Lady in the Water (July 20/06)

Though it hardly seems possible, Lady in the Water is surely destined to divide audiences even further than The Village did; with its head-scratcher of a storyline and expectedly deliberate pace, the movie gives filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan's detractors plenty of ammunition to use against him. But as undeniably strange as much of Lady in the Water is, Shyamalan certainly deserves kudos for trying something different - although the director occasionally goes a little too far in terms of kookiness.

Paul Giamatti stars as Cleveland Heep, the sad-sack superintendent of an apartment complex that's home to a whole host of unusually offbeat characters. Cleveland's depressing life is interrupted by the arrival of a water nymph named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is evidently being pursued by evil little creatures known as "scrunts." With the assistance of his fellow apartment dwellers, Cleveland slowly unravels the secrets behind Story's existence and begins formulating a plan to secure her safe return back home.

Much has been made of the fact that Shyamalan elected to make Lady in the Water at Warner Bros following a dispute with Disney executives, who reportedly objected to some of the more obscure elements within Shyamalan's screenplay. But there's absolutely nothing here so strange that it impedes the viewers enjoyment; Shyamalan does a superb job of establishing this world and its inhabitants, as well as the rules that clearly govern their actions (ie nobody is terribly surprised by Story's presence, which does make sense within the context of the film).

That Shyamalan has selected a uniformly strong cast to bring his story to life certainly helps ground the proceedings into something that resembles reality, although it's clear literally from minute one that the filmmaker is going for a distinctly mythical sort of vibe. Giamatti, who delivers an expectedly riveting performance, has been surrounded by a whole host of stellar co-stars, including Jeffrey Wright, Freddy Rodriguez, and Bob Balaban. Balaban, in particular, provides the film with an appreciated burst of humor, as the actor effectively steps into the shoes of a ridiculously pompous film critic.

Lady in the Water ultimately feels like the sort of movie that'll improve immeasurably on repeat viewings, as one can't help but fixate on the film's plethora of bizarre happenings the first time around. Still, in terms of creating an intriguing, compelling fable, Shyamalan has undoubtedly succeeded (although it'd surely be nice if he'd stop directing his actors to speak in incomprehensible whispers).