Nicole Kidman is Grace, a mother of two living in Jersey, England, in an old house, with her two children. The children are fatally sensitive to sunlight. When her old servants mysteriously disappear and three new servants come to replace them, Grace begins to suspect the presence of others in the house.
Young Alejandro Amenabar, directs his first Hollywood movie with extraordinary care and style. Others is stylish and beautiful like an old painting. It is also faded and confused. It is also very scary. Mr. Amenabar uses the knowledge that we are frigtented more by what we don't see than what we do. He keeps you guessing and make you go in different directions before leading you to the ultimate right track.
This is a picture for Nicole Kidman. Brilliant performance worthy of accolades. She dresses up like Ingrid Bergmen and managers to look as pretty. She is nutty and disturbed, scared, energetic and pathetic -- all at the same time. It is rare to see such class in neurotic behavior.
The movie uses light as its second most important character. Though the movie is shot almost entirely in candlelight ( because of the childrens' condition) the role of light -- its presence and absence are brilliantly filmed. The movie uses soft tones of an English village as a perfect setting for a horror movie. But it also uses occassional bright light sunlight and lamps to highten the dread. Light breathes. It comes and goes and has a mind of its own.
Her two children are played by two young actors, a boy and a girl and they are some of the most likeable children you will see. The movie does start like Henry James's classic, 'The Turn of the Screw', but soon changes tracks. The children are smart and naughty. Are they driving their mother crazy?
The Others takes a lot of time to set itself up. Maybe too much. It pays attention to details and does leave a few holes. However, it is reasonably convincing in the twist at the end. You are genuinely surprised and pleased.
The Others begs comparison to Mr. Shyamalan's 6th Sense. This is the biggest flaw in the movie. "The world of the Living and the Dead gets mixed up", a character in the Others says. But we have heard that before and chewed on that before.
Young Alejandro Amenabar, directs his first Hollywood movie with extraordinary care and style. Others is stylish and beautiful like an old painting. It is also faded and confused. It is also very scary. Mr. Amenabar uses the knowledge that we are frigtented more by what we don't see than what we do. He keeps you guessing and make you go in different directions before leading you to the ultimate right track.
This is a picture for Nicole Kidman. Brilliant performance worthy of accolades. She dresses up like Ingrid Bergmen and managers to look as pretty. She is nutty and disturbed, scared, energetic and pathetic -- all at the same time. It is rare to see such class in neurotic behavior.
The movie uses light as its second most important character. Though the movie is shot almost entirely in candlelight ( because of the childrens' condition) the role of light -- its presence and absence are brilliantly filmed. The movie uses soft tones of an English village as a perfect setting for a horror movie. But it also uses occassional bright light sunlight and lamps to highten the dread. Light breathes. It comes and goes and has a mind of its own.
Her two children are played by two young actors, a boy and a girl and they are some of the most likeable children you will see. The movie does start like Henry James's classic, 'The Turn of the Screw', but soon changes tracks. The children are smart and naughty. Are they driving their mother crazy?
The Others takes a lot of time to set itself up. Maybe too much. It pays attention to details and does leave a few holes. However, it is reasonably convincing in the twist at the end. You are genuinely surprised and pleased.
The Others begs comparison to Mr. Shyamalan's 6th Sense. This is the biggest flaw in the movie. "The world of the Living and the Dead gets mixed up", a character in the Others says. But we have heard that before and chewed on that before.