“Umbraree” is a Shyamalan movie! Throw away your preconceptions and believe in what you're seeing now! ※note! Contains spoilers.

Shyamalan's world combines thrills and laughter

Shyamalan himself has said that ``laughter'' is a very important element in his filmmaking. By making the audience laugh at seemingly sudden situations, he resets the audience's preconceptions and puts them in a state of limbo, where they don't know what will happen next. Shyamalan's idea is that this allows the audience to enjoy the work in a fresher way. Shyamalan even said, ``Horror that just scares the audience is like torture.''

At first glance, ``Umbraree'' may be mistaken for a very serious film (in that respect it is similar to David Fincher's `` The Game '' (1997)). If you put aside the absurd settings associated with "Immortality," it is a human drama that carefully depicts the misunderstandings between couples and families, and the dark but rich visual beauty created by cinematographer Eduardo Serra, known for his collaboration with director Patrice Lecomte. I can't help but be drawn to it. The film's reflections in glass, which suggest that Elijah is the American comic book villain "Mr. Glass," and the frequent use of long takes without interruptions contribute to the film's disturbing quality.

"Umbraree" preview

However, Shyamalan never makes films that rely solely on short-sighted images. A single work is made up of many layers of laughter, fear, emotion, and gimmicks. In that sense, ``Umbraree'' is a showcase for Shyamalan's cinematic techniques. We, the audience, tend to get blinded by prior information and preconceptions. However, as a fan of Shyamalan's films, I can assure you that ``Umbraree'' is a wonderful example of how to watch a movie without getting distracted by unnecessary things and ``trusting what you are watching!'' sea ​​bream.

Interview and text: Akira Murayama

Born in 1971. Writes articles for magazines, newspapers, movie sites, etc. Representative of “ShortCuts,” a review site for distribution-based works.

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