Lady in the Water * * *
You may be wondering where our art project update is for this week. If you're not, what are you doing here? Movie reviews don't show up until Friday! But you're in luck. Since Sue and I couldn't think of a project to do last Saturday, we went to the movies instead. So we were off: Sue, My Geek, our friend Valet Boy and me. I was very excited to see M. Night Shyamalan's latest, Lady in the Water.
Shyamalan is best known as the creator of the blockbuster The Sixth Sense. When the release of Unbreakable was announced, I couldn't wait to see it. It blew me away! I'll never forget over hearing two women talking about it one day.
"Have you seen that new movie by that guy who did Sixth Sense"
"Yes! It's awful. Don't see it. It's nothing like The Sixth Sense."
You know, Shyamalan couldn't win with lady. If he had done something just like The Sixth Sense she would have said he only had one story in him, why didn't he do something different.
If you watch Shyamalan's movies and think they are about big twists at the end or simply about seeing ghosts or an alien invasion, you're really missing the beauty and depth of his story telling. For instance, Signs is about faith: why you have it, what you have it in, how you lose it, and if you can get it back. Using the topic of aliens is, for the majority of people ;), an unknown and neutral subject. So when Shyamalan starts exploring faith, we're all on new ground.
All of us very much enjoyed Lady in the Water. It wasn't better than his previous films but don't let the bad reviews keep you from seeing it ("rampant foolishness", "pretentious", "boring, embarrassingly stupid, humiliatingly transparent, notably un-thrilling"). All these people seem to think this movie is about a fairy tale. But fairy tales have a message and this one is about purpose. Finding your purpose and being brave enough to fulfill it. Is this a great fantasy film? No, because that's not the category it's in.
Labels: Movie Reviews
posted by rhon at
8:02 PM
4 Comments:
I am really looking forward to seeing this movie. It's funny that because Shaymalan's first couple of movies involved suspense, that now he is suddenly a "suspense director." Like he can't do anything else BUT suspense.
I have found all of his movies to be quite profound, and enjoyable. Some more enjoyable than others, simply due to my tastes, but ALL of them have made me want to watch them again to catch the little details. And they've all stuck with me. I think about them months after viewing them. That, I think, is the hallmark of quality storytelling.
By
Erin, at 10:39 AM
Erin, you'll need to let us know what you think after you see it.
By
rhon, at 8:06 AM
My hubby and I went to see Lady in the Water while we were on vacation, so here's my take.
I definitely enjoyed the sub-plot of the movie; finding your purpose in life. Using a fairy tale as the vehicle to present Shaymalan's ideas was a great choice. What's better than a maiden in need of rescue and a group of people destined for that very purpose?
The thing that weakend Lady in the Water was Shaymalan's outright revelation of the plot. One character even said, "we all have a purpose here and we just need to find what that is." I would have rather come to that conclusion on my own instead of having it handed to me on a silver platter.
I did enjoy the aspect that though most characters knew they had a role in the unfolding story, none of them knew exactly what their role was. (Not even the Lady.) I kept trying to peg characters for different roles and functions, and came up wrong almost every time. Shaymalan continues to wow me with his ability to "fool" the viewer. He never lies to us, but all the clues lead us to one logical conclusion. And it is usually the wrong conclusion. Upon which he reveals another logical conclusion. One you never would've considered. Occam's Razor refuted.
This is the one thing that he does so well. The one thing that really makes me admire his films.
A few other minor things:
-The residents of the apt. building were very willing to believe the story about the Lady and go along with some very elaborate schemes. Am I too cynical? I would've expected that at least one person would scoff, or demand proof, or call the authorities, or SOMETHING. Nope, they all just jumped on the bandwagon.
-The movie critic character. He seemed to be a punching bag for Shaymalan. He was all the snobby, negative, high-brow things you'd expect from a movie critic. The perfect nemesis for Shamaylan. I still can't decide if he was useful to the plot of the movie, or merely Scrunt food.
In all, I thought Lady in the Water was a good movie- much better than a lot of the drivel that's out there these days. But I think some of the choices Shaymalan made with the presentation makes it his weakest film to date. (Can't wait to watch the director's cut and hear why he made the choices he made.)
Definitely go and see Lady, but expect to see an unusual film.
I'd still vote The Village as his best.
By
Erin, at 4:49 PM
You're exactly right. It's not typical of Shayamalan to be so literal but I could have done without so much information. He's usually better than most directors at knowing his audience is really smart.
I think that the residents were willing to believe everything out right because that's the way characters react in a fairy tale. They all believe in magic.
The critic was just scrunt food but I enjoyed it emensely.
Another criticism that Shayamalan is getting is for taking on a larger role in the movie than usual. That criticism will pass. No one seems to have a problem with actors becoming directors who act in their own films (Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood). What difference does it make the other way around? He did a good job. The criticism isn't that he was bad at just that he was arrogant for doing it. Hypocrits.
By
rhon, at 4:16 PM
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