In this week's Expatica cinema section - in collaboration with Picturenose - James Drew sees our species threatened in 'The Happening' and straps on his safety harness for 'The Alps'.

The Happening
It's strange - the exalted expectation ahead of every new would-be Hitchcockesque M. Night Shyamalan effort seems usually based on amnesia concerning the last film he made (which, quite frankly, is amazing, when you consider just how woeful both Lady in the Water (2006) and The Village (2004) were) and a kind of long-term collective eulogising over how good his first film, The Sixth Sense (1999) supposedly was.

Listen up, people - here's the news. The Sixth 'What-on-earth-is-the-twist-going-to-be-I-See-Dead-People-oh-yeah-right' Sense was by and large overacted and overrated and Shyamalan's lesser-raved pics, Unbreakable (2000) and Signs (2002) are in fact far more nuanced, subtle evocations of weirdness and wibbly-wobblies.

Having got that off my chest, what of The Happening? Harumph. It starts well enough - reminiscent of Stephen King’s recent not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper end-of-the-world novel, Cell (presently in pre-production), Shyamalan’s vision of a (supernatural? That would be telling) local, inexplicable apocalypse is genuinely disturbing at the outset - people stop dead in their tracks, begin to spout gibberish, then kill themselves, a central MacGuffin that serves to provide suitable shocks throughout proceedings, with a mass building-jump a particular standout.

And, wouldn’t you know it, but New-York based science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), who seems really down with the kids, man, is just delivering a lecture to his students on an inexplicable natural event (mass bee disappearance), when the bad news reaches his school. Deciding to follow government instructions and evacuate the city with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), with whom his relationship is presently somewhat vexed, the scale of ‘The Happening’ begins to take on species-threatening characteristics, as more and more of the East coast region is affected. To make matter more complicated, his best-friend’s daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) is also in tow - is doom en route?

Despite its intriguing concept, the flick suffers enormously from a strained Shyamalan script, leading to a severe credibility gap concerning the husband-wife pairing at the film’s core. You simply don’t/can’t buy them as a married couple, which undermines any suggestion that they’re having ‘marital’ problems, which in turn removes any sense that either really cares for the other, destroying audience empathy as a result.

Furthermore, the only really scary aspect (namely, that the horrific event may be inexplicable) is weakened by the director’s decision to name a ‘culprit’. I know that Shyamalan’s appeal is usually based on twist-expectations, so, much as I want to, I won’t spoil the ‘revelation’ but, really, M. Night does all the damage to his own work anyway, with a denoument (in France, would you believe?) that gives new meaning to ‘tacked on’.

Any good stuff? As I said, it starts well, there’s an excellent shock cut at one point, and a very good performance is coaxed from young Sanchez as the terrified child in peril but, really, that’s about your lot. Disappointing, but (see first paragraph), we’re getting used to that from Shyamalan.
91 mins.


The Alps
It's a slight departure to recommend The Alps - it's an IMAX feast for the senses, combining stunning, huge-screen images of the Swiss mountains with the moving journey of mountaineer John Harlin III, detailing his efforts to climb the dangerous North Face of the Eiger, the same mountain that took his father's life 40 years previously. Directed by Stephen Judson, the film adroitly blends Harlin's true-life drama with occasional educational elements, following Harlin's expedition from start to finish. Its attempt to present every aspect of the Alps, from the quaint mountain villages to bungee-jumping off a high dam seems a touch trite and unfortunately detratcts from what might have been a more focused perspective on Harlin's journey itself, but this is nevertheless a breathtaking voyage.
45 mins.

James Drew

'Expatica's weekly cinema-review section is brought to you in collaboration with Picturenose.com'  

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(expatica 2008)

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