A 6^th Sense for Directing: The 6th Sense
by Christian De Matteo

HUGE

          So I got home last night around 3 o’clock in the morning, having just dropped off Mike.  We’d been out with Mark and a whole bunch of friends at a bar (including the newly married Rob di Targiani, congrats, buddy).  Earlier in the night we’d seen Unbreakable, director M. Night Shyamalan newest screen gem.  I was so impressed with it— awed, to be honest— that at 3 o’clock in the morning I popped The 6^th Sense DVD in.

            Really, what more is there to say.  Sure I know the secret ending now, sure I know the parts by heart where the shocks and scares come in, sure I know the placement and text of each of the emotional dialogues, but damn.  Still, as the boy who wants to show Cole where his father keeps his gun turns I felt that chill I felt the first time in the theater and as those heavy final scenes rolled on before me, I felt the tears run down my face.  Halfway through, I had to pull the covers over me because I was cold, not because of any heating problems in my house or because there was an angry ghost in the room with me, but because the movie chills me physically every time I see it.  This is filmmaking of a caliber both rare and extreme.

 

            And that’s not to take away any credit whatsoever from the cast.  First and foremost, Bruce Willis is incredible.  Never ever tipping his hand to give away the ending (this being accomplished with the help of the entire cast), he gives an incredible performance that couldn’t be any different from his Diehard persona if he was in a movie called Twelve Monkeys.  Haley Joel Osment (Pay it Forward, A.I.) does the almost impossible by being a child star in a film and not being an annoying smart-ass.  His performance is incredibly touching and— more importantly— incredibly realistic.  Never once does the audience doubt his credibility as a real child with a horrible talent.

            And while much ado has been made of these two actors, two others deserve just as much credit:  Toni Collette and Olivia Williams.  As Cole’s mom, Toni Collette performs very convincingly so that the audience is completely in touch with her struggles as a mother and as Cole’s mother.  Just think for a minute about the pained and confused and terrified look on her face and the plethora of emotions that so clearly shoot through her in the scene when she sends Cole to his room for “taking” the Butterfly pennant.  Just via her face, we are right with her.  I want to reach through the screen and hug her and tell everything’s okay, it’s just a movie.  And acting just as much with her face, Olivia Williams gives us a run for out plot-guessing money with her perfectly ambiguous acting, angering us at first and then making us feel utterly guilt-ridden for that anger.

I intended, at 3 o’clock in the morning of Thanksgiving, to just watch the beginning, just for comparative reasons with the film I had just seen.  I had intended to hit stop at some point before 5 in the morning when the movie ended and I sat there thinking about it.  Fact is, I went through Thanksgiving on about 5 hours sleep, but my fatigue was well worth it since I got to see in one night, two incredible films by one incredible writer/director and thankfully now, producer.

         In any case, the movie must be seen.  If you have, see it again.  Own it, watch it, and for the sake of all that is decent in our lives, get a DVD player and get The Sixth Sense on DVD!!!