The car scene
That is one of the best scenes in any movie ever. That alone should have earned them both an Oscar.
shareYes, it is very intense, powerful and beautiful. Crafted in stellar fashion.
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MovieChat Forums > The Sixth Sense (1999) Discussion > The car scene
I cry every time.
I understand. Thank you for telling me. -The masked bandit
Agreed. Agreed, so much!
shareYes -- one of the most powerful scenes I have ever scene. Mother's acting is perfection.
shareIt is beautifully-acted by both. Those performances contribute greatly to the high rating this movie enjoys.
Maybe that's why I didn't notice in my first viewing of the movie that both lanes of traffic--one going one direction and one THE OTHER DIRECTION--are stopped. I can't figure out any way that makes sense. Why didn't someone say to Shyamalan "this makes no sense"........given that before this movie was released he was not yet so powerful that no one could tell him about flaws in his movies?
(Watch the movie again and see the people in the cars GOING THE OTHER DIRECTION stopped and craning their heads LOOKING BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM to see the accident they already passed....) Why are they stopped? What is keeping them from moving forward? (If there were a traffic light visible, the scene as filmed might work---though from shots through the windows of the Sear family car, it appears that the lane of traffic doesn't move for a LONG time. And there's no light visible. It looks like a residential street, and in real life probably has stop signs rather than a traffic light.)
It's distracting, once you notice it.
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Grey Fairy / White Wolf
I've seen this comment about the traffic somewhere.. and I was watching the scene again recently and I went very slowly through the scene and there is actually a car that is blocking that lane of traffic (i.e. the lane beside the car with the main characters; the lane leading away from the accident). There is a white car that is pulling through that lane (from right to left in the scene), and it cannot enter the lane heading toward the accident, presumably because that lane is not moving; so there is sort of a jam there. (I suppose in theory the white car needs to just back up if possible to unjam the situation.) But there is actually an explanation in the scene for why that lane is backed up, but you've got to look very closely. It would be hard to catch in real-time. I don't think it adds anything to the scene to have that lane backed up, and so it's a little odd that it is that way. There are a couple of dudes looking out their windows back toward the scene of the crash, and so maybe that's why they are there.
shareYes, it was a great scene.
I remember seeing the previews to this film in the theaters back in 99' and this is what they used for the preview, setting up the accident and the kid telling the mom someone died and then that they were standing by his window. It was creepy and gave everyone the sense that "oooh I want to see that".
Of course payoff between his conversation that follows with the mom is also what makes it great.