I’m a completely independent creator, and proud of it. No staff, no overlords. You can support me and my work directly here: www.patreon.com/CinemaStix Thank you for helping make this journey possible :) -Danny

Shyamalan is the Benjamin Button of cinema. Starts as a mature, developed auteur, grows into a promising student filmmaker.

It's heart-breaking watching Bruce speak with such clarity about the process of film-making.

Another similarity to Spielberg in Unbreakable is how Shyamalan considers the audience's POV when filming a scene. In the scene near the beginning where David is at the stadium and is chasing after the suspect, the camera can never quite see around the rounded walls of the stadium - the man is always just up ahead and out of the shot. Every time I saw this film in the theater nearly everyone in the audience leaned their head to one side as if they were trying to look around the corner, almost as if they were in the movie with David. It such a simple and and effective way to get the audience to buy into a story and is a technique that sadly seems to have been left behind.

Forcing your eyes to refocus every 3 seconds is a form of hypnosis.

As I recall, Shyamalan said he filmed Unbreakable this way because it was more like a comic book. Essentially that your average comic book only had so many panels with which to tell its story in so many pages, and that if you looked at a lot of them, there might be many lines of dialogue in text balloons over what would be a single static image on any given page (especially for exposition, when you're not focusing on emotional reaction). So basically, he was using the oner as a way to recreate the limited framing of the average comic book, and seeking to do what comics often did well with it as a result, which is to try and find the most dynamic framing of a scene possible while remaining completely still. What's interesting to me though is that Shyamalan wasn't the only person to think along this wavelength at the time. Because Ang Lee's Hulk film was also shot and edited to replicate an actual comic book. Using multi-cam footage to put multiple angles of a scene on a screen at the same time in order to replicate comic book panels for instance, and then literally transitioning from one scene to the next by freezing an image and crossing a "panel" to the next image in another. Whereas Unbreakable uses the idea of limited panels to mean limited numbers of shots, Lee uses the visual aesthetic of the panel itself, while including a great many shots in any given scene. What's fascinating to me is that you have two directors (both highly acclaimed at the time) and both inspired by the same general idea - to make a movie look more like an actual comic book, because both were directing "comic book movies" at the time - and they just took the concept in WILDLY different directions.

To me, this will always be Shyamalan‘s best work. The slow pace, the, deliberate camerawork, the inspiring score, Dunne‘s fight against depression. Wonderful stuff. It‘s up there with my all time favourites.

Unbreakable was ahead of its time in so many ways. I really do believe that had it come out like 10-15 years later, where social media and “superhero fatigue” were things, and more understood what it actually was, it would be more widely recognized for what it is; one of the best commercial films of the 21st Century.

When Shyamalan is at his peak, it is like reading a book. His movies unspool slowly and methodically. It’s pure bliss.

I think having longer shots is an art in and of itself because it requires the actors to actually act. I'm not saying the actors in clips like the one with Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver can't act (because they're of course both phenomenal actors). But with multiple cuts, that means several different shots from different takes can be spliced together and different line deliveries can be used. But if you have a raw, uncut, 20, 50, 100 second long scene, all you're left with is two people in a room together, acting with each other, sharing the space and bouncing off of each other. It brings it back down to the roots of stage acting, no cuts, just acting.

I will never forget watching Split opening weekend at a packed theater and absolutely losing my mind at the ending with maybe 10 other audience members and we all stood outside explaining to other strangers that it was a secret sequel to Unbreakable. The power of movies, man. One of my favorite theater experiences. M. Night was in his bag with that one.

I was really looking forward to this one. Just how almost light and slow this movie was. Every scene felt like you were there watching real life. His best movie; in my opinion.

This is the most underrated superhero movie in history - most people didn’t even realize it was actually a super hero movie until it was over.

I was only 12 or 13 when this came out and it was the first film that ever made me feel differently than everything else I was allowed to see. My family basically only watched action movies full of A-list stars and quick cuts. When we left the theatre and my family hated it I was so disappointed. It was the most beautiful and touching film I'd ever seen.

