the village

this movie gets an bad rap, and i think it is unfair. its the forth big film from m. night shamalan, and after his huge success with 'the sixth sense', everyone put unbelievable expectations on his following work (including himself...). i have always been a huge fan of his work (well, until this atrocity), he has a great ability to tell interesting stories with believable characters. he did kind of find himself in a jam because he tried to bill himself as 'the great twist ending guy'. this one has a twist ending, but most people didnt find it satisfying. i, on the other hand, found the ending to inspire much thought and debate- a great conversation starter. the story follows people who live in a 19th century village which has formed a truce with some creepy creatures that live in the woods. they stay out of the woods, the beasties leave them alone. when there is a horrible accident, one of the people must venture through the woods into the cities to get some medicine or else the injured man will die.
in this movie, like his films before it, shamalan is a master of creating characters and relationships we care about. from the mysterious relationship between the elders, to the blossoming love between the main characters, we see a society that is really interesting- i wanted to know their story! the twist is a very interesting one, but even without it, i still cared for the people involved. i feel that this is shamalan near the top of his game (in my opinion, 'unbreakable' is still his best).