Split: the twenty-four personalities of Kevin (and a review)

Three Young women are kidnapped by a deranged man named Kevin who suffers from multiple personalities (twenty-three to be exact). As they try to escape the cellar they are kept in they soon find that there is a danger looming in the near future: Kevin’s personality twenty-four is about to manifest itself. 

Is M. Night Shyamalan back? That’s probably the first question people will ask over the course of the next ten years. I mean, with Avatar: the last airbender, Lady in the water and The Happening M. Night has made such a strong case that he completely lost his storytelling touch that this actually became a legitimate question.

However, as I wrote before in my review of The Visit, I don’t think he ever lost his touch. M. Night Shyamalan is simply a talented man that needs a good producer. Don’t give him free reign or he will create something abysmal as Lady in the water. And also don’t give him a massive budget for a movie with CGI spaceships and whatnot because he doesn’t know what to do with it.

So Blumhouse productions is a perfect fit for him. Small budgeted movies which force him to use his creativity on a penny.

And this is exactly what he showed us in his last two outings. The Visit and now Split are master classes of telling a thrilling story without needing to rely on a big budget. Much more comfortable for M. Night. And much more pleasing on the eyes for this amateur reviewer.

Having said that: Is M. Night back? I would say that, for me, he managed to regain enough goodwill to imagine a sunny future ahead. But he’s not there yet, there’s still doubt.

The cinematography

I especially liked the framing in the various session-scenes between the psychiatrist and Barry.

As pretty much all of M. Night’s movies his main tropes are back with a vengeance. Yes the movie takes place in Philadelphia. Yes, there are various reflection-shots in the picture. Yes, there are basements. And, yes, M. Night simply can’t help himself giving himself a cameo.

But, especially concerning the latter, there’s more an ‘air’ of giving what the audience expects whilst staying true to the movie than there’s any sense of groveling  in it.

It’s fun to notice that M. Night’s movies have been gradually getting smaller and smaller (I’ll excluded  Avatar and After Earth). The Sixth sense had the entire city of Philadelphia as its playing field. Split, in contrast, is pretty much a locked room thriller. So with such a small set M. Night gets to have a lot of fun with the camera. Finding the right angle. Switching between POV and observer. Each scene in Split is (camera wise) well thought out to make the best of the sets and the actors in them.

 One thing I did notice though is something that can easily explode in some feminist discussion.

I loved how the Claire-character immediately decided to fight back. These young women will not be victims.

Yet, at the same time the plot does demand for them to lose most of their clothing. So strong women in their panties for people to goggle at. Thus, the stripping down felt a bit forced to me. To please the male members of the audience as it were. But, then again, Ripley defeated an Alien in her panties and she’s as strong as they come.

Now, M. Night Shyamalan can make a scene scary, no problem. But usually he prefers a slow burn sense of unease. That’s Split in a nutshell. It never truly becomes a standardized thriller (there are hardly any jump scares)  but it gets under your skin and stays there and the camera serves that purpose perfectly.

The acting

Anya Taylor-Joy has quite a difficult part when you think about it. As in the end it becomes very clear why this girl made some (as it turns out) bad choices early on. Now a lot of this acting is helped by plot and the Kuleshov effect.

The tendency of audience members to project interpretations onto a blank canvas.

But little looks and small hesitations in the voice does elevate the character of Casey into a well rounded character who is introvert, angry and confused.

Which is, in turn, a nice scriptural contrast with Bette Buckley’s Karin Fletcher: Kevin’s psychiatrist. She’s open, very sharp and utterly convinced of the path she’s on. This (along with the color pallet surrounding the two characters) balances the movie quite nicely as it moves closer and closer to the finale.

Buckley plays Fletcher in a way I can only describe as a loving grandmother who doesn’t want to be a grandmother. She has no intention of slowing her life down and this drive for her profession shines from he every scene this character is in.

The other two girls Casey is locked up with (Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula playing Claire Benoit and Marcia respectively) are well rounded as well but, in the end, only serve as a means for the final confrontation between McAvoy and Taylor-Joy.

I think it also helps that James McAvoy is such a charming man.  Because, basically, Kevin is mad as a hatter yet still you care for him in the end.

And then there he is: James McAvoy. He is the main attraction of this movie and rightfully so. He plays his character’s various personalities with such dedication and glee that he effortlessly steals every scene he’s in.

If you just imagine a page of the script which has four of these personalities (let’s say Dennis, Barry, Hedwig and Kevin); that might be an easy read. But for an actor to switch between these characters and make it clear for the audience that it’s now ‘another person’ talking is quite a feat.

