RUTHERFORD ON FILM: ‘Lady in the Water’: Urban Fairy Tale Mythology Unevenly Blends Into a Parody on Artistic Endeavor
By Tony RutherfordHuntington News Network Critic
Huntington, WV (HNN) -- When Dorothy toured the Land of Oz, she worried about “lions, tigers, and bears, oh my.” By stepping into the five-story “Cove” apartment building somewhere on the outskirts of Philadelphia, you meet scrunts (devil dogs) and tartutic (monkey-like creatures).
Obviously, gazing into the pool of The Cove, you do not anticipate any creatures that go bump in the night. Cleveland (Paul Giamatti) takes care of the property while maintaining a secret about his past losses. When tenants report splashing in the pool after dark, he conjectures that young people may be skinny dipping or bubbling in the water.
Upon investigation, he rescues from the pool a frail, intuitive and naked Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), who seems a cross between mermaid and nymph. She’s actually a ‘narf,’ a kind of bedtime story heroine, and “Lady in the Water” was written and directed by M. Night (“Sixth Sense,” “Signs,”) Shyamalan, so only a few items will be what they seem.
Cleveland assumes the role of protector and care giver, a trait that he shares with all his tenants. As you meet them, they form an amalgamation of ethnicities and personalities all, more or less, accepting and/or tolerating their neighbors eccentricities. The newest apartment dweller is Mr. Harry Farber (Bob Balaban), a newly hired book and film critic for the newspaper.
Strutting multiple degrees of success and lack thereof, Shyamalan’s “Lady” contains the creepiness and eeriness you’ve come to expect from him in his mature Narnia-like fable which possesses dark mysteries, munching goblins, and a unified quest to send the vulnerable narf back to her home.
The film has a duel nature -- the shivering lady from a fairy tale attempting to survive in a strange out of water world and the director’s symbolic parody that surfaces underneath the urban myth.
His jabs at the classification of “artistic” originality pokes the world of film criticism, which is represented by Farber. The dabbles into parody neither sink or swim, instead the glaringly obvious connects and the remainder rests as a source of endless speculation. He lashes at the ego of “what kind of person would be so arrogant as to presume the intention of another human being.” Less clear, though, are other more subtle suggestions that a ‘Story’ finds its purpose through delicate nurture, not evaluative lashing and endless interpretation.
Without detailing too closely the on-going word interpretation scenarios, “Lady’s” bitter critic complains that “there’s no originality left,” yet ironically its author molds a cinematic attempt to reach that often sought and few achieved classification. Of course , jargon about the ‘healer,’ ‘protector’ ‘guild’ and ‘interpreter’ may overlap into the promised land of artist striking back at those who evaluate, but viewers not possessing a sense for skillfully placing adjectives will appreciate this diversion .
Returning to the film’s main layer, your sentiments shoulder the mysterious female categorized as an inhabitant of a land of bedtime stories. Wet and shirt clad throughout, Ms. Howard has the same innocence that permitted Daryl Hannah in “Splash” to stroll anywhere without appearing provocative or sensuous. Wilted, pale, dripping Howard communicates little verbally, but you sense she’s something just below an angelic carnation lost in America (well, again, call it Philadelphia since the camera does not venture beyond The Cove).
Equally imperative to the myth, an apathetic community ranging a band crowded into a small space hoping to rock their way to fortune to a studious Chinese student and her mom meld into a oneness streaming ‘hope,’ as emblazoned by the ‘girl’ from another place who needs that vipers be vanquished before she can return.
Oddly, “Lady’s” not what you have come to expect from M. Night, yet can one truthfully state that any his films rest on expectations? His following comes from a visual and verbal sleight of hand, which ‘tricks’ the perception. Some of his ‘tricks’ have more merit than others. This represents a film for which you must personally judge. For those expressing disappointment, a similar amount will exclaim praises.