Glass
2019 · Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Original language: English
- thriller
- drama
- science fiction
The story
In a series of escalating encounters, former security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities. Meanwhile, the shadowy presence of Elijah Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
What it’s like
Cold, desaturated Philadelphia under overcast skies, with much of the film staged in drained institutional greens and beiges: a psychiatric hospital's bright fluorescents, a comic book shop's warm clutter, rain-slick city streets at dusk. Shyamalan frames in patient, symmetrical compositions and holds still on faces, so tension builds through stillness rather than cutting. The score leans on low strings and sparse piano swells that rise and drop away, with long stretches of quiet room tone. Its vibe is brooding, clinical and slowly uncanny, best suited to a grey weekend or a late-night watch with the lights low. The pacing is deliberate and talky, circling toward a reveal, and the emotional register is serious and melancholy, with a father-son-like wariness between its wounded men. Violence is occasional and brief but sharp, with some bloodshed and physical struggle; it is more tense than gory, and the psychiatric material carries an unsettling edge. Best for viewers who enjoy slow-burn psychological thrillers and comic-book mythology grounded in real-world unease, not for anyone wanting something gentle.
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