McAvoy manages with a good control of his voice and accent and subtle expressive changes. Through that he creates a nice balance between a silly goof and a highly dangerous person. Very impressive.

However, the two personalities of Dennis and Hedwig are so different that this ‘changeover’ between them would result in such a stark contrast that –I think- the script sometimes uses another personality to smooth the transition over. If this suspicion of mine is the case I herald it as a brilliant move.

The story

The story is pretty good. As always in M. Night’s better movies the character development is the main part of the script. We spend a lot of time in the heads of each of the main players.

In one particular scene a bit too much for my taste.

And that all just builds the story. At the end of the tale each and every main character is a changed person which is how it should be.

M. Night hasn’t made it easy on himself though. There are personalities in Kevin’s mind pretending to be other personalities, off-screen discussions and power plays that are only referred to in the main text and strands left open for the viewer's interpretation.

One nitpick though: This movie sells a medical notion that might be a bit hard to swallow for the critical mind. Which, if you don’t buy into it, does cause the finale to be a bit over the top.

I had some problems aligning myself completely with the fiction I was offered. But at least it wasn’t as silly as that ‘Water-versus-Aliens’-stunt he pulled in Signs. So I’ll just leave it at that.

This part, of course, is reserved for the twist. Now, I’m fully aware that masking a part of a  text on a M. Night Shyamalan-movie is pretty much the same as waving a red flag around. But, I couldn’t think of any other way to talk about this bit.

Now, unlike The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable there isn’t much of a level playing field for the audience to guess the twist. I got it a mere minute before it happened because I recognized the audio-change. Before that this movie could just as easily have been twistless.

However, there are two things that I like about this. For starters that it works in this fictional world M. Night Shyamalan has created (it is the age of franchise building after all). What could the future bring? Second, this twist is like a cherry on top of the cake. It doesn’t turn the entire movie upside down I just adds a little bit. 

This is something I started to appreciate in M. Nights latest movies (let’s say Devil, The Visit and now Split). He’s no longer forcing his own hand to come up with a groundbreaking twist because that’s what we expect from him. Instead he makes the revelation a logical part of the story (like in The Visit) or he simply adds it as an additional layer (said ‘cherry’). Like his cameo; yes, it’s still there but it’s not the main attraction of the movie anymore.

I think that’s is the wise move for Shyamalan. He can’t cold-turkey quit ‘twisting’ like Whannel and Wan did after their first few movies. Shyamalan is the man who will always be remembered for pulling the rug out from under you. So gradually changing it towards less topsy-turvy  is a great way for him to rebuild his career to storyteller instead of one-trick-pony.

According to the rumor mill M. Night has every intention to make a third movie to complete his trilogy. Now I’m excited.

Conclusion

Split is a wonderful second installment in the return to form for M. Night Shyamalan. It’s well written, well shot and perfectly acted. Especially by McAvoy who is an absolute joy to watch. It is clear now that M. Night Shyamalan and Blumhouse are made for each other. Keep it up.

All of Kevin’s personalities.

As a bonus I wish to include a little (fan) project of mine. These are the twenty-four personalities of Kevin based on his computer desktop in the movie. Naturally this little picture (and list) is a little bit of a spoiler so be warned.
 

 Yes I did notice, after the fact, that the ‘Orwell box’ looks like Adolf Hitler. Sorry about that.

Here is the original size

1. Barry

The fashion designer.
Very insecure and protective
of his drawings.

2. Jade

She is the only person who needs insulin shots.

3. Orwell

A scholar who likes to rant a bit.

4. Kevin (Wendell Crumb)

The original personality. He's been 'sleeping' since September 18th 2014.

5. Heinrich

6. Norma

7. Goddard

8. Dennis

This character suffers from O.C.D. He also has a preference
for watching young girls/woman dance.

He and Patricia share the same believes about 'the beast'.

9. Hedwig

A nine-year-old boy.

10. Bernice

11. Patricia

A classy elderly lady. She too suffers from O.C.D. wanting
everything to be perfect.

She and Dennis share the same believes about 'the beast'.

12. Polly

13. Luke

14. Rakel

15. Felida

16. Ansel

17. Jalin

18. Kat

19. B.T.

20. Samuel
 

21. Mary Reynolds

22. Ian

23. Mr. Prilchard

24. The beast

A terrible creature of immense strength that can scale any
wall and feeds on his victims.