THE VISIT

US, 2015, 94 minutes, Colour.
Olivia De Jonge, Ed Oxenbould, Kathryn Hahn, Peter Mc Robbie, Deanna Dunagan.
Directed by M. Night Shayamalan.

M. Night Shayamalan, born in India, reared in the Philadelphia, has become something of a sign of contradiction in film critical circles. He was critically lauded for his first film, The Sixth Sense, an intriguing psychological drama with something of a supernatural twist. It has been the “something of a supernatural twist” which has been at the core of all the directors of films, including this one.

By 2006, especially with his Lady in the Water, Shayamalan had become a critical target, compounded with his successive, rather than successful, films, The Happening, the fantasy, Last Airbender and a rather doomed interplanetary adventure After Earth, with Will Smith and his son, Jaden. The Visit will probably not fare any better.

On the other hand, there is a public that goes to see his films, quite enjoys them without raving about them. They probably say that they didn’t mind seeing the films – which is the perspective of this reviewer. No great claims for the films, but not minding seeing them.

The film’s title is fairly straightforward. Two teenagers, wanting to give their mother, whose husband had abandoned her and the children several years earlier, some space to make something of her life. They decide to go to visit their grandparents, their mother’s parents, who had cut her off when she left home at the age of 19 and whom she has not seen since. So far, so ordinary.

However, the director has immediately introduced the making of a documentary, the daughter, aged 15, interviewing her mother and planning, quite efficiently at times, to film all that happens to her and to her brother, during the visit to the grandparents. The brother is younger and has quite a way with words, knowing his film vocabulary – and priding himself on his capacity for rap words and singing (twice during the film and once during the final credits).

What the director is also doing is following in the line of the “found footage” films, the seemingly amateur footage that is discovered, edited together, with some eerie scenes and some eerie results. This makes more sense in this film because the hand-held camera footage as well as the fixed camera are all part of the documentary which the audience more readily accepts.

One doesn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to suspect that there will be some strange happenings during the visit. While the grandparents are welcoming, the grandfather seems somewhat aloof, a farmer who seems a bit old for his work, and the surprising news that he and his wife act as counsellors at the local hospital. Nana is more welcoming and is a dab hand at cooking. But, Nana also exhibits quite some odd behaviour, especially after lights out at 9:30 pm. However, the children take it more or less in their stride but documenting it all in their film.

The days go by. They Skype their mother who is enjoying her time off. They go to town where the grandfather suddenly turns on a young man violently accusing him of stalking them. Some characters turn up at the door with information. Clues and strange events compound the eerieness of the household and the visit.

Of course, it has to build up to a more than eerie climax, the audience realising that the grandparents went off the deep end long since and are more than menacing (with a nice Hansel and Gretel episode with Nana enticing the daughter to get into the oven to clean it, twice, but this is just a distraction).

Deanna Dunagan’s Nana is a combination of the charming and nice with sudden mood changes. Peter Mc Robbie is just suspiciously sinister. Kathryn Hahn is the mother, quite effective in her scenes talking straight to camera about her life and the conclusions at the end of the visit. Surprisingly, the teenagers are played by Australian actors, believable as American children, Olivia De Jonge as the daughter and Ed Oxenbould as the brother (so effective in Paper Planes as well as Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Not Good, Very Bad Day).

This reviewer didn’t mind it.

1. The premise to the film? The visit? Sinister clues? Eerie atmosphere? The buildup to the climax?

2. The work of the director? His success with The Sixth Sense? Critical disapproval afterwards? Fans? His dealing with mysterious themes?

3. The title: straightforward story, the mornings and the nights, the sinister clues, and indications of trouble, change, the climax to the visit?

4. The device of the documentary? The effect of Loretta talking immediately to the camera, her personality, the information, leaving her parents at 19, her anger, her marriage, its failure, abandoned by her husband, with her children? The decision to film the documentary on the train? Meeting the grandparents, in the house, the variety of angles, placement of the camera, indication of days, moving in and out of camera range, the specific interviews, the glimpses of madness? Editing, the computer, looking at the footage? The climax? The aftermath with Loretta’s final interview?

5. The hand-held camera, the now tradition of ‘found footage’, and effective use of the devices? In terms of plot? In terms of scenes?

6. Becca and Tyler, the ages, life together, relationship with their mother, filming her, the idea of the visit, to give their mother’s freedom? Their experiences, coping? The language of filmmaking, documentary, Becca and her skills, Tyler and his knowledge?

7. Becca, her age, with the camera, the narration, her explanations? Her personality, with her mother, with Tyler, with each of the grandparents?

8. Tyler, younger, his ability at rap songs, his demonstrations, on the train, with his grandmother, the final credits? His not being good at sports, his story of play, freezing, its effect? His later freezing during the climax?

9. The grandparents, their appearance, seemingly nice, yet the sense of each? Meeting the train? The welcome? The house? Cooking the meals? The irony of Hansel and Gretel and Becca having to get into the oven, twice? the grandfather baling the hay? With the shotgun in his mouth? The grandfather being a touch aloof, everybody in bed at 930, the grandmother crawling, vomiting, her bizarre behaviour? The changes? In town, the man allegedly following and the grandfather’s accosting him? Stacey, her visit – increased hanging from the tree? The doctor’s visit and the stories about the grandparents and their counselling?

10. Becca and her attempts to get discussions about the past, manner and her going berserk? Becca telling the parallel story, the manner and her story of the aliens? Grandmother identifying with Becca’s story, offering forgiveness?

11. The grandfather, the last night, the board game, manic play? The grandmother eating the cookies?

12. Becca going to the basement, the search, the photos, the bodies? The grandfather trapping her?

13. Skype, communication with their mother, her enjoying herself, the exercise and dancing? The fears, the mother phoning the police?

14. The grandfather in the basement, confronting Becca, Tyler freezing? Becca in the room, with her grandmother, the mad struggle and the mirror glass?

15. Tyler, the background of his fear of germs, the grandfather and his nappies, in Tyler’s face, Tyler bashing him?

16. The rescue? Reunited with their mother?

17. Loretta’s final telling the story about leaving, having the capacity to ask forgiveness, advising her children not to hold the angers?

18. The final credits and Tyler’s rap?