Thursday, March 28, 2024

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Review // Split

First Published:

[projekktor id=’26772′]

Not only does M. Night Shyamalan return to the director’s chair for Split, he also returns to his roots with an engaging, almost supernatural thriller that may or may not have a twist ending.

The psychological thriller centres on a trio of young women (Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula) who are kidnapped by Kevin (James McAvoy), a man suffering from D.I.D, Dissociative Identity Disorder, more commonly known as multiple or split personality disorder. What’s remarkable about Kevin’s condition is that while the disorder is usually characterized by two or three personalities, Kevin plays host to over 20. When a group of Kevin’s personalities start colluding to kidnap and imprison girls they must do so without tipping off the other personalities. When the girls begin to understand the fragile psyche of their captor they try to implore his more reasonable personalities to help them escape – causing a rift in Kevin’s careful balance of personalities. The final key player is Kevin’s psychiatrist and D.I.D scholar, Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley). While she notices her clients are acting odder than usual, her intrigue in studying Kevin might actually prevent her from saving the girls.

McAvoy is clearly in an actor’s paradise as he moves from one personality to another. From drastic physical changes to subtle speech and behavioural shifts, he’s clearly created distinct characters for each personality he depicts. McAvoy’s skill makes it easy for the audience to follow the progression of each character and the plot as it culminates in a potentially gruesome end game. Similarly, Anya Taylor-Joy is captivating as Casey, a troubled girl who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. But it’s her dark past that offers the girls the tools they need to escape.

I’m trying to keep the descriptions as vague as possible because the truly entertaining thing about Split is the thrill. While most actors struggle to bring an inner conflict across in their portrayal, McAvoy struck gold finding a character as rich as Kevin, whose inner conflict plays out as actual conflict between multiple characters, all played by McAvoy. It isn’t just the cinematic thrill of watching McAvoy pull off multiple feuding personalities, it’s the fact that their indiscretions hold three lives in the balance. It’s enthralling, it’s intriguing and it’s unsettling. Far from a standard horror film, Split plays on our mistrust of the unknown, in a fear of mental illness and in humanities darkness. The end result is an entertaining film that sees M. Night Shyamalan return to the kind of story telling that made him a household name.

Reviewed by Vithiya Murugadas.

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