M. Night showed such restraint and promise as a filmmaker back then. I’m glad he’s able to do his own thing now as a director, but I wish he had someone to reign him in and polish his scripts. Unbreakable was such a revelation when it came out. I wish a studio like DC would take a chance to replicate it with some character. You don’t need a big budget either

Yeah, i remember when movies were actually watchable and didn't fatigue the eyes, and you wouldn't miss important information because you looked away for one second....oh and you could also actually hear the dialogue CLEARLY regardless of the score or SFX blaring at 110Db.

I love the longer shots. It makes the actor put effort into the scene, but not just that, you get to see other things that are normally taken out. Their reaction of being handed a something, facial expressions, the feelings and emotions in that moment, and more.

One of favorite movies of all time! I love his explanation for the film: he was writing a typical 3-Act superhero movie, but every time he tried to write the 2nd Act, he kept wanting to flesh out the first Act more until he eventually decided to just make a full movie of just the first Act. I LOVE the slow pace of the film as it keeps us unsure about what is happening. Instead of telling us eveything, it lets us discover things along with the protagonist.

I remember my first time watching this film, I was hooked, I couldn’t stop rewatching it. The fact that Elijah almost always appears through a reflection/some kind of glass absolutely blew me away as a little motif to sort of emphasise his fragility. I pointed it out to my dad and he said he didn’t even notice, which actually made me appreciate the film even more. It’s super subtle and you don’t pick up on it until you realise how well the shots are crafted. I watched it when I was a lot younger and think it was probably this film that opened my eyes, got me hooked on movies and made me realise just how far you could push creativity and sneak little themes into stories. Great video, I might have to give Unbreakable another rewatch! Thanks :,)

I always felt the shot length and framing in Unbreakable evoked the breakdown of comic pages with every shot being a square on the page.

Rarely has a director been so capable of such a wide spectrum of quality...

Another day, another praise for my favorite director. Even when his films aren’t that good, I still respect this absolute knockout artist. Dude is such a visionary. Love M. night so much

What I like about the extended shot length is how much *like a comic book* the film feels. You put all the characters in a scene in a frame, and then put all the dialog in that scene in various bubbles, but the frame, generally, remains the same. The long shots give that feeling and allows drama and tension to build in a way rapidly cut shots can't compare to.

I always felt that this movie was ''different''. I really think those long shots slows the movie and gives it a ''pondering'' vibe.

Everyone who's interested in this should watch Andrei Tarkovsky's "Stalker" from 1979. The movie had 142 shots in total, averaging over 1 minute per shot with some shots being over 4 minutes long. It's absolutely mindblowing, one of the most hypnotic films I've ever seen and really one of a kind. The pacing just brings you in like nothing else. "Stalker" is one of the most influential sci-fi movies of all time and is also the godfather of "anomaly-styled" games such as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. , Metro 2033 and movies like Annihiliation.

I really appreciate you making this. Ever since I saw this film at the age of 9 or 10, I have often remembered seeing Bruce Willis getting up out of the hospital bed, seeing something moving up and down in the foreground, and slowly realizing that is a man’s dying breaths, and understanding something in a pure emotion that few other filmmakers have been able to conjure. What a brilliant film, I’ll forgive Shyamalan anything for the rest of his career.

This is such a well written essay. I didn't even know how to begin putting my thoughts about Unbreakable's storytelling style into words back when it came out.

I love the subtle superhero hints, like putting his raincoat (which is basically the hero suit in which he does good deeds) back to the locker. I love the pacing, the quiet, the tension. Excellent film.

