Hollywood Reviews and Movie Trivia

"Lady in the Water", director M. Night Shyamalan's latest, is a fairy tale that restores faith in man's humanity and scores a B...

M. Night Shyamalan has written and directed seven films to date. Although he came to prominent fame with "The Sixth Sense" (starring Bruce Willis 1999), he wrote and directed "Praying with Anger" (92') and "Wide Awake" (98'). "Unbreakable" (2000) with Willis & Samuel L. Jackson, "Signs" (02') with Mel Gibson, and "The village" (04') with Byrce Dallas Howard round out his mainstream hits. A side note is that he also wrote "Stuart Little" (99').

A common comparison is made of Shyamalan's films to "The Sixth Sense". If one closely examines each film, they are quite different but still maintain his unique directorial style. "The Sixth Sense" is almost mystical in its story while "Unbreakable" dealt with two personality flaws: one losing confidence in his stability while the other, a psychotic. "Signs" tackled the age old theme of humans dealing with extraterrestrials. The Village" main theme of culture isolation versus the outside world dealt with a lot of social issues. With his latest, the theme is the staple of story telling, specifically fairly tales which are prevalent in all the cultures of the world. "Lady in the Water" is a story Shyamalan told to his children and the start of the movie tells us the story, steeped in ancient folklore. It's quite a story with the scares, the aura, and as in most fables, the humanity of humans wins out...

Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) is the superintendent at a Philadelphia apartment building. Late nights, he hears and has suspicions that, the swimming pool in the complex is being used after hours. He stakes it out and is thoroughly surprised when a pale, otherworldly, watery being called Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) emerges from the swimming pool. Cleveland determines by her reactions that she needs protection. But from what? Cleveland slowly learns from Story that she's a "Narf," a nymph who has come on land to find someone of deep significance. Cleveland also learns she's afraid to leave Cleveland's apartment because of strange creatures lurking in the wooded area just beyond the complex.

Remembering that a neighbor in the complex has a wealth of knowledge relating to fables and ancient stories, Cleveland seeks help from the Korean neighbor Young-Soon Choi (Cindy Cheung) and her mother, Mrs. Choi (June Kyoko Lu), a cantankerous old lady. Mrs. Choi knows about Narfs from stories she heard as a child. Mrs. Choi, tells her daughter, who translates the stories in English to Cleveland, of the vicious wolf-like "Scrunts" that hide in the grass, and terrifying monkey-like beings known as "Tartutics" that lurk in trees. Cleveland, who has been pretty much a recluse about his own personal, tormented past life, understands that he is the catalyst for something significant, and takes on the challenge to help Story get back home.

M. Night Shyamalan's films always have the underlying thread of courage, and sensibility. The ultimate goal, I think, for "Lady in the Water" is to have fun. Shyamalan never forgets to have fun with his films. The driving force is Paul Giamatti. His versatility as an actor shows with every role. His Cleveland character has a haunted brooding edge, wears geeky glasses, stutters, is shy, a bit mysterious with his hidden past, and is forever observant of what's going on around him. At look at Giamatti's work in the upcoming movie "The Illusionist" as a Viennese police detective in the Hercule Perot tradition, gives an indication of how wide a range he has as an actor. Come Oscar® time, the "buzz" for Paul Giamatti should be even stronger this year than last year...

Grade: B