LADY IN THE WATER
Luck be a "Lady" To Night...
PopcornReel.com Film Review: "Lady In The Water"
By Omar P.L. Moore/July 21, 2006
M. Night Shyamalan impressed profoundly with "The Sixth Sense"
back in 1998 and again with "Signs" in 2002. It is the films in between
and around those years however, that have been a profound disappointment.
"Unbreakable" (2000) was lackluster and lazy in its storytelling, while "The
Village" (2004) was a weak effort that still managed to do well. It is
this category unfortunately, in which his latest, "Lady in The Water" belongs.
Paul Giamatti is the sole saving grace of this film, for as stuttering superintendent Cleveland Heep he cuts a sympathetic figure dealing with his own personal loss and struggling to maintain a semblance of order of the Midwestern apartment complex he patrols. He comes across some loud splashing in the big pool on the apartment grounds and comes to realize that the sound isn't being made by some drunken miscreant, but by a mermaid sea nymph, or "narf" (Bryce Dallas Howard) who has come to warn of impending dangers in and out of the water. Mr. Giamatti's acting combines comedy and drama, in one of his better performances (on par with his work in "Sideways" and "American Splendor.") Ms. Howard isn't too bad either as the Lady, but she spends little time in the water, so the title of the film doesn't accurately describe the film itself. And to Night's credit, he resists the Hollywood impulse to turn this film into a romance, which it so easily could have done. On a technical level, Christopher Doyle's cinematography is impressive, particularly the night scenes. The photo on the right below is an example of how an tenement can appear to be otherworldly or at the very least, a possessed entity.
Water lily: Bryce Dallas Howard as the "lady" in M. Night Shyamalan's
"Lady in The Water", and Paul Giamatti; the night time illumination of the complex. (Photos: Warner
Brothers)
Nor does the prologue to the film, which is tedious and pointless. The introduction explains that "man won't listen", and quite frankly seems more pretentious than anything else. This opening isn't unlike that of Steven Spielberg's uninspiring "War of the Worlds" (2005), except the narrator isn't Morgan Freeman. Sadly the story here isn't as solid as it initially promises, and the red herrings and scares -- which aren't really jolting at all -- don't distract us from the fact that there is more gimmickry than mystery in "Lady". This comes in the amusing banter between one of the tenants, a Chinese student (Cindy Cheung) and Mr. Heep. Throughout, the student's mother (June Kyoko Lu) tells bits and pieces of the bedtime story of the Narf to Heep, courtesy of the student's translation, and admittedly it is good comic relief as much as it is filler for the fact that there is little substance. The tales of the Narf do not serve to move the story forward as much as it does to decorate it.
At least Night is able to poke some fun at his movie, which in the past he has done little of.
Furthermore, the director pokes fun at movie critics as well
-- in the shape of Harry Farber, a frazzled, unctuous tenant of the building
complex who happens to be a movie critic, as humorously portrayed by Bob Balaban.
The last scene that he is in is one of the funniest in "Lady".
The director has a substantial role in the film -- Night has put himself in all
of his films, as have directors like Alfred Hitchcock, and to a lesser extent,
Spike Lee and Woody Allen, both of whom only stopped the practice within the
last six or seven years. Here, Night is the writer of a book that may be
the vessel through which the Lady's future depends. Apparently the story
of the Narf portends several entities whom dwell within the apartment complex.
The process of revealing whom is who for the purposes of the legendary story is
ponderous. There are however, some memorable characters, including an
arm-wrestler who only lifts weights with the arm he wrestles with, so that the
bicep on his right arm is at least four inches larger than on his non-wrestling
arm.
Jeffrey Wright plays an erudite father of a precocious son who loves uncovering
riddles. Mr. Wright's character loves and lives for the crossword puzzle,
which he voraciously deciphers with each cryptic clue. Mr. Wright has done
some terrific work in his relatively short acting career on film, and this film
could have used more of his talent. He is in the film less than the
director is, and that is a mild tragedy. Not to say that Night is a poor
actor -- he does a decent job of being mysterious and bewildered -- but Night's
directing is his strongest point. I am not sure whether the acting got in
the way of the story, or whether the story was poorly penned by the director, or
whether the director's acting compromised the directing, but despite some decent
performances (from Bill Irwin and Mary Beth Hurt) and some good comedic moments,
"Lady in The Water" doesn't hold much water at all.
Copyright 2006. PopcornReel.com. All Rights Reserved.
"Lady In The Water" is rated PG-13 -- for some frightening sequences -- even though it isn't very scary at all. "The Omen", last month's release, had much more scare and jolt to it. Night's film is over two hours long.