The Sixth Sense

I saw this movie a couple of times a long time ago (it's definitely a movie you need to have seen twice) but I don't think I possibly could have appreciated how amazing the film was back then. My reaction is certainly different now. Like most audiences, I was impressed with the thriller elements and the twist ending back then. And I'm thinking we kind of missed the forest for the trees when it first came out. Yes, it's fun to rewatch the movie knowing Malcolm is dead. But would it be AS fun if the movie were bland otherwise?

I think the first thing I want to talk about is Haley Joel Osment. He got a ton of praise back in the day (including an unheard of at his age Oscar nomination) but I don't think people really understand the ask he was given in his performance (and that he delivered). After all, in the years since, young actors like Maisie Williams from Game Of Thrones, and Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things have turned in similarly amazing performances. So I think maybe Osment's greatness is lumped into that. I don't think that's appropriate. I have never seen a child performance since Osment as great as this one.

He does something no other child actor is ever asked to do: Play a totally broken person. And he's convincing as such. Brown and Williams have their share of torment in their roles (to put it mildly) but aside from the horrible ordeals Eleven and Arya have been through, they are also permitted to be total badasses. Osment's performance is so unusual because M Night Shyamalan asked him to perform Cole without a shred of vanity for himself. And that's an incredibly hard thing to ask a kid to do. To look uncool, and off-putting, and miserable, without really any variations in how the person feels is just not something I've ever seen another kid asked to perform. And while that is true, Osment should never be forgotten or dismissed because young actors in flashier roles have come along in the meantime. It's precisely the fact that Cole is NOT a flashy role which is why Osment's performance is singularly unique and effective.

It's also because of the torment in his eyes that him telling Malcolm "I didn't know you were funny," is the only genuine laugh in the movie.

I don't think when I saw this a couple of decades ago I was emotionally mature enough to appreciate the dramatics beats of the film. Knowing me, I DID probably cry at the ending back then, but if I did shed tears, they were superficial tears because of the sad things being effectively dramatized. No, in reality, both endings of Cole in the car with his mom, and Malcolm realizing the truth aren't merely sad Hollywood endings. They are legit pathos and drama. I am a person in search of a "good cry" in fiction. I am desperate for a "good hurt". Something sad happening that is at the same time wonderful and makes me feel good for releasing the tears. Joss Whedon occasionally had that gift on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Shyamalan does an effective double whammy of "good hurt" at end here. I'm bawling my eyes out, and the truth is, it isn't actually a sad ending at all. It's a GOOD ending. It's the RIGHT ending. And I feel wonderful for the tears I shed.

There are also a ton of other effective dramatic beats. Malcolm's game at the beginning of pretending to read Cole's mind is absolutely riveting, as is the scene where Cole refuses to lie to his mother and say he took the pendant. The scene of the father of the dead girl realizing the mother killed her is one of the most appalling things I've seen on film, and the dreadfulness of it feels raw and extremely painful. I don't even know the name of the father, or even the actor playing him. I'd argue however that dude gave the second best performance in the movie after Osment.

I'm wondering if at some point Shyamalan entertained the notion of putting Cole in a weekly Ghost Whisperer-type procedural TV show, solving a ghost's murder each week. I would have watched that.

I honestly feel kind of guilty that we all "oohed" and "aaahed" at the twist ending so much back in the day. That should not have been our positive feedback to Shyamalan. We gave him the wrong note, and instead of creating more powerhouse dramas, he's committed to creating more (and yet less credible each film) "surprise" endings. Shyamalan's gift is high drama and coaxing out great acting performances. Us treating him and the twist ending here as a one-trick-pony is probably the reason his career faltered so much. I feel genuinely bad that I was both unable to recognize the truly great things in the film at the time, and that apparently nobody else was either. It's a great damn movie with or without the twist. Making great drama is what we should have demanded more from Shyamalan. Not trick ending after trick ending, with increasingly diminishing returns. I don't just blame Shyamalan for his later crappy movies anymore. We bear some responsibility in giving him the wrong feedback about this film. I feel bad about it myself. Take this note, M Night: More gutwrenching, earned drama please. More amazing acting performances. I don't care about flashy endings anymore, and neither should you. That was a magnificent picture. *****.