M Night used this technique in The Sixth Sense also. It completely exposes actors, both good and bad. Watching each actor is like watching a tightrope walker ... the tiniest error can be clearly seen. Willis is amazing and this movie is how you can tell he's one of the greats. Same with Jackson. Others not quite as much. M Night's shot setups here are absolutely brilliant and mesmerizing. I've found myself hit rewind quite a few times just to watch them again. They immerse you in the world of the movie, it feels like real life but more fantastical, like a comic book. Thought is put into everything: angles, zoom, pan, focus, but the camera stays in one place, just as if you were an observer. Please everyone make more movies that are superhero or thriller or fantasy or horror or sci fi but shot as art house films. The Arrival and Dune are other great examples of this approach.

Films like Unbreakable are why even after so many terrible movies, I still like Shyamalan as a filmmaker. When he's good, he's really damn good!

What many don't talk about is the shapes and colors in the film. Bruce willis is represented by the colors green and yellow, when he is trapped he is in a square framing, until he finds himself. Willi's character is represented by circle and liquidity. Mr. Glass is the opposite, his colors are blue and purple, he controls people in blue, his shape and framing is square. Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson are yin and yang, or hero and nemesis, they are conjoined opposites. To me this is one of the most perfectly shot movies ever made.

I think Shyamalan's style of directing with such "oners" was subconsciously (if not outright) the reason why he was compared to Spielberg back in the day. Another OG video essay channel, probably Every Frame a Painting, also had a similar video on Spielberg's oners, which I'm sure you've watched. They're shot in a way that feels so natural and that causes you to be more involved in the scene and in the story. These "oners" don't necessarily call attention towards themselves. This was more so the case with Spielberg than Shyamalan. Curious to know what you thought of his efforts with Split and Glass?

I honestly am truly amazed a film like Unbreakable actually exists. There's quite literally nothing else like it in ALL of cinema.

Great film. On a side note, M. Perry (RIP) told a pretty funny story about spending an entire evening/night partying with Shyamalan, only to find out in the end that the dude wasn't the director, just a random lookalike. The dude was happy as a clam though.

Speaking of long shots-there's a scene near the end of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in which the camera lingers on the face of Jack Nicholson's character for what seems like A LONG TIME. There's no music, just ambience, and Jack's face shifting through several emotions as he reflects on the previous night's escapades and what that might mean for his future. It's one of my favorite scenes in cinema. Brilliantly acted.

Agreed, I've always loved this film. At the time I didn't realize it was shot length that differentiated it, but it works so well to contrast most superhero films and shows. I love how real it feels, how it supports the idea that its inconceivable Bruce's character is special, that ultimately the character isnt fantasical but exceptional... Admittedly with his own 6th sense, but otherwise just exceptional.

As an aside, can we just admire how good the film looks! Shooting on film definitely gives it a certain aesthetic.

Unbreakable is one of my favorite films of all time. Sentimentally that father son moment with the newspaper near the end makes me tear up every time.

This was always my favorite Shyamalan film, but it hadn't occurred to me that a big part of it could be the visual storytelling just by way of camera motion or camera cuts (or the lack thereof). I love to learn something new so kudos, great work.

This was great! The thumbnail just showed Bruce Willis and the title I thought it was going to go over films in general, I'm more than pleased I found this as I didn't think I could appreciate Unbreakable more than I already did!

Somehow I had completely forgotten about Unbreakable. I saw it opening night in the theater and many times since that day, but it's definitely been a while. Thank you so much for this brilliant work of yours. It rekindled my love of older style cinema and the scene with his wife asking him the question at the door moved me to tears. As you said, Tarantino called it a Masterpiece, what an absolutely true statement. Liked and shared. Godspeed. 🙏🏼🌟

Unbreakable seemed a movie where the director wanted to prove that he could say everything without the actors help. It was brilliant.

