Lady in the Water (DVD, 2006, Full Frame Edition)

At one time M. Night Shyamalan was an exciting film maker. With his first major film, The Sixth Sense, he crafted an interesting and engrossing tale that was well received by the public and critics alike. His next film, Unbreakable, was a bit of a let down, but still a solid effort. Unfortunately his films have continued to decline in quality. The low point in his oeuvre has to be his latest film, Lady in the Water, a bed time story that Night would tell his daughters before they went to sleep. It may have been interesting to a child at night, but as a movie it comes across as a muddled, self-indulgent, and ultimately unsatisfying film that fails on many levels.

There were a lot of things that were wrong with this movie. The characters were flat and lifeless, the story was filled with more false endings than a dozen Spielberg films, and there were numerous plot holes that were hard to ignore. What it boiled down to though was that it's really hard to care what happens to any of the characters. There just isn't any context to place these people into. A good story to compare this to is another fairy tale, The Lord of the Rings. In Tolkien's work, the reader knows exactly where the heroes stand, what they have to do and the consequences for failure. In this film viewers never have that feeling. What happens if the Scrunt kills Story? Well, she'll be dead, but so what? Why did she reveal herself to Heep when she was hiding from him earlier? Why was she hiding? It's questions like this that make it hard to enjoy this film.

Another deficit is Shyamalan's directorial style. I've enjoyed the way he shot other films, but this one looks like something someone fresh out of film school would shoot. He doesn't concentrate on telling the story but rather seeing how many fancy and unique shots he can incorporate into the movie. There are a lot of scenes where the interesting part of the sequence isn't shown in an attempt to build interest. When the acerbic film critic Harry Farber (Bob Balaban) is introduced to a new neighbor, Cindy Cheung, you see Farber's eye's nearly pop out of his skull as he stares at the Asian beauty, though on screen viewers can only see her back. It's cute once or twice, but eventually you start noticing all of Night's film tricks at the expense of the story. These are a constant reminder that you're watching a movie and that makes it much harder to get into the story and empathize with the characters.

The acting was only mediocre at best too. In order to make Paul Giamatti's character more human, Night decided to give him a stutter. This may have looked good on paper, but in the movie it just seems oddly irritating. Bryce Dallas Howard's talents are not put to use either. She spends much of the film sitting in a shower, and when she talks she always whispers. She has a vague drugged look throughout the movie. Pretty much all she does is stare off into space. Night himself gives an amateur performance as the savior of mankind. The only character that I was really drawn to was Bob Balaban's as the arrogant film critic. His role was funny but suggests that Night needs to learn the meaning of subtlety.

Please let us know if this review was helpful (click below)

If you have any questions about this review please contact us at
contact@ck-auctions.com

Posted by CK-Auctions

Lady in the Water

I didn't know what to expect heading into Lady in the Water, it seemed like a neat concept but I wondered how it would play out. It's great. A great cast and an absolutely unbelievable story.

Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard are absolutely spectacular, and the rest of the supporting cast does a great job as well. A lot of M. Night fans that I've talked to were dissapointed that Lady in the Water doesn't feature a twist ending, I was at first, but I realized that a story this great doesn't need a twist ending.

Lady in the Water will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end, and the way all the characters tie together is absolutely fabulous. It might not be M. Nights best work, but he proves once again that he is one of the best Storytellers in Hollywood.

Final Verdict:

5/5

Rent or Buy?: Any M. Night fan will want to own this one, as will any fan of a great fantasy story.

IF YOU FIND THIS REVIEW HELPFUL PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE. Thank you.

In order to have enjoyed this movie, you really must be familiar with all of M. Night's work. Next, you must put aside all you know is real and for about two hours, just let go. In effect, be a child again hearing a nursery rhyme. To look at this movie with a critical questioning eye, to continually say "that could never happen" does both the movie the the viewer a disservice. This is what is unique about M. Night's work. His ability to look beyond the known and explore the unknown, to make us think and guess, to confront that within ourselves that seems unconfrontable...the minister in Signs, the inhabitants of The Village and the horror of the world outside, an extraordinary boy with an eerie sixth sense in The Sixth Sense. I feel sorry for those who can't leg go and understand these films. For all of those who still remember what it was to be fascinated and mesmerized by magic, this movie will not disappoint you.

M. Night Shyamalan has written much better and much worse scripts than Lady in the Water. The story is based on a much embellished and expanded bedtime story for his daughters. Ironically that's the way it feels: simple and unnecessarily. If you can get past the fairytale aspect and focus on the dynamic acting performed by Paul Giamatti then you can get a decent experience out of the whole mess.

Lady in the water is one of the most beautiful stories ever told on the big screen it is a character driven film with oscar worthy performances and a creative storyline M. night shayamalan has once again created a haunting masterpiece that will stand the test of time along with the sixth sense the village signs unbreakable and the happening all of which are great films