A self-flagellating eco fable, a patronising puddle, a grey soppy mush about how everybody is special and all the rainbow colours of the world can come together and save mankind from its violent and cruel ways.
Lady in the Water could have been awful. All the ingredients are there (the quirkiness, the didacticism, the new age philosophies) but the film's brilliance is in its glorious triumph over cynicism. Throughout I had my hands clasped together and my eyes hungrily fixed on the screen.
A water nymph (called a narf) appears in the swimming pool of an apartment complex one night. The nymphs are said to be sent to help man change his selfish behaviour. Supervisor and handyman Cleveland and the other residents of The Cove discover that they have to keep her safe from the wolf-like Scrunts and help her get back home.
The nymph is called Story. The people of The Cove guard their (life) stories jealously. Cleveland and the hermitic and taciturn Mr. Leeds hide tragic loss from those around them. On multiple occasions characters whisper "Don't tell..." after having let slip some secret. They are insular and insecure about themselves. They are keen to create, adapt and strengthen their stories as suits of armour.
What is uplifting about Lady in the Water is how, by helping Story gain her happy ending, the residents gain contented acceptance of their own stories - their foibles, their troubles, everything that makes them them. Before they were hiding and separate and now they have opened up.
The character of the critic is instrumental. He sees stories, and indeed the world, as crudely logical, predictable and governed by strict rules. He is a cynic. Lady in the Water, on the other hand, feeds on magic and the idea that everyone is unique. The future is not rigid and we can make our own destiny. These may sound like trite truisms but Lady in the Water revitalises ostensibly naive sentiments with its vigour and candour.
Lady in the Water feels as if it is made up as it goes along. That is how it is meant to feel. It comes from a bedtime story. Bedtime stories jump into the long grass and scuttle off in unexpected directions. They are full of little 'buts':
"Oh no Daddy, they're going to eat her!"
"Ah...but you see...there were three strange creatures called the Tartutic..."
The mood of the piece is pleasant and transporting. It flowers.
Yes, I found it funny and moving and exciting. Lady in the Water is a story for children that makes you think and feel like a child - freer and less neurotic about what lessons we are being taught. And if it is a bedtime story, what better way to drift off to sleep than on the back of a giant soaring bird?
Impressionistic image from inside the swimming pool as the Great Eatlon arrives
I truly do wish I could have been as dazzled by Shyamalan's vision as you were; this was the film I most looked forward to in the summer of 2006. But I found the film to be a bore. I didn't particularly care about the fates of any of the apartment tenants, since their fates as told by Story seemed devoid of imagination. Even Shyamalan's portrayal of the "writer who is going to change humanity" failed to enlighten me- mostly because I thought it was a hammy decision on Shyamalan's part to cast himself in that role.
ReplyDeleteTo be sure, I felt something for the Cleveland character. Giamatti does a good job in the film. What I didn't like was the way the relationship between him and Story is developed. It never takes off. I admired that final shot of him gazing up at her as she's carried off by the Eagle; to me, that shot had more power than all of the elements in the film combined.
I also take issue with Shyamalan's lack of experience with CGI, which is painfully evident in this film. The scene where the Bob Balaban character is killed by the mutant dog was badly done- it's more odd than it is suspensful. Actually, all of the villainous creatures in the film are poorly animated and carried out. And they so rarely ever even appear that it's often easy to forget what set the whole conflict of the film into motion. If these creatures are such a threat, then why don't we feel threatened by them? It's largely because they have little to no presence as we're watching.
The film is billed as a bedtime story, yet I didn't at all feel like it was an imaginative enough film to earn that title. When you compare it to something so vast and beautiful like Spielberg's A.I., a movie like Lady in the Water seems more like a just-another-day-at-the-office story that cubicle workers tell each other to pass the time.
Again, though, I'm glad the movie worked for you. Still, after seeing Shymalan pull off something as emotionally complex as Unbreakable, it bothered be that he had to significantly lower his prospects with this film.
Thanks, Adam, for taking the time to post your thoughts.
ReplyDelete"....mostly because I thought it was a hammy decision on Shyamalan's part to cast himself in that role."
You may find the comparison fatuous but many have been the directors who have put themselves in the grand role, like Orson Welles. Maybe your displeasure is more to do with the weakness of his acting or of the role rather than any supposed arrogance on Shyamalan's part.
I didn't have a problem with it. If anything I admire his chutzpah.
The poor CGI I can agree with, but it wasn't that jarring to me because these are not real-life animals. Subconsciously I don't compare in quite the same way that I would a CGI elephant.
I can't argue with you saying you didn't connect with the story or the characters. All I can say, I suppose, is that I did.
"When you compare it to something so vast and beautiful like Spielberg's A.I., a movie like Lady in the Water seems more like a just-another-day-at-the-office story that cubicle workers tell each other to pass the time."
A.I. is brilliant and indeed a better film but Lady in the Water doesn't try to be vast or epic. To me it's a dialled down domestic fantasy.
"something as emotionally complex as Unbreakable, it bothered be that he had to significantly lower his prospects with this film."
I didn't like Unbreakable. I'm not entirely sure why but I think I found it too contrived and a little under-heated dramatically.