I LOVED Unbreakable. It really gives a PoV of someone coping with depression, but finding metaphorical (and literal!) strength and endurance through spiritual pain. I can relate to that because I was hit with bed-ridden depression after my longtime ex-girlfriend cheated on me. But then I found an outlet (ironically) by designing superhero and villain characters that somehow reflected aspects of my life. It was like holding a spiritual mirror to myself. It showed my who I once was, and who I could still be. I could "groom" myself in that mirror. Over time, my confidence restored, and I started doing martial arts and taking long walks, just absorbing nature and the simple things in life. I made new friends, got into regular partying, became reasonably extroverted, and not long after, became a DJ. Finally; I got control over my life. Through character design, I turned the mistakes in my life into clouds. Props if you get that reference. So I consider myself something between Mr. Glass and David Dunne. I started out frail and cynical, but became strong and found my calling.

I love and agree with everything about this except for one small part. at 3:45 when Willis answers the door. Yes it's true that it is indeed a depiction of her characters experience that matters, but what we (the viewer) are actually experiencing is Willis's PERCEPTION of her experience. That is why we see her face and not Willis's. Her cathartic display is meant for each one of us, as a viewer, to interpret it as we see it based on our own emotional experience, which is to say, the means to most successfully nurture the deepest sense of empathy towards the characters themselves :) Pure magic.

Always held this one above Sixth Sense and it's in a select group of 10/10 movies for me.

Something I always loved about Unbreakable. (And I hope I'm remembering correctly.) There is the famous scene where his son almost shoots him. If a lesser director/writer made this movie today, the climax would have had the bad guy shoot him and reveal David is invulnerable. But the fight scene we got instead feels very raw and even more heroic. I think I last watched this film a couple years ago and it held up extremely well. One of my top ten favorite movies of all time.

As soon as you said superhero movie from 2000 I had to pause the video to watch it. I just finished the movie and then your video.. what a great decision it was. This Movie had me intensely staring at the screen throughout the whole movie. I was totally captivated by the story, the characters and the Visuals. Your video afterward gave me a bigger insight and appreciation for the movie and was as always interesting and entertaining, thank you!

The pacing really allows to emotion to breath and grow in the most delicate way possible... people with Shyamalan often thinks about the "twist" and the "thriller" of his films, but his unique capacity to portray deep emotions and stories about people is totally overlooked

I had a strong dislike of this film my first time through….but I associate that being late to the theater and missing the first 5 minutes. Watched from the beginning later and was absolutely dazzled. The supertitle at the beginning discussing comic books put it into an entirely new perspective. These long shots were almost exactly like reading the story in a graphic novel where the still picture has to convey a great deal and you only get so many frames per page. Brilliant.

Your channel makes movie nights in our household easier! After consuming your content we will seek out the films you feature and enjoy them in new ways thanks to your expert ability to introduce concepts and demonstrate them in immersive but easily understood ways! Thank you!

The comic book format was also an inspiration for the long shots, Shyamalan wanted each scene to feel like it was taken from a comic book frame - I believe he says this himself in the DVD commentary I watched when it first came out on DVD. It really is a great movie.

To be fair to Ghostbusters Afterlife it had one of my favorite shots from the series in it, at the hardware store. Instead of cutting between Callie and the store owner, the camera was positioned so we can see both her getting paint supplies and the owner at the register at the end of the isle, tracking down the isle with her as they have their conversation. It wasn't a gimmicky "director flexing" long take either, just a reasonable length shot.

"The average shart length of a Hollywood film..."

Unbreakable is still one of my most favorite movies of all time. Your analysis of the shot length and the point of view of the shots really highlights what makes it different.

Dude, you make me want to watch movies and appreciate the artistry (or in some cases, lack of it) involved

i’m always trying to pin point the differences between films of 1900s and today and what made them feel so much more artistic and this is definitely a major component

I’d really love to see your take on Signs.

I remember seeing this when I was quite young, and the immediacy and realness of it impressed me in a way other film's hadn't. There's a scene early in the movie, where the mother tries to comfort the kid with snacks while they wait for news of their father's fate, that really hit home to me. You feel that kid's dread as much as if you were sitting right there with him, and although I didn't realize it at the time, it's clear the cinematography plays a key role in immersing the audience in moments like these.

