Lady in the Water: Remember that it's a bedtime story.
Written: Jul 24 '06 (Updated Jul 24 '06)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Fairy tale nature. Child-like wonder it invokes. Pacing, look.
Cons: A little haphazard. People's expectations won't be met.
The Bottom Line: Go in with an open mind, and this will be a uniquely entertaining cinematic experience.
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| Pavel21's Full Review: Lady in the Water |
Fair or not, specific expectations exist for an M. Night Shyamalan film. For reasons both created by him and thrust upon him, one anticipates a well-crafted film,wrought with tension, filled with complex narratives that drive toward a revelatory conclusion. Until Lady in the Water, he had satisfied those expectations with each film. But anyone who casually expects a story like that here will be sorely disappointed with Lady. However those who work to find the proper viewing mindset will be richly rewarded by this narrative about an apartment complex superintendent (an again stellar Paul Giamatti) determining what to do with the a narf (a sea nymph played with aplomb by Bryce Dallas Howard) who emerges from his swimming pool.
The first trailer for Lady in the Water was tagged with A Bedtime Story, by M. Night Shyamalan, a label that caused everyone to raise a skeptical eyebrow. The later advertisements appeared (I avoided watching everything after the first trailer, but did pick up on things despite covering my eyes and plugging my ears) to portray the movie as a more "typical" Shyamalan work, replete with scares and high tension. This is unfortunate, because such ads reinforce already false expectations. As the original preview promised, Lady is a bedtime story, and is best viewed and understood as such. Imagine a father gently telling a fairy tale to an eager son sitting cross-legged on his bed, or to a wide-eyed daughter peeking out from under her covers. Imagine the simple entrancement of a child, not fretting over questions like why and how, but simply absorbing the fable-esque story and its uniquely creative cast of characters. That is the way to experience this film. The film is a little too intense for young children, but one needs to have a child's mindset to best appreciate it.
Some will undoubtedly claim that calling the movie a bedtime story is just an excuse for shallow characters and unexplained reasons behind events and people. But those critics miss the point. The type of story isn't an excuse, but rather it defines the movie. Nobody criticizes Aesop for not explaining why the fox was desperately obsessed with the grapes, because the why and how aren't pertinent. While Lady's story does lack some of the character depth of Shyamalan's other films, it replaces that handful of intricately defined parts with a bushel of characters who are nearly as memorable despite being painted with broad strokes. Every character can be described with a glance and a couple sentences. That's how children's stories are.
Although the movie is a bedtime story (have I made that point yet?), there are lurking subtexts that comment on Shyamalan's place as a writer and his relationship with critics. Depending on one's stance on Shyamalan and his work, he is either poking fun or making grand and extreme statements. These fairly apparent points are definitely open to interpretation and prevent the film from being wholly innocent, but do not remotely weigh the movie down with pretense, allowing the decidedly guileless core of the story to captivate anyone not obsessed with the politics behind the movie.
Creating a reality-based fairy tale world on screen is no easy task, but Shyamalan employs a technical crew that understands his filmmaking style and makes such a challenge seem effortless. Many of the relatively mundane effects (by Industrial Light & Magic of course) are intentionally (?) somewhat hazy, as though seen through the prism of a child's mind. James Newton Howard, who has scored Shyamalan's quartet of films, returns with simple and melodic themes, flowingly accenting various moments without intruding. The methods of cinematographer Christopher Doyle, best known for Asian films like Hero, mesh perfectly with Shyamalan's deliberate approach. Subdued greens and blues dominate the color palette, forming a soft world that matches the storybook tone. Camera angles that vary widely without dizzying match its freshness, and numerous still shots that allow action to wander in and out of frame. All of these factors effectively place the viewer into the apartment complex as the tale meanders along.
For the most part, Lady in the Water lacks the driving mystery of The Sixth Sense or The Village. The film does not possess the absorbing emotion of Unbreakable or Signs. With overlapping themes like belief and destiny, it does share characteristics, but not the ones that stimulate the story. At times the movie feels like a serial, like something added to every evening, made up as the story goes. This makes Lady a bit haphazard as it wanders, but the heavy compelling nature of its predecessors is enjoyably replaced by a lighter sense of wonder that mesmerizes like the story and world of Peter Pan. The reverie of Neverland is not present in these Philadelphia buildings, but the undercurrent of mysticism that runs through the complex is enough to pique the interest of any moviegoer with a heart.
Perhaps I'm blinded by my love for Shyamalan's movies. Maybe I've carried this obsession with the film being a fantastic bedtime story too far. Believe that if you like; there is probably truth to it. But I know this: Shyamalan fashions films unlike any other director, and I enjoyed Lady in the Water as much as anything I've seen this year. With a proper mindset, you can too. 8 of 10, which might be a tad high, but is necessary to counter all the low ratings doled out by jaded critics.
Recommended:
Yes
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