Signs

UK Release Date. 13 September 2002
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 1 hour 46 mins
Director. M. Night Shyamalan
Cast. Abigail Breslin, Rory Culkin, Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix.
Rating. 60%

Review.

A theme ran through M. Night Shyamalan's early films - a fascination with faith.

When an elaborate set of crop circles appear in the corn fields of the Hess family farm, Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his brother, Merrill's (Joaquin Phoenix) immediate suspicion is that this is nothing more than hi-jinx carried out by local youths. But it slowly becomes apparent that the phenomena are linked to similar incidents around the globe. A communication tool for an alien race potentially preparing to invade our planet. Signs is ostensibly an alien invasion film, but writer and director, M. Night Shyamalan isn't so much interested in the global story, instead, Signs is an intimate, slow-build account from the Hess family's point of view. 

The family members are clearly well-written and well-developed. The director ensures the two lead actors (Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix) deliver solid performances, but the marvel is the subtle, sardonic performances skilfully coaxed from the two young actors - Rory Culkin (aged 13 years old) and a delightfully infectious Abigail Breslin (aged 6 years old). 

The first hour or so of Signs is mightily impressive. With clever camera work, Shyamalan establishes a tense and uneasy atmosphere in which any noise or movement is likely to shock. Shyamalan cuts beautifully, his camera movement is fluid, never tentative. His mise en scene - the positioning of the actors, the details of the set, the props, the lighting and the composition of the shot itself - is meticulously prepared. This careful control of tone was evident in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and is once again evident in Signs. The film offers the obligatory jump scares, but I can think of few scenes that have offered as much surprise for as little revelation as when Graham drops his flashlight running in the cornfield, only to glimpse what appears to be a leg disappearing into the corn as the light returns.

In some ways, Shyamalan of the early 2000s was a victim of his own success, pigeon-holed by many as the director who delivers seismic twists in the final moments; all the meaning locked up in that key, final reel. There isn't a monumental escalation toward a grand finale, the tension is present right from the outset. Indeed, Signs employs an ending that brings together the various threads woven throughout the film, but unlike The Sixth Sense, it doesn't really force us to re-evaluate what we thought we knew. Instead, it's a refocusing or a re-interpretation of what came before.

Why? Because Signs is best understood as a character study and it is in these human relationships - anchored in emotional resonance over compelling logic - where the film is at its most interesting. For example, the tragedy of the night of Colleen's (Patricia Kalember) death is slowly revealed through flashbacks and is the emotional heart of the film.

Quite how Shyamalan intends us to interpret Signs is left largely up to the individual. I would argue that the story he wants to tell, the themes he wants to explore- family and faith - do not tally with what the audience came to see. A much darker, mysterious, and perhaps unconventional, alien invasion film. This was Steven Spielberg's masterstroke in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. But Shyamalan heads in the opposite direction and the small, intimate, personal narrative only serves to highlight the more contrived elements of the storyline. 

Signs was the fifth feature-length film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. He has now directed fifteen, to varying degrees of success and failure. However, his sixteenth, Trap due for release next month looks intriguing if the theatrical trailer is anything to go by.