Split
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring James McAvoy, Betty Buckley, Anya Taylor Joy, Jessica Sula, and Haley Lu Richardson
Reviewed by Michael Dalton
[rating: 3/5]
Split, the new film by M. Night Shyamalan, has been a long time coming. Nonsensical tales about a delusional village, a swimming pool haunted by a blue-eyed tootsie, and a homicidal gust of wind have made up the bulk of his dreadful output over the last decade and thriller lovers were left scratching their noggins as to where Shyamalan’s had disappeared to. There has been some fun along the way. He dreamed up Devil, a delicious little who-is-Lucifer mystery set in a stranded elevator and The Visit had its moments but they did little to redeem his reputation. Now with Split, a nifty tale about a man with multiple personalities who kidnaps three girls, he’s found his talons again. Its layered, imaginative, and tense and he draws great performances from James McAvoy, Betty Buckley, and the ethereal Anya Taylor-Joy. God those eyes! If you saw her in last year’s spinetingler The Witch, you’ll appreciate her presence here.
The story opens with Dennis (McAvoy) kidnapping three teens, Claire (Haley Lu Richardson), Marcia (Jessica Sula), and Casey (Taylor-Joy). Dennis, the most stable of the twenty-three personalities that drive him, locks them up in some kind of bunker and treats them to appearances of his various “others”, a makeshift family he refers to as “The Horde”. There’s the formal Patricia in pearls and sensible skirts and Hedwig, a camp little nine year-old with a lisp. Then there’s Barry, the fey dress designer (we know he’s gay because he sits with his legs daintily crossed and flutters his eyelashes), who visits the group’s therapist, played earnestly by Buckley, and shows her sketches of his latest creations. But somewhere offstage and just itching to introduce himself is yet another personality Dennis ominously refers to as The Beast, a tall, fast, dangerous creature he knows to be the twenty-fourth member of his extended family.
There’s a touch of the old-fashioned about Split. It’s fun while it lasts, it gets high marks for atmosphere, there is some psychiatric insight buried in the folds of the story, and Shyamalan keeps a few fires burning, most notably Casey’s backstory that involves a sleazy uncle and hunting trips with her father. As is always the case with this trick-meister, he teases us with just how all of this is going to tie together. It looks set to be a mindblower (in the end its more of a psychological epiphany) but those expecting a Sixth Sense-style showstopper may feel a little short changed. Still, it has an inspired final moment (the audience I saw it with gave a delighted coo of recognition) and McAvoy looks to be having a fine old time (the role, rather than the ordinary screenplay, is an actor’s dream), morphing in and out of this curious gallery of nutcases. If there’s a disappointment its that we don’t get to meet more of them.
