M Night Shyamalan has had a tumultuous ride in his Hollywood career. The prolific and stylized Director shot out of the gate with the now classic ‘Sixth Sense’. While he has made several worthy films since (most notably ‘Unbreakable’), his star power has fallen considerably with each box office disappointment. In the last several years, he has taken on Hollywood big budget projects, such as ‘The Last Airbender’ and ‘After Earth’, whose disappointing critical and box office returns have made him all but unemployable at the major studios. Like it or not, M Night was meant to be an Indie film maker and ‘Split’ marks his return to his passion for writing and directing his own projects. I won’t say this is his greatest work, but it marks his return to form and provides a fantastic Film Noir experience so lacking in today’s cookie cutter cinema. I have an issue with the marketing of this film as trailers and advertising seems to be going for the teenage slasher film market. I would put this in the “psychological thriller” genre, with a performance by James McAvoy that was so good that I’m offended he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.
The film starts with three teenage girls being kidnapped by a stranger named Dennis (James McAvoy). Two of the girls are part of the popular crowd, but the third is a quiet outsider named Casey played by Anya Taylor-Joy. After being drugged, the three wake up in a dungeon like room confronted by their kidnapper, whom they soon discover suffers from multiple personality disorder. “Dennis” has 23 distinct personalities and McAvoy gives what should have been recognized has an Oscar winning performance as he cycles seamless between his personalities. The ability of a Scotsman like McAvoy to perfectly capture regional American accents is impressive which only leads to the horror of the unpredictability of his character. The focus is on Casey, who reacts atypically to the kidnapping and she becomes the character the story explores the most through flashbacks that increasingly make more sense as the film unfolds. Her strategy, if thats what it can be called, is acceptance of the kidnapping rather than the resistance demonstrated by the other two.
On the other side of the film is the exploration of Dennis’ relationship with his psychiatrist Dr Fletcher (played innocently and sympathetically by Betty Buckley). She receives constant cries for help in her e-mail box, which Dennis always denies when they actually meet. He plays it off as just feeling low and overwhelmed at the time. Dennis has been Dr Fletcher’s case study of Multiple Personality Disorder and, while she is sympathetic, she definitely has a vested interest as she sees her patient as making or breaking her career. She understands, despite Dennis’ protestations, that there is a war going on among Dennis’ personalities for who will become the dominant personality.
Like him or not, M Night is a master at cinematography. While his dialogue is smart, he definitely takes his time with the story. I find it an effective way to build tension, but I can see where some would be impatient with his pace. The beauty of his ability to frame a scene is sometimes breath taking if one is into that sort of thing. His strategic use of color to influence the mood of a scene and even in some cases to propel the story forward is a pleasure to observe. He utilizes the entire frame shot to make a statement that is sometimes more important than even the dialogue to move the story forward. It’s as powerful as I’ve seen from him since ‘Unbreakable’
For those of you who like stories grounded in realism, M Night takes a departure in the third act to the fantastical as the tensions between the personalities build towards the culmination of a consolidation of all the personalities cryptically referred to as ‘The Beast’. The race to discovery and escape against the arrival of ‘The Beast’ is excruciating. This is where M Night shines as he doesn’t rely on action or CGI to build suspense.
This film won’t make a lot of money at the box office, but it is a welcome return to form for M Night. I can see smaller budget, targeted films being an effective niche for him. I welcome this type of film making as not every film has to knock the box office out of the park to be worthwhile. Actually, I find the opposite as true art happens more often without Corporate interference than not. M Night is gifted and I think his long term contribution to the cinematic art form is better suited in this format. I will repeat my caution to Corporate marketing teams that I often have: Do not market a film as a different genre than it really is. You will disappoint audiences who come expecting something else. ‘Split’ is several steps above the horror flick it is promoted as. I feel the teen crowd would find this boring where as cinemaphiles, who would pass this over due to the trailers, would truly enjoy this. As always, M Night gives us a trademark twist ending that will delight longtime fans of his. I recommend this film to those who are nostalgic foe M Night’s return to his former mojo.
I give this film *** stars
