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Review #194 of 365
Film: Lady in the Water [2] [PG-13] 110 minutes
WIP™ Scale: (1st viewing $13.50 + 2nd viewing $14.00)/2 = $13.75
Where Viewed: Century Orleans 18, Las Vegas, NV
When 1st Seen: 24 July 2006
Time: 4:20 p.m.
Soundtrack: Download now from 
and see below for CD
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
This will be part 2 of a 2 part review for Lady in the Water.
A Bedtime Review (Part 2):
Reminder: This part of the review contains spoilers to the plot. Please see only part 1 of this review if you do not wish to have the plot spoiled for you.
Well, children, Daddy left you in Part 1 of this bedtime review with advice that, indeed, you should see this movie. Now, after having seen it for the second time this afternoon, my recommendation is even a bit stronger. Always in a second viewing, one sees things one missed before. This time, Daddy was able to focus more on the finer points.
First up, let's get to the major twist of the film. I promised to explain this in Part 1 of this bedtime review. The ingenious twist to which I alluded is this…people grow up being told all kinds of stories or fairy tales, etc. Generally, these stores seem to be designed to teach us something like a good moral or a way to live our lives. We are not to be greedy or selfish, etc. As we grow up, we come to understand that these stories are not true. They are just tales. Well, what if they were real? What if you went to answer the front door one day and standing there before you was one of the three little pigs in a panic and being chased by the Big Bad Wolf? What if the wolf then started to huff and puff and try to blow your house down? Yeah, that would be a trip, huh? Talking pigs and ferocious wolves? So, the twist is that the story of the Narf is a bed time story that turns out to be true. She arrives from the real Blue World into the swimming pool of the Philadelphia apartment complex called "The Cove". She needs to see her chosen one and inspire in him great things, and then she can return via a ride from a giant eagle. The Narf or Sea Nymph is named Story, and after her is a terrible wolf-like creature capable of hiding flat in the grass. Well, Story is no ordinary Narf, she's a one in 1000 Narf that must see a writer who will write a book to change the world and then return to lead her people. So, the Narf mythology told to children in Asian countries turns out, in this case, to be true. What a marvelous concept! What a great twist, what IF the fairy tales we were told are actually true? Now, there are a couple more twists that do not need to be revealed here. See the movie!
Next, it bears worth mentioning that Mr. Shyamalan has cast himself in a prominent character in the story. In fact, his character is the one that the Narf must see so that he will be inspired to write the book that will change the world forever. Why would he cast himself in such an instrumental role? Arrogance? Only he knows for sure, but I would speculate that whatever the reason, this also was a stroke of genius for he has created a very interesting self-referential concept. After all, he is the writer of the film. So, in effect, he is able to promote his own vision via the film by playing the character he wrote to change the world himself. Is he also urging us to refer back to our childhood fairy tales and realize if we lived life as guided by them, the world would be a far safer and better place for children?
What else is going on in this movie?
There is so much here, going on under the surface, one really has to pay attention to see it all.
Every time we see a tv in the film it is showing war footage. Kids today in the USA watch way too much tv. And what does it teach them? Probably not the kinds of things we'd like them to learn. Should we be reading them bedtime stories instead?
The child who becomes the Symbolist to aid in the carrying out of the ceremony to save the Narf from death it virtually ignored by his father until, all at once, his father realizes that his gibberish about how sad the eyes of Cap'N Crunch are on the box and this perhaps meaning he and his dad should visit his Aunt, really do mean something. Does this mean that we should listen to children with all their innocence more in general?
At first, Cleveland Heep miscasts the roles of every one of those special humans that gravitate to live near the "Vessel"—he or she whom the Narf must see—so they may help the Narf escape with the great eagle. He casts himself as the Guardian, the Cat lady as the healer, and so on. This is the source of the many other twists in the film. So, why does he miscast them? Again, only speculation, but is it to show that we can become so caught up in our beliefs as to miss the truth?
There is a good deal of self-referencing in the film other than the casting of the writer of the film as the writer in the film. For example, the film critic references his own demise. And then Mr. Dury (Jeffrey Wright) has a profoundly self-referential experience during the climax of the film when he gives up on himself as the symbologist and then lectures on the notion that we all need to be about to discover our own purpose in life and in the process discovers that of his son.
Well, kids, these are just some of the gems buried in this masterpiece film. I only hope that people will give this film a chance and go in realizing that M. Night Shyamalan still has many great films in him.
