Building a life upon a foundation of denial. Denial of the past, denial of pain, denial of truth, take your pick. Secrets everywhere, as thick as the trees. Shyamalan shows a lot of grace by allowing the motivations and nuances guiding his characters here color the film in equal parts hope, tragedy, and folly. Innocence cannot last forever.

This might be Shyamalan's best film. I thought I'd probably enjoy it, given how I've received all of his other works up to this point, but I didn't expect to like The Village this much going in. Feels like a combination of many of the best aspects from films throughout Shyamalan's career, even those made long after this one.

Strong performances, excellent shots, and a script that's both quirky enough to take me off guard in an almost whimsical way but strongly affecting once it locks in fully on its main plot. I'm not sure I'm onboard with some of the editing of scenes in the first quarter to third, but once everything coalesces in this film it's all great.

"You may run from sorrow, as we have. Sorrow will find you."