By Alyson Powers
@m1sspowers
Has anyone ever invaded your space to the point you feel their breath on you, a stranger’s breath so close it’s a violation? You move away only to find the ambush happens again in the middle of your privacy. Sometimes people crowd in with the unwanted.
In a day where disagreements are on the rise to crowd inner peace, M Knight Shyamalan does not hold back on the uncomfortable.
And he makes a point. It’s natural to want to eradicate all differences and what seems bizarre. What others believe that you don’t. It feels like an invasion. And this is where our beloved director begins. With a knock at a peaceful cabin door.
M. Night Shyamalan (Director: Signs, The Sixth Sense) at the start twists your comfort level. Shyamalan makes you squirm to a point where you must look away, by using close ups so close you can see the skin cells on actor’s cheeks. And then to mix into the story the cutest little innocent girl, what could go wrong?
When four strangers show up to the cabin of parents, Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Mindhunter) Ben Aldridge (Fleabag, Toast) are forcibly made to make choices that have effects that could bring on or stop the apocalypse.
The leader of the strangers Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade Runner 2049) has explained to the family that they have been chosen and one of them must die for the good of all humanity. He and his group do all they can to enforce the will of their mission. The other members of the family Nikki Amuka-Bird (Jupiter Rising, The Outfit) and Rupert Grint (Harry Potter, Moonwalkers) warn the family that any resistance will be met with disastrous consequences.
M. Night Shyamalan (Director: Signs, The Sixth Sense) twists your comfort level to a point where you must look away, by forcing close ups so close you can see the skin cells on David Bautista’s cheeks.
Four strangers show up to the cabin of parents, Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Mindhunter) and Ben Aldridge (Fleabag, Toast), to forcibly persuade the two male lovers to make choices which have reparation effects if the proper sacrificial payment is made. Or. That could bring on the apocalypse.
The leader of the strangers Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade Runner 2049) has explained to the family they have been chosen and one of them must die for the good of all humanity. There’s an added condition you must watch to learn.
He and the other members of the small legion NikkiAmuka-Bird (Jupiter Rising, The Outfit) and Rupert Grint (Harry Potter, Moonwalkers), Abby Quinn (Black Mirror, Landline) warn the family of three that any resistance will be met with disastrous consequences.
And so the four intruders proceed to claim humanity in their deliverance of atonement, and, as anyone would imagine, this is not well received. It is the innocence of the family that poses the threat. Sadly, as the world falls away from everyone and from Grace, true punishment is left for the righteous people who are made to suffer for everyone else. I feel M Night try so hard to send this message. Not sure it quite makes it through, maybe, for someone like the ones who seek a director’s intent.
Of course you will feel the elevated imposition when pure innocence gently moves across the screen, defined by and exquisitely portrayed by Kristen Cui (Don’t Give Up). The cutest little girl ever. It seems M Night has a knack for stories to beheld by the bravery of children. As seen in “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs.” And he also understands the powerful mode of an audience under pressure in order to grip their attention.
Knock at The Cabin reaches for biblical Revelations reference and may or may not succeed. But he does succeed at the greatest attempt to give love to “both“ sides or all sides rather. The attempt is sweet albeit violent, (and I may be one of few to catch his intent from the tension-filled atmosphere at the cabin) but the differences of opinion and an abundance of animosity during recent days are too great for a mediocre film to overcome.
Maybe something was missed and a second watch might fix. Besides Bautista, Grint, and the signature stamp of Shyamalan appearing in his own films, the actors are fairly new faces.
It will —or at least it should make you think… watch #KnockAtTheCabin and spend time with your thoughts.
