xchar Review of The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan

The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan (2004 TV Movie)

a beautifully crafted documentary (SPOILER)

[8/10 · 15 August 2004]

(This is a SPOILER only if you haven't read anything about the film.) Okay, so it didn't deliver what was promised (a real buried secret) and it was an hour too long. But director Nathaniel Kahn has a masterful command of the medium and the format. I didn't know beforehand whether it was factual or not, so I kept looking for "tells": little flaws that would reveal that it was scripted (for example, an actor moving their lips while another actor was speaking their lines). I never spotted such a lapse. Everyone was totally convincing--including Kahn and Shyamalan themselves. The geeky computer kid was great! Shyamalan's low-key reaction to the "invasion of privacy" was done just right. The casual introduction of key elements--crows, black cars on a country road--was handled nicely. I hope this documentary is included on the DVD--I want to watch it carefully again!