Cinephobia Reviews: The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan), 1999

You have to give Bruce Willis some credit. For a while there he seemed to have lost it, sinking from the charm and humour of his early roles ("Moonlighting" and John McTiernan's original, fantastic Die Hard) into just another glowering action figure. But in the last few years he's turned up in several of Hollywood's more interesting projects: Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, and now M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense. Given how few films of merit are coming out of Hollywood lately, it's interesting to find the same actor turning up in four of the best. And whatever you might think about Willis' contribution to these films, the fact is he's picking quality material and helping it get far more prominence than it otherwise might. That deserves some respect.

In The Sixth Sense, Willis plays Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who is haunted by the suicide of one of his former patients and sees a chance for redemption in helping the young Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment). Cole seems distant and withdrawn, but hasn't told his mother (Toni Collette) the real reason for his detachment: he is haunted by visions of dead people.

The film is partly a horror film, but that shouldn't turn viewers off. Like the very different Blair Witch Project, it is in many ways a reaction to the overly gimmicky and effects-laden horrors that Hollywood has produced, particularly in the wake of Wes Craven's Scream. It doesn't eschew the mechanics of horror filmmaking as Blair Witch does: writer-director Shyamalan uses his fair share of technical trickery (mostly through masterful manipulation of the camera) to build his suspense. The film certainly has a number of good old fashioned scare moments.

What it does share with Blair Witch, though, is the minimisation of overt gore and special effects, and a shared preoccupation with drawing its characters convincingly. Toni Collette is exceptional as always, as the loving but bewildered mother, while the young Haley Joel Osment gives a performance of impressive maturity. The film's surprise ending is more guessable than many have claimed, but even if you work it out the conclusion is effective for its beautiful simplicity and the compassion it shows for all the characters.

Comments? Click here