fave movie section?
I have a section with certain directors: QT, RobRod, MNight… etc.
I also have a trilogies section.
For the most part I arrange by color. I remember the color of DVD’s and it makes them easy to find!
Colour coded!? That is the greatest thing I’ve heard all month! I hadn’t thought of doing a trilogy/anthology section. That would mix in well with TV shows I suppose.
I keep my TV shows next to trilogies. I had a directors section too which sucked because like Rob Rod has the Mariachi trilogy and I couldn’t decide which section to put them in! haha
And what about your Spy Kids collection? Where does that get filed?
WOW you guys makes me think I don’t love movies! I don’t have that many dvds to begin with and since we may be getting Blu-ray soon I haven’t bought any all year. But Unbreakable is perhaps M. Night’s BEST work as well as Willis’ best performance. It stands the test of time as well because the story is so compelling and genre-bending. I might get the Blu-ray disc of this and for sure I’ll check out the deleted scenes!
If the number of DVDs we owned were a valid barometer for our love of movies, we’d be Mother Theresa. Unfortunately, it’s mostly just a measure of our inability to prioritize our allowance and/or our susceptibility to movie studio advertising. If Unbreakable is available on bluray (and it is) I think that would be a perfect first purchase. My first two were Iron Man and Speed Racer. Yeah, there’s a number of good ones, the best being an extra scene of David Dunn using the weight room at the stadium – wish that had been in the movie.
[...] behind the camera to be excited about, DOP Eduardo Serra who I was lauding in my Vault review of Unbreakable. The man knows how to compose a shot, and I’m sure we can expect far greater range of tone [...]