A trending Flickering Myth article makes the case that “It’s Long Overdue to Hail M. Night Shyamalan as One of the Great Filmmakers.” Hard disagree. “Knock at the Cabin” is a return to form for him, but who are we kidding here? Maybe the Cahiers writers would go along and agree with the Flickering Myth article.
However, he’s definitely earned his right to make whatever film he damn well pleases to make. A filmmaker who has basically lured mainstream audiences, for close to three decades, to buy a movie ticket solely due to his name being stamped on the trailer and poster.
The good news is that he’s just 52, which is relatively young for a director with his body of work. I find he’s become better, technically-speaking, at his craft and we could probably expect some more strong films from him in the years to come.
So, what’s his best film? I’m of the mindset that he peaked very early with “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable.” The Cahiers du Cinema high-brows will tell you that “The Village,” “Split” and, yes, “Lady in the Water” are his best. He’s polarizing like that.