Pass the Popcorn: Movies from where I Sit

Poor M. Knight Smalayan.  He went from "The Sixth Sense" adulation to god knows what.  I haven't even seen any of his films since that awful one where everyone's committing suicide because of the trees.  Two of my favorite actors, Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel were in it, and I felt embarassed for them.  My husband loves "Lady in the Water", and we own "The Village", though it's a one trick pony, but the only two we can agree on are "Sixth" and "Signs".  I like "Unbreakable", but then Samuel L. Jackson is fascinating to me, but not enough for my husband to watch it.  But I'll always have a place in my heart for "Signs".

First off, the actors are perfect:  Mel Gibson as the pastor and widower, Joaquin Phoenix as his younger brother who was a baseball player, Abigail Breslin as the tiny daughter, David Caulkin as the son and Cherry Jones as the sheriff.  Thinking of what's happened to Gibson is sad, but that role was his apex, and he really could act.  People forget that.  Set in Amish country outside Philadelphia, a family struggling with grief and fear and loss is confronted by an alien invasion.  The corn field is made into a pattern overnight, and there are strange sounds and the dogs bark like something's up.  How this broken family copes and redeems itself in the process is the beautiful plot.  It's scary and hilarious at the same time.  I love seeing Phoenix do comedy like this, and wish he would more often.  He needs to be in a Wes Anderson movie.  The tension and the fondness you feel for these characters is powerful.

There are scenes I will never forget:  Phoenix, Breslin and Caulkin with aluminum foil cones on their heads to keep the aliens from reading their thoughts, the tender care the dad takes with the son when he has an asthma attack.  I love the scene when Jones has to tell Gibson his wife is dying.  Her compassion in the film engenders ours. 

This sci fi owes something to Steven Speilberg's "ET" and "Close Encounters", but it stands on its own firm feet as a film about how we handle adversity, and whether we tear each other apart or rise to the occasion.  It's a loving family film that ironically is not for kids.  Too scary.  He's addressing us parents directly, and on our side, unlike Speilberg, who shows parents as incompetent and blind.  Depending on your mood, you can slide one or the other into the DVD player.