Not everyone will like this film. I happened to think it is a small gem, and that it will grow in popularity and esteem as more people come to know it. However, it seems to have been marketed as a scary, horror thriller, which does it an injustice. I almost missed it because of the hype, and my teenage daughter skipped watching the DVD with me, because she does not like "scary movies." She was clearly misled.
It's hard to categorize Lady in the Water. Suffice it to say that the author himself calls it a bedtime story.
I predict that you will enjoy this film if you have enjoyed: - The Princess Bride - Paul Giamatti's characters - Rod Serling's Twilight Zone - Stephen King's "It"
Like the Princess Bride, Lady in the Water is a romantic fable about love, but not about romantic love. The love in this film is love of neighbor, a good Samaritan kind of love.
Paul Giamatti is the core and fiber of this film. No other character is developed as much as his character. He plays a Jimmy Stewart for our generation, a bumbling everyman with a core of integrity and humble good will.
To me this movie resembles the best of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. It's an eerie morality play, where the audience gladly suspends their disbelief in order to enter the author's realm.
It also strongly reminds me of Stephen King's "It" (read the book, rather than watch the mini-series)in that it follows a band of outcasts whose characters grow enormously as they discover their own latent talents in a foreign world that exists just beyond the perceived reality.
And for the record, I thought M. Night Shyamalan's acting turn in his own movie was rather good.
Lady in the Water is not a perfect film, not even a masterpiece, but it does not deserve the scorn that has been heaped upon it. If you harbor a soft spot for fables and fantasies, do-gooders and **SPOILER ALERT** happy endings (LOTR anyone?) then take a chance on this lovely little film.
It's hard to categorize Lady in the Water. Suffice it to say that the author himself calls it a bedtime story.
I predict that you will enjoy this film if you have enjoyed: - The Princess Bride - Paul Giamatti's characters - Rod Serling's Twilight Zone - Stephen King's "It"
Like the Princess Bride, Lady in the Water is a romantic fable about love, but not about romantic love. The love in this film is love of neighbor, a good Samaritan kind of love.
Paul Giamatti is the core and fiber of this film. No other character is developed as much as his character. He plays a Jimmy Stewart for our generation, a bumbling everyman with a core of integrity and humble good will.
To me this movie resembles the best of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. It's an eerie morality play, where the audience gladly suspends their disbelief in order to enter the author's realm.
It also strongly reminds me of Stephen King's "It" (read the book, rather than watch the mini-series)in that it follows a band of outcasts whose characters grow enormously as they discover their own latent talents in a foreign world that exists just beyond the perceived reality.
And for the record, I thought M. Night Shyamalan's acting turn in his own movie was rather good.
Lady in the Water is not a perfect film, not even a masterpiece, but it does not deserve the scorn that has been heaped upon it. If you harbor a soft spot for fables and fantasies, do-gooders and **SPOILER ALERT** happy endings (LOTR anyone?) then take a chance on this lovely little film.