SPLIT (2016)

Facing increasing budgets & diminishing returns, M. Night Shyamalan went back-to-basics on his last two films, with production costs in line with ‘craft services’ on critical write-offs like THE LAST AIRBENDER/’10. Perhaps too much back-to-basics since SPLIT turns out to be that old standby, the split-personality thriller. An actor’s delight for James McAvoy, gleefully sashaying about as 23 (plus one) personalities; and that extra one, pure violent, controlling ‘id,’ with a plan to kidnap two teenage girls that goes off course when a third girl, a misfit outsider type, comes along for the ride. Guess who makes it out alive? Meant to be scary, creepy, suspenseful, Shyamalan never gets much past unpleasant, before adding a risible self-referential twist tag as his curtain. Those who liked his early pics (or didn’t reject their surprise ‘reveals’), may still enjoy his odd habit of framing shots about 20% too close, or how he covers his tracking shots with generic ominous music cues. Others may be satisfied with just the trailer.

DOUBLE-BILL: Shyamalan’s little-known first film (a film school graduation project?), PRAYING WITH ANGER/’92, is a fascinating embrace of commercial filmmaking tropes & technique. The raw talent is astonishing, in spite of a story that has him playing an ultra-Americanized kid visiting India and single-handedly solving caste discrimination issues. The shining technical ability is jawdropping; the starry-eyed self-serving self-absorption maddening.