Previously I have given cinematography approximately no thought, but this was really interesting and educational.

i think it's funny that even film-focused video essays like this, which are clearly adept at identifying the technical formulations of cinematic language and how they emphasize or construct a particular thematic viewpoint, still follow the beat-for-beat conventions of a video essay style (over a decade old at this point) so methodically as to become become formally indistinguishable. it doesn't necessarily undermine the point, but guess what? video essays also have an associated set of discursive strategies and formal limitations that can be manipulated to emphasize or reinforce certain viewpoints or individual personalities, and churning out the same basic thematic/aesthetic regime for every single film-related criticism shows a real lack of creative self-reflection

Interesting. The length of a movie shot is something I've never really considered until recently. There is a musical artist known as 'Ren' and he does his videos in a single take. That is 8 minutes + of continual performance for something like 'Hi Ren' or for any of his other videos (like the Money Game trilogy/Violet's tale/the story of Jenny and Screech). And these are performances - he is not simply singing. They are - and I use the term sparingly - awesome...

I have probably seen this movie 20 times in the theater. I live in a really small town and this was the one thing playing for months while I dated this girl. We needed a place to make out so we bought a ticket just about every Friday and Saturday for a long time and our parents just thought we liked to watch movies. I liked it whenever we actually looked up.

I remember seeing Unbreakable at the cinema back in the day. Didn't really know what to expect but it had a huge impact on me.

great analysis. one of my favourite films. i think Split was a great way to do a sequel. by setting up the villain using the horror movie genre. i was severely disappointed by the ending of Glass, which sours unbreakable a little

I personally consider Unbreakable to be Bruce Willis’ best movie. Die Hard is a close second and Hudson Hawk third.

i love how the scene at 2:43 is lit. both characters are in the frame, but the way his face is in shadow while hers is softly lit emphasises her reactions/experience

M. Night Shyamalan reminds me of the last scene in moneyball. People like to clown on him and he seems so hurt by that. But what I hope he realizes, is he is actually amazing and every knows that!

I hate to be pedantic, but gently - these are ‘long takes’. ‘Long shots’ are when the characters are positioned far away from the camera, often also called ‘wide shots’. Love the video though!

Absolutely love Unbreakable. Only thing I don’t like about it is the very end with the text on the screen explaining what happened to the characters. Every thing else captivates me.

God I love this channel. The topics, the depth of knowledge, the insights, the exposure to new films and I can't not mention the delivery! Almost sombre in tone, but deeply relaxing, has a way of penetrating straight into my brain. One of the few channels that I sit on my hands and wait for the next upload.

Damn

Dog you don’t have to change the thumbnail and title a hundred times we get it you have a new video Jesus

I always felt like this movie was a masterpiece. Not only cinematically but also in storytelling. I love that it's real, and you don't realize what's going on until the end.

AGH that lateral shot across the table at 3:08 is one of my favorites

Can you do a video about the show Sherlock?

Unbreakable was my favorite movie as a kid, glad to see it getting some love as one of the less talked about Shyamalan movies.

I would really like a video on where the cut in these long-shot films is actually made. Sometimes its hidden but often it feels, when the director decides to take on long durational shots the actual cut must be set with a whole lot of ideas in mind

I rewatched the Batman the Dark Knight recently and was annoyed by how quick the shots were. I had remembered it having so much more depth and mood, when this go around while watching, it was just fast past jump cut to jump cut, and then movie over. Side Note: the scene where Batman goes to save Rachel but it turns out to be Harvey, right when you see Batman open the door of the warehouse, you can hear Harvey start to scream "NO NO Not me!" But you couldn't see him yet (cause he is laying on the floor having fallen out of his chair), so you didnt know if he was in the room or over the shared speaker they were previously talking through. This scene starts with an over the shoulder tracking shot behind Batman, and if they had just stayed with that single shot until Harvey came into full view laying in the gassonline, it would have been so much more impactful. In addition would have laid more narritive behind his face being burnt the way it was. Currently its just a 3 second shot of him rolling face down in the gasoline. There was so much more that could have been done with that scene and many others. Making us feel hopeless rather than telling us there was no hope. That Batman chose the wrong warehouse to go to, and his choices had consequences. A simple long shot show all the barrles around him, us discovering alongside Batman that the Joker tricked all of us, and that Rachel was going to die. Then hearing her voice over the speaker as the ran out. Poetry!

