Skip to main content

Bruce Willis: “The Sixth Sense"

 Sometimes, Hollywood forgets to take an interest in families; the action concerns a boy and girl who might date (certainly the story ends on or before the wedding day), or the action concerns male colleagues joining up to take on a male villain.


So it's a treat to revisit "The Sixth Sense," which is about mothers and sons, and about an actual marriage.

"The Sixth Sense” centers on Toni Collette, whose kid seems to have gone mute, or semi-mute. Collette knows something is wrong, but the kid won't spill the beans. (Once, when the kid drew the nightmares in his head, his teacher yelled at him. So the kid has learned to draw smiling suns and rainbows.)

The kid really doesn't want his mother to see how profoundly alone he has become, so he pays the local bully to *seem* friendly on the walk to school. Off the Philadelphia streets, in a classroom, the bully can resume bullying. But it's those crucial "public" minutes that need to seem G-rated (because moms can peer out of windows).

The mother/son story has a parallel: Like Haley Joel Osment, Olivia Williams is *also* lying to the most important person she sees on a daily basis. Williams is frustrated that her husband spends so much time on work, and she has launched herself on an affair (at least an emotional affair). She can't "own up," or not yet, so the tension just grows and grows.

People focus on the final act of "The Sixth Sense," because the twist is so dazzling, and so successful. But I think no one would care about "seeing dead people," if the screenwriter hadn't taken time to build thorny, complex characters. Amazingly, "The Sixth Sense" is the one and only moment in history when Toni Collette has scored an Oscar nomination. (How can this be?) Famously, Osment landed a nomination, as well--and in one of the toughest years in movie history (the year of "Election," "Ripley," "The Insider," "Being John Malkovich, "Magnolia," and the list goes on). Roger Ebert made a smart point: "Bruce Willis often finds himself in fantasies, perhaps because he is so down-to-earth. He never seems ridiculous, because he does not over-reach....And not every adult actor can play heavy scenes with a kid, without seeming to condescend. Willis can. These scenes give the movie its weight."

I agree. This is a terrific Bruce Willis movie. I'm happy to have revisited the script, and the stars, over this past weekend.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

The Death of Bergoglio

  It's frustrating for me to hear Bergoglio described as "the less awful pope"--because awful is still awful. I think I get fixated on ideas of purity, which can be juvenile, but putting that aside, here are some things that Bergoglio could have done and did not. (I'm quoting from a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church.) He could levy the harshest penalty, excommunication, against a dozen or more of the most egregious abuse enabling church officials. (He's done this to no enablers, or predators for that matter.) He could insist that every diocese and religious order turn over every record they have about suspected and known abusers to law enforcement. Francis could order every prelate on the planet to post on his diocesan website the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric. (Imagine how much safer children would be if police, prosecutors, parents and the public knew the identities of these potentially dangerous me...
1 comment
Read more

Raymond Carver: "What's in Alaska?"

Outside, Mary held Jack's arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.  She raised her head. "When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight." She tightened her hold on his arm. He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light. "Come to bed," she said. "I'm coming," he said. He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom. "Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!" "Jesus Christ, it's me!" he said. "I'm trying to get the light on." He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and b...
1 comment
Read more