Lady in the Water (Blu-ray) (2006)

"If the ultimate goal is entertainment, then Lady in the Water enthusiastically rises to the task.  Desson Thomson, Washington Post
"...genuine menace and suspense...  Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
"...well made and affectingly acted...  Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Editor's Note M. Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE, THE VILLAGE) continues his mission to revive the ancient art of storytelling--which he has diagnosed as a dying art--melding aspects of the fantastic with the mundane, and bringing to life a mythology of his own concoction. Paul Giamatti (SIDEWAYS) is Cleveland Heep, the depressed caretaker of an apartment complex in suburban Philadelphia called the Cove--a location from which the film virtually never strays. He tends the homes of a host of loveable eccentrics, including Jeffrey Wright (SYRIANA) as a single dad, Sarita Choudhury (SHE HATE ME) and the director himself as brother-and-sister roommates, Bob Balaban as a cynical film critic, and Cindy Cheung as a college girl Cleveland befriends. When Cleveland is pulled from the pool by a mysterious young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard, THE VILLAGE) after a nasty bump on the head, he quickly discovers her true identity as a narf, one of an ancient race of water beings whose attempts at communication with humans have long ago ceased. As Cleveland attempts to return her to her world, uncovering the intricacies of the story from which she emerged and protecting her from the beasts that seek to thwart her, she helps him and many of the other residents find their true purpose in life, reaffirming the meaning it holds for them. Though the tale borders on overpopulation with many thinly drawn characters, and Shyamalan's own role is overtly reflective of the ego he is so often accused of, the tale manages to stimulate the imagination nonetheless. It achieves this by invoking universally affecting elements of myth and magic, and mesmerizing viewers with stunning photography by Wong Kar-Wai (CHUNGKING EXPRESS) regular Christopher Doyle.

	Bob Balaban
	Bryce Dallas Howard
	Cindy Cheung
	Freddy Rodriguez
	Jeffrey Wright
	Joseph D. Reitman
	Mary Beth Hurt
	Paul Giamatti
	Barbara Tulliver - Editor
	Christopher Doyle - Cinematographer
	James Newton Howard - Original Music By
	M. Night Shyamalan - Director
	M. Night Shyamalan - Writer
	Sam Mercer, et. al. - Producer

New York Times
"Mr. Shyamalan has a nice way with actors, a fine eye and an actual vision of the world." 07/21/2006 p.E22

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "Zooming in, Giamatti and Howard are technically perfect..." 09/01/2006 p.33

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hanks to superb performances, it's pretty engrossing. Howard draws you right in, there's no way not to empathize with Giamatti..." 09/01/2006 p.208

Sight and Sound
"One of Shyamalan's admirable traits is that he never just homages earlier work, but always thoroughly overhauls his sources. There are traces in LADY IN THE WATER of TWILIGHT ZONE writer Rod Serling's tales..." 10/01/2006 p.65

Variety 6 of 10
Although Shyamalan indicates in the storybook-style animated opening sequence that the story is derived from ancient myth, his perplexing creation stimulates a nagging sense that he's simply making it up as he goes along. (This is apparently the case, as the production notes say the idea "began as an impromptu bedtime story for his two young daughters.")...If Shyamalan's earlier works hinged on a clever twist or big surprise (think "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable," and, less successfully, "The Village"), "Lady" telegraphs its intentions from the outset...Tech credits similarly fail to impress, including the fleetingly glimpsed creature effects, which, given the marginal level of suspense, hardly seem to justify a PG-13 rating. - Brian Lowry

San Francisco Chronicle 8 of 10
"Lady in the Water," written, directed and co-produced by M. Night Shyamalan, has the strengths and weaknesses of a one-man show. The movie is full of creative and imaginative turns, and Shyamalan finds audacious ways to tell his story. The most audacious thing Shyamalan does is that he mainly tells the story, literally, rather than shows it, starting with an animated sequence that lays out the terms of the tale in the first minutes. That a movie so riddled with relentless plot explanation can work as well as this one does comes as a revelation...With his work beginning to seem as insular as the communities he's imagining, Shyamalan really needs to try directing someone else's screenplay. But Shyamalan does inject some humor into "Lady in the Water, which is something new for him. - Mick LaSalle