One of the things I love about Shyamalan movies is the way he uses reflections.

I love these shots, I love Unbreakable and man its great to see Bruce in his prime

I wish they made more like Unbreakable! Yes, we had Split and Glass, but they were their own movies, telling their own story. I also don't think unbreakable got nearly enough praise.

Maan. I love Bruce Willis. Prayers to him and his family during his time of need. 😢 Excellent breakdown!!!!

One of the greatest movies ever made. Slow, methodical, well built. My favorite M Night movie.

I never knew this about the movie and its long shots. I won't be able to forget it now! Very nice video. Explains so much. Cheers

Unbreakable is one of my all-time favorites. Beautifully shot, powerful story, music, and message. Thank you for your insights, and I will watch it again with fresh eyes.

I saw this in the theater when it came out and have never stopped singing its praises. So unique.

Now I know why I love the golden age movies so much! Help lengthen my attention span.

I really enjoyed your perspective on this. Unbreakable is definitely one of my favorites, and the cinematography (shot selection, look, etc) are part of that, but I hadn't considered what he did with length of shots. When David and his son kind of freeze in that "don't take another sip of that water" scene, the tension was certainly compounded by the camera work. The tilted shots and tilted posture of Mr. Glass were also notable, and akin to classic comic books.

Unbreakable is one of my top 10 favorite movies, its hard to explain what it makes me feel to watch it. Its got this perfect combination of factors

shout out to bruce willis. what an actor.

can't believe i'm just finding this channel. so glad this was recommended to me by yt. by the gods this content I want. cheers

Unbreakable is a criminally underrated movie. Its not talked about enough. One of Bruce Willis' best performances. Tarantino said it best, the movie just wasn't advertised well and that's what hurt its popularity.

Most comprehensive explanation ofna technique i never knew existed. I knew this movie was special. Now i know why. Thank you danny.

I TOTALLY agree. One of my favorites, slower shots, they just work better for bringing you into the world where the story is told. 1917 is another wonderful example of this. But there was so much more that Shyamalan does with this movie and the overall message... it works on many layers. I struggle to find a moment in cinema that more sends chills throughout my body like the scene where David Dunn follows the sociopathic murderer to the top of the stairs and almost turns around but stops and decides to follow him on into the house, to confront him. By the time that happens, I am so in the world of the movie that I'm right there with him, feeling his fears, his doubts... and then his choice and his resolve. It's a full synchronization of emotion. I left the theater wondering what amazing gifts I might have buried under my desire to be normal. What could I be the best at that I never had the courage to really push myself to master? It really is one of the greatest films, despite its abrupt ending.

Sad to see Bruce Willis getting old and probably will not return for the Unbreakable lore!

This is one of my favorite movies, I've always wondered why. Thank you for explaining to me why it is so intriguing to me, it was how the movie was shot.

I've always loved this film. There is such a level of artistry going on in every single moment of it.

this film isn't talked about nearly enough. His best in my opinion. It deserves a re-release because it would hit so much better now after all the superhero fatigue.

I've been loving Unbreakable for almost a quarter of a century, I must have watched it half a dozen of times, and I know editing, and yet, your video managed to make me love it EVEN MORE. Yes, to me, it's not "one of Shyamalan's best films", it's HIS best film, hands down, no matter how much I love Sixth Sense. 3:59 I remember being puzzled by that scene, the first time I saw it. I was like... "something is conventionally missing (= reverse shots of the protagonist), and yet, the scene works, how the hell is that...?!"

Mr Glass' leg shattering scene is masterful.