Mfystro 🙃’s review published on Letterboxd:
Lost souls trapped between this world and the next. Really quite the special picture. Even knowing a good bit about the film's plot and where it goes, it still managed to blow me away with it's continuous pulling back of the layers of this psychological tale. Whenever I thought this had fully revealed it's hand, there was something else right around the corner and that's an easy recipe for crafting an unforgettable experience. There's a lot of different plot elements in play here. Obviously there's the main story surrounding the boy and his 'gift' but this goes way deeper than that. It's a story about regret, a story about getting past fear, a story about death and the things we weren't able to finish before it. And I thought M. Night tied up and told all of these threads beautifully. This acts as a powerful family drama, just as well as a psychological thriller, throws in shades of horror, and it's all told in this strangely alluring way. Truly spectacular on a storytelling level. This is also one of the best examples I've ever seen of color symbolism and the effect a sharply utilized color can have on a viewer. The reds here are just so gripping. Aside from the colors, this thing looks pretty great. That one shot of the handprint fading away from the table or the moment when Cole lifts the sword come to mind as all time great shots that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. And finally, the cast here is phenomenal. Bruce Willis completely disappears into this character, dropping one of the best performances I've ever seen from him. His relationship with the kid is just so powerful to see develop. Speaking of the kid, Haley Joel Osment continues to make his case for being the greatest child actor of all time, or at least my favorite. The amount of emotion he is able to capture in this is simply remarkable. This movie would not work without such amazing performances in the lead roles. Toni Collette is also fantastic in her role. The scene in the car at the end hits ridiculously hard, mainly because of how good of an actor she is. This movie is just so good! To the surprise of absolutely no one, I absolutely loved this. Sometimes a movie just works on every possible level and that is 100% the case here. Nice work M. Night!
"𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴... '𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺.' 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘬?"
"𝘋𝘰... 𝘋𝘰 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥?"
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