Lady in the Water

Is this or is this not a fairytale? As a "regular" movie it is terrible, but as an experiment it is fascinating. A fairytale for adults that plays around and turns all the common clichés and established narrative procedures upside-down. You have to play Shyamalan's game otherwise this will just be a boring mishmash for you. That is, except for the small detail that it is not a mishmash. Quite the opposite. Playfulness with established procedures is only hindered by Night's egoism. Too bad about that. (14.09.2006)

After the extremely underrated The Village, another great effort by Mr.Shaymalan, where I felt a film moving away from mainstream audiences, which I applaud. As with the previous film, a wonderfully atmospheric affair with a great Howard score, some strong moments and Giamatti definitely going into my acting top ten. If you hated the twist of The Village (which was not the point of the film, no matter what anyone says), you will not find anything similar here. Shyamalan has abandoned his traditional trademark of surprising final twists (unless you count the reveal of "The Guardian"), but from the start he develops an original fairy-tale mythology that makes this film at times what one might call "strange" but intriguing. It's impeccable to discuss with equally afflicted film buffs and loses nothing with a second viewing. So, I say, carry on Mr Shyamalan and next time you’ll get 5*. I just hope he won't be deterred from further work by the not-so-favorable response from audiences and film critics (you can do it, Shy, you send the Skrunts after them and it'll be fine). (13.01.2007)

The leaky logic is excused by the fairy tale, which always has its clearly given rules, and which Shyamalan strictly sticks to all the time. The phenomenal Paul Giamatti and the ethereally beautiful mysterious look in Bryce Dallas Howard's eyes, along with the wonderful atmosphere, ensure that this film is a major win for the director (at least definitely for me)! (09.02.2007)

M. Night Shyamalan once again proves his exceptionalism, but as I look at it, the viewers who mindlessly write comments like "where is the twist" and yell boo at it are only show that it is too difficult for them to understand that when someone creates two nail-biting thrillers and adds a shocking ending to them, that doesn't mean that it will be the same every time. My beloved director once again showed that he has no competition in his specific mystery and created another excellent work, which I didn't believe in at first in his career. And he still convinced me that an amazing film can be made even from an apparently incongruous combination of a fairy tale and horror. Maybe The Lady in the Water is not as complex and emotionally fulfilling as the perfection-reaching Signs and The Village, but Manoj was able to tell the maximum from his own subject turned into a slowly unfolding screenplay. The seemingly controversial choice of Paul Giamatti as the protagonist pays off in the first few minutes when I fell in love with Cleveland at first sight for being such a loner and sad character. Not to mention the vulnerable Story played by ethereal Bryce Dallas Howard. In these moments, similar feelings as in Tim Burton's Big Fish or other great storytellers arise in me when I remember The Lady in the Water. Those who accept the director's rules will be thrilled, but those who want to criticize genre transitions will find as many flaws in the film as they want. (12.10.2006)

Shyamalan begins to descend into depths starting with this film, where his dialogues sound incredibly ridiculous, melodramatic, and pitiful. It's as if he can no longer create something that doesn't try to pretend it's an incredibly profound thing that will change people's lives. Yes, there are interesting characters here, especially Cleveland's, but that simply isn't enough. The film is bogged down with trying to bring fiction into reality. However, the film doesn't stand on solid ground because Shyamalan simply struggles to work effectively with the characters. (06.05.2014)

I don't know if Monday Night wanted to make a fairy tale or something in the style of The Village or any of his more famous films, but the result is definitely worth a look. The fairy tale story supported by an appealing performance from Paul Giamatti unfortunately "offers" a lot of plot holes, but if you ignore the few Shyamalan excesses, you can enjoy this rather untypical fable with a beautiful score by James Newton Howard (as has become customary). (28.11.2009)