First up, let's get to the major twist of the film. I promised to explain this in Part 1 of this bedtime review. The ingenious twist to which I alluded is this…people grow up being told all kinds of stories or fairy tales, etc. Generally, these stores seem to be designed to teach us something like a good moral or a way to live our lives. We are not to be greedy or selfish, etc. As we grow up, we come to understand that these stories are not true. They are just tales. Well, what if they were real? What if you went to answer the front door one day and standing there before you was one of the three little pigs in a panic and being chased by the Big Bad Wolf? What if the wolf then started to huff and puff and try to blow your house down? Yeah, that would be a trip, huh? Talking pigs and ferocious wolves? So, the twist is that the story of the Narf is a bed time story that turns out to be true. She arrives from the real Blue World into the swimming pool of the Philadelphia apartment complex called "The Cove". She needs to see her chosen one and inspire in him great things, and then she can return via a ride from a giant eagle. The Narf or Sea Nymph is named Story, and after her is a terrible wolf-like creature capable of hiding flat in the grass. Well, Story is no ordinary Narf, she's a one in 1000 Narf that must see a writer who will write a book to change the world and then return to lead her people. So, the Narf mythology told to children in Asian countries turns out, in this case, to be true. What a marvelous concept! What a great twist, what IF the fairy tales we were told are actually true? Now, there are a couple more twists that do not need to be revealed here. See the movie!
Next, it bears worth mentioning that Mr. Shyamalan has cast himself in a prominent character in the story. In fact, his character is the one that the Narf must see so that he will be inspired to write the book that will change the world forever. Why would he cast himself in such an instrumental role? Arrogance? Only he knows for sure, but I would speculate that whatever the reason, this also was a stroke of genius for he has created a very interesting self-referential concept. After all, he is the writer of the film. So, in effect, he is able to promote his own vision via the film by playing the character he wrote to change the world himself. Is he also urging us to refer back to our childhood fairy tales and realize if we lived life as guided by them, the world would be a far safer and better place for children?
What else is going on in this movie?
There is so much here, going on under the surface, one really has to pay attention to see it all.
Every time we see a tv in the film it is showing war footage. Kids today in the USA watch way too much tv. And what does it teach them? Probably not the kinds of things we'd like them to learn. Should we be reading them bedtime stories instead?
The child who becomes the Symbolist to aid in the carrying out of the ceremony to save the Narf from death it virtually ignored by his father until, all at once, his father realizes that his gibberish about how sad the eyes of Cap'N Crunch are on the box and this perhaps meaning he and his dad should visit his Aunt, really do mean something. Does this mean that we should listen to children with all their innocence more in general?
At first, Cleveland Heep miscasts the roles of every one of those special humans that gravitate to live near the "Vessel"—he or she whom the Narf must see—so they may help the Narf escape with the great eagle. He casts himself as the Guardian, the Cat lady as the healer, and so on. This is the source of the many other twists in the film. So, why does he miscast them? Again, only speculation, but is it to show that we can become so caught up in our beliefs as to miss the truth?
There is a good deal of self-referencing in the film other than the casting of the writer of the film as the writer in the film. For example, the film critic references his own demise. And then Mr. Dury (Jeffrey Wright) has a profoundly self-referential experience during the climax of the film when he gives up on himself as the symbologist and then lectures on the notion that we all need to be about to discover our own purpose in life and in the process discovers that of his son.
Well, kids, these are just some of the gems buried in this masterpiece film. I only hope that people will give this film a chance and go in realizing that M. Night Shyamalan still has many great films in him.
THE END
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Movies Starring: Paul Giamatti • Bryce Dallas Howard
Movie Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
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Review-lite [150-word cap]
A Bedtime Review:
Once upon a time, M. Night Shyamalan redefined the suspense thriller with his jaw-dropping twist in The Sixth Sense. Since then, he has not quite repeated the thrill of his masterpiece. Still, he keeps trying, this time with a 'bedtime story' called Lady in the Water and starring Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard. Based on a fable, the film has Giamatti's character, Cleveland Heep, trying to help a lost woman get home. In the end, it is Shyamalan's story that becomes a fable within a fable with a result that is either ingenious or dismissible. As a fan, I'll assert the former. This is a good film full of important political components. On the M. Night Shyamalan scale it is his second best film. Which means a "very, very good movie" on everyone else's scale.
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