M. Night Shyamalan
Do not let the 'critic' fool you.
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M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady In The Water"
Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) has been quietly trying to disappear among the burned-out lightbulbs and broken appliances of the Cove apartment complex. But on the night that irrevocably changes his life, Cleveland finds someone else hiding in the mundane routine of the modest building – a mysterious young woman named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), who has been living in the passageways beneath the building’s swimming pool.
Cleveland discovers that Story is actually a “narf” – a nymph-like character from an epic bedtime story who is being stalked by vicious creatures determined to prevent her from making the treacherous journey from our world back to hers. Story’s unique powers of perception reveal the fates of Cleveland’s fellow tenants, whose destinies are tied directly to her own, and they must work together to decipher a series of codes that will unlock the pathway to her freedom.
But the window of opportunity for Story to return home is closing rapidly, and the tenants are putting their own lives at great risk to help her. Cleveland will have to face the demons that have followed him to the Cove – and the other tenants must seize the special powers that Story has brought out in them – if they hope to succeed in their daring and dangerous quest to save her world...and ours.
***
In my opinion, M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense; Unbreakable; Signs; The Village) is a true cinematic visionary - You'll either 'get' him or you won't. I utterly adored 'Lady In The Water', though I can also see why many have lambasted it. You'll either get it or you won't. Both Freud and Jung would have a field day with all the film's symbolism...
Powerful, detailed, awe-inspiring, fascinating, moving and mythical...I deeply urge you to see it if the pull is there.
Another Metaphorical Point of You : I AM
ps - For more info on the film, see:
http://www.mnightfans.com/ladyinthewater/
posted by Another Point of You... @ 10:31 PM
1 Comments:
Review by Paul Martin, 21 July 2006, upon first viewing.
Lady in the Water is a film of wonder, showcasing the amazing mind of M. Night Shyamalan. It takes you into a tapestry of wonder, and like all of his films, the pieces can be wound in many different ways. It is only as the movie draws near to the end that you understand that what the movie is about, isn't what you thought in the first place. And when you realize what it is truly about, you can see the whole film in another light entirely.
The first thing that I began to notice was just how full of diversity the film actually is. The many characters that inhabit that world are people from many walks of life, that have all been brought together to serve a specific purpose. The way the characters interact with the world around them makes the set feel lived in, and it feels like they've all lived in that world for quite some time. There are many eccentric characters that help to bring you along on the story.
One major facet of the film is that we are all connected. What one person does can, and will effect the world around them. Even the smallest of things can change someone else's world.
Cleveland Heap is the connective tissue for the lives of all of the people in The Cove. He helps them with their problems, and talks to everyone. They all trust him immensely. He's a big part of each of their lives, and he doesn't even realize it, nor can he fathom just how much he actually does for the people around him.
Many of us feel just like that, sometimes. Does what I do really matter? Am I the right man for the job? Because anyone can do this work, is it really going to make a difference? With so much evil in the world, is there room for faith? Mr. Shyamalan masterfully reminds us of things that can be found on the pages of Mitch Albom's 'Tuesdays with Morrie' and 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven'. That we are all connected, that what we do truly matters, and that there is always room for faith.
This brings us to the next layer of the film: faith. This is the part that, I feel, strikes a chord with many. This is the part where the division happens. You see, the film makes a statement, and through all of the storytelling, it is believing that is the key; that having faith in something makes us stronger than we would have been without it. Why does it divide the audience, though? Well, the simple fact is that faith is very personal. People have it, people don't, everyone wants it, even if they don't know it, and some try to deny it, and it can bring anger our of people that aren't willing to believe in a story.
The fact that M. Night can deliver a story that is so personal, and take us with him on a ride of personal discovery that takes us in so much that some of us get scared, shows a lot. It shows that he is actually a more effective storyteller than many give him credit for, and that they are actually effecting us, personally, and for some, that is scary.
Stories are an essential part of growing as a human. They teach us right from wrong, they teach us about ourselves, and about the world we live in. They take us to worlds that we have never been. We can choose to accept it, or to deny it. The very fact that this film is set in our world is part of the struggle that people may have with it. The other is that, it tells us about new mythological creatures, and through this, it makes us understand something that many people try to deny: that some stories are real. They may not be real in the way that we first see them. They can seem like ordinary everyday things, at times.. but when we look at things with fresh eyes, everything can look totally different.
All of the many different characters share different talents, and none of them are wasted, even when things seem to be going worse than they seem, it has an effect that aids the story, and brings out things in people that we have only glimpsed fractions of throughout.
This is a film that is full of faith, hope and charity. It is full of wonder and awe, magic and creation. It is a film of self-discovery and relearning what it is like to have the faith of a child. There are light-hearted moments, great laughs and tension-filled moments. Moments of sadness and heartache, and moments of joy. I hope that you can all enjoy it as much as I have.
10/10
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