Lady in the Water

Critics can be harsh. They seem to revel in taking another whack at the M. Night Shyamalan piñata for not living up to The Sixth Sense. I bet if Sixth Sense premiered next week, it wouldn’t get the same response it did back in 1999. Why? Because our culture has changed; we have become much more analytical. If audiences knew there was a big twist in Sixth Sense, many would have figured it out earlier on; the cool thing is that most people didn’t see it coming. If anything, The Sixth Sense pushed us to not simply trust the narrative and start looking for clues. Everyone keeps looking for the big twist, because we want to be the one who figures it out first. Just look at Lost. Everyone and their dog are coming up with different theories surrounding the mysterious island, the numbers, the others and the black mist. We should be thanking Night for making us think. And now we rake him across the coals. It’s a shame that Night peaked so early with Sixth Sense. Everyone expects a gigantic twist in every movie he makes as if he was a one trick pony. Lots of people predicted the minor twist in The Village so it didn’t shock them and they hated Night for it. I think the twist was meant to just be cool not to throw your whole perception of the movie out of whack. He’s not going to be able to do that again, just let him tell you a story. The critics are being like children who are mad at being read Little Red Riding Hood because they already predicted that the wolf would dress up as the grandmother to deceive the little girl. (Sorry if I ruined that story, by the way.) Now on with the actual review.

Shyamalan points out early on that Lady in the Water is a fairy tale. That means there are going to be magical monsters and princesses. Night weaves a story that is full of narfs, scrunts, prophets and protectors. Critics already have a problem with the narf but apparently had no qualms about house elves. Some critics even think that Night has lost his mind, apparently they must also think Hans Christian Anderson is a complete nut job. I thought Night wrote an enjoyable story. It wasn’t the best thing I ever heard, but it played out in a quaint fairy tale way. The film is filled with colourful, quirky characters including Freddy Rodriguez (Six Feet Under) who only works out with half of his body. The joy I had while watching this film was trying to put together who was responsible for what in the fairy tale; and Night gave enough red herrings to constitute a delicious meal. (If you like herring.) If there were any complaints about the story, I would have to say it’s the pacing, which does drag at times. Luckily, there are some jumpy moments that break up the flowing narrative.

Paul Giamatti perfectly portrays Cleveland Heep, a helpful groundskeeper with a mysterious past. He takes his role seriously and even invokes sympathy with his stuttering. Jeffrey Wright (Angels in America, Shaft, Broken Flowers) and the rest of the apartment residents add their own flavour to this fanciful story. My only problem is with Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village) who Night insists on working with. I don’t find her to be a compelling actor. She shows zero charisma and I don’t really find her all that attractive. Being the daughter of Ron Howard doesn’t necessarily make you a good actor. But despite her, I found the film to be enjoyable. Just make sure that you are ready for a fairy tale and not a giant Sixth Sense twist that will shock and amaze. I would suggest that you rent it and then let me know what you think. I don’t mind defending M. Night Shyamalan as a filmmaker or storyteller; I think he’s earned it.