Someone already has a early review of Lady In The Water:
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11828
A few weeks ago, I was one of the lucky few invited to see an early
screening of LADY IN THE WATER in New York. M. Night Shyamalan was
putting the finishing touches on the sound mix and decided to
screen the movie to a small crowd. The screening was held right
inside the mixing suite that Shyamalan was using while he sat
behind the controls with a few of his technical guys, wife and two
kids. After a few opening words from the man himself, the lights
dimmed and we were treated to what's being billed as "A Bedtime
Story by M. Night Shyamalan."
Before I get into the review, let me warn you that there will be
some spoilers. I won't get into real heavy stuff but just in
discussing some of the basic plot points your going to give some
stuff away. Knowing that, let's move on.
There is a scene near the middle of LADY IN THE WATER where
Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti), an apartment complex
superintendent, is working to investigate where the mysterious girl
found in his pool (Bryce Dallas Howard) came from and how he can
get her back home. As he begins to realize she may be a living
incarnation of a character from a folktale passed on by one of his
tenants, he goes to visit the young Asian girl and her mother. He
asks to hear the whole story, including how to safely return the
so-called narf, but the woman refuses to tell him. Her daughter
interprets her Chinese saying she will only tell him if she can
think of him as a child. Heep, determined to get his answer, takes
a cookie, drinks some milk and curls up on the couch, complete with
a milk moustache in his goatee. LADY IN THE WATER is a movie as
much about reconnecting with our childhood as it is about narfs,
scrunts (villainous wolf creatures that arrive to capture the narf)
and other fantastical creatures. It’s M. Night Shyamalan’s latest
movie and one of his best.
The movie starts with an animated sequence that resembles cave
paintings telling the tale – much like the one the Asian woman was
about to tell above - of mythical creatures called narfs. We're
then introduced to Cleveland Heep, superintendent/manager of the
Cove apartment complex in Philadelphia. From the very beginning
we’re introduced to a number of interesting characters from the
varying apartments – the stoners, the Hispanic family with the five
overweight daughters, the creepy recluse, the guy who’s only
working out one side of his body. As is par for the course in an M.
Night Shyamalan film, seemingly insignificant details (Giamatti’s
Heep talks with a pronounced stutter) turn out to be quite
important as we learn that a lot of people at The Cove are more
than they appear. To say more would be criminal, despite the fact
that LADY lacks a twist reminiscent of THE VILLAGE or THE SIXTH
SENSE.
The movie, as you may have read, is born out of a tale that
Shyamalan used to tell his children based on the simple concept of
what goes on in the pool at night. Kids will obviously view LADY in
the same light as they would Shyamalan’s original bedtime story; a
fascinating and enthralling yarn. Adults, as we see in the film,
have lost their childhood innocence and suddenly have a hard time
finding such beauty in those tales. But what happens when you’re
presented with a situation when you know a bedtime story is true?
And you’re forced to reach inside and find that same innocent
quality – the willingness to believe – you had when you were a kid.
When was the last time we had a great fantasy film to watch? It’s
been quite some time since we’ve seen something pull of something
that resides so deeply in that genre work so well. LADY IN THE
WATER is the best film of its kind since THE PRINCESS BRIDE;
another fantasy movie that, coincidentally, also begins with a
bedtime story and deals with many of the same themes.
While it is a movie about a bedtime story, there are darker,
scarier moments that’ll sure to have you jumping out of your seat
(keep an eye out for those damn sprinklers). Those scrunts, with
their blood red eyes and grass-like fur, had me a few inches off my
seat. And though the death count is relatively low, the film will
probably prove a little too intense for the youngest viewers. The
movie’s performances are top-notch across the board including
another home run for Giamatti, who’s following up award-winning
performances in CINDERELLA MAN and SIDEWAYS. Also impressive are
Howard, Sarita Choudhury, Jeffrey Wright, Cindy Cheung and Sarita
Choudhury who plays the sister of Shyamalan’s character (yes,
Shyamalan is back as an actor and while he’s certainly not quite on
the level of Giamatti, he’s improving with every film). Like all of
Shyamalan’s movies, this one looks and sounds beautiful with James
Newton Howard’s score rivaling some of his best work. Like
Giamatti’s Heep on the old woman’s couch, LADY IN THE WATER will
have you remembering the days when you were on the receiving end of
a bedtime story. It will also have you cherishing the time you
spend with your own family, including a particularly touching
monologue by Giamatti at the end of the film. It’s unfortunate the
film wasn’t ready for Father’s Day, because I think it would’ve
been a great way for a Dad to spend the day at the movies with his
school-age kids. It’s thrilling, moving, scary and, definitely, a
lot of fun.
