Lady in the Water    

If there was a storytellers Hall of Fame I'm pretty certain you'd find the likes of Shakespeare, Dickens and Tolkien. From the world of motion pictures you would have Capra, Hitchcock, Spielberg and most definitely M. Night Shyamalan.

He's brought us dead people in the Sixth Sense, comic book heroes and villains in Unbreakable, aliens in Signs and now a modern day fairytale with Lady in the Water. There has been quite a bit of bad press surrounding this film, starting with the writer/director taking the project from Disney (who said they didn't get it!) to Warner Bros. where the film found its home. It's possible that some critics weren't to happy to see them portrayed as unlikeable and arrogant by one of the films characters who ultimately meet's his demise at the claws of the films villain.

In his previous films M. Night has always given us big plot twists in the final scenes. This doesn't happen with Lady in the Water, you don't have to wait till the end to see what the monsters look like and there is no big revelation that makes you think "So that's what it was all about!". The narrative is very straight forward, there are good guys and bad guys and the good guys need to figure out how to beat the bad guys. I understand the film is based on a bedtime story he made up for his children, then turned into a script to be padded out to include the morale story of bringing the world back to peaceful times.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away as it would spoil it if you know too much before you see the film. To put it simply we have a girl from another place that has been sent to help the world of man. When her work in our world is done she will need the help of a select group of humans to protect her from the evil that has come with her and eventually help her return home.

M. Night's films all have a very distinctive feel and look to them like a signature. They are usually quite dark and use unconventional photography and leave a lot to your own imagination and this is no exception. Another element he seems to get right is the casting and with Lady in the Water he’s nailed it. This story works so well because of its wonderful ensemble cast. In the leads you have the faultless Paul Giamatti as the stuttering ‘Cleveland Heep’ and Ron Howard's daughter Bryce Dallas as the beautiful water nymph ‘Story’. These two are surrounded by talent such as Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban (the annoying critic) and M. Night Shyamalan himself. I also have to mention with the exception of the leads my favourite characters were Mrs. Choi played by June Kyoto Lu and her daughter Young Soon played by Cindy Cheung. The mother and daughter used with great comedy affect to help explain this modern day fantasy.

Is it a horror film? No, although I do confess to jumping in a few places. Is it for kids? No its not! It's an adult fairytale, something for us big kids to get lost in! If you were looking for something to compare to I would put it in the same category as Spielberg's A.I. and Gilliam's Fisher King.

Let's be honest none of us really want to grow up and ultimately this is what this film is all about……. …..wanting to believe in the fantasy…..

Ignore the critics go see this film!

by Jay