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Lady in the Water is a 2006 thriller/fantasy film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
[edit] PlotOne evening, Cleveland Heep (Giamatti), who became a handyman at a Philadelphia apartment complex after his family was murdered, discovers Story (Howard), a sea nymph from the Blue World, in his building's pool, immediately rescuing her from an attack by a "Scrunt"[1], a grass-covered lupine that lays preternaturally flat. Story is here to find a specific writer whose book will better humanity's future. After questioning residents Farber (Balaban), Bell (Hurt), Dury (Wright), and five nameless smokers, Heep discovers the author, Vick Ran (Shyamalan), who is writing The Cookbook, containing views and ideas so significant they will inspire a future President, a great Midwestern orator, to greatly change the world for the better. Ran meeting Story eliminates his fear and sharpens his inner voice, but he learns he will be assassinated due to his ideas' controversial nature. The Tarturics – a deeply evil simian trio that serve as the Blue World's peacekeepers – have forbidden that Story be attacked while returning home. The Scrunt nonetheless does just that, as Story is destined to be a great leader as well. To return safely, she will now need the help of a Symbolist, Guardian, Guild, and Healer. Story believes Heep to be her Guardian; Heep asks Farber, a West Coast émigré turned film critic, to help him figure out the others' identities. Working off movie tropes, Farber misadvises Heep, leading him to a flawed conclusion that logophile Dury is the Symbolist, the smokers are the Guild, and Bell is the Healer. Heep asks Story how to "practice" for the confrontation but nearly dies in the process, convincing him he's not the Guardian. The next night, Farber's bad advice leads to their plan's immediate failure. In the confusion, Story is mortally wounded by the Scrunt. Dury suddenly realizes his son Joey (Gray-Cabey) is the Interpreter. Working off of cereal boxes, Joey deduces the true Guild is comprised of seven sisters, that two new men must be present, and that the Healer is male – and is Heep. He goes about healing Story by "bringing forth [his] energy" (his suppressed grief). Story's departure starts again, but the Scrunt attacks. It is stopped by the gaze of Reggie (Rodríguez), a lopsidedly muscled tenant who is the true Guardian. Reggie's gaze is distracted by the cry of the Great Eatlon, a giant eagle who will ferry Story home. When Reggie breaks eye contact, the Scrunt leaps, but is seized by the Tarturics and dragged away. Heep thanks Story for saving his life as she hugs him goodbye. The Great Eatlon lands, enfolds Story in one of its wings, and takes flight. We see each tenant's face as they watch her ferried into the storm, the film closing on a rippled reflection of Heep gazing upward. [edit] ProductionThe movie was originally planned for Disney, as Shyamalan's previous four films; but was rejected. Shyamalan was reportedly angry about the rejection and presented the project to Warner Bros., who agreed to make the film. The events that led to the making of the movie were featured in a book, The Man Who Heard Voices, by Michael Bamberger.[2][3][4] Shyamalan established a production facility at the Jacobson Logistics warehouse site in nearby Levittown, Pennsylvania, where sets for the apartment complex and a half-city block of row houses were built. Occasional footage was shot inside the overflow area of the warehouse. Most of the filming was completed after playtime hours. [edit] MusicHaving already formulated ideas for the score the previous year, Howard wrote the score during the early part of 2006, and the orchestral score was recorded over a period of four days in May by the 91-piece Hollywood Studio Symphony.[5] [edit] Cast
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack for The Lady in the Water was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was originally written by Bob Dylan. Howard won the IFMCA Award for Best Film Score for Lady in the Water in 2006, as well as the awards for Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film, and Best Single Cue of 2006 for "The Great Eatlon"[6]. Track Listing
[edit] ReceptionLady in the Water was critically panned around the time of its release and has an overall rating of 24% on the review conglomerate Rotten Tomatoes.[7] Of Shyamalan's role in the film, Mark Kermode said, "It's like someone pouring petrol over their heads and setting fire to themselves"[8]. Variety magazine wrote a scathing advance review that appeared on July 16, 2006. Common complaints about the film were that little effort was put into getting the viewer to believe in the world, that few moments of the film could be taken seriously, and that Shyamalan was using the film as a form of self-indulgence; instead of having a minor cameo, as in most of his films, Shyamalan cast himself as a visionary whose writing changes the world, and included a film critic — portrayed as arrogant, self-assured, and passive — who is despised by the other characters and who ultimately is violently killed. Many reviewers attacked this perceived self-indulgence: Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote of the story, "Apparently those who live in the water now roam the earth trying to make us listen, though initially it’s rather foggy as to what precisely we are supposed to hear — the crash of the waves, the songs of the sirens, the voice of God — until we realize that of course we're meant to cup our ear to an even higher power: Mr. Shyamalan"[9]. Frank Lovece of Film Journal International said, "Fans of actor Paul Giamatti or of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan may get something out of Lady in the Water, a fractured fairy tale about a water nymph who comes to a Philadelphia apartment house to deliver an important message. Anyone else is likely to be perplexed by the muddled mythmaking or actively astonished at the self-indulgent ego of a writer-director-producer who casts himself in the role of a visionary writer whose martyrdom will change the world"[10]. Michael Medved gave Lady in the Water one and a half stars (out of four) calling it, "... a full-out, flamboyant cinematic disaster, a work of nearly unparalleled arrogance and vapidity", adding that, "... Lady in the Water is all wet..."[11]. Also panned was the fact that the film was based on a bedtime story Shyamalan told to his children; Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat commented: "If Shyamalan is going to use his kids as a focus group for future projects, maybe he should start making movies for Nickelodeon already and stop wasting our time"; an ironic comment, considering Shyamalan's next project would be a live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender.[12] CNN's Tom Charity, among many others, has called Lady in the Water the worst film of 2006. It was listed by Variety as one of the ten "biggest (financial) losers" of 2006.[13] Not all reviews were negative: Harrison Scott Key wrote in World magazine that, "The plot turns into a puzzle... and it's quite fun to watch. Ultimately, the movie has us asking one of the most important questions an audience can ask: What happens next? And that makes it a good film"[14]. Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe wrote that though the film is "built on too much ponderous self-regard ... [t]here is a good chunk of Lady in the Water that is simply too well made and affectingly acted to dismiss as a mere exercise in arrogance"[15]. The film was nominated for four Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay, winning two for Shyamalan as both Worst Director and Worst Supporting Actor. [edit] Box officeIn its opening weekend (21-23 July 2006), the film grossed a total of $18.2 million, placing third in the United States box office results for that weekend. It was Shyamalan's lowest opening for any of his five major films. Due to negative reviews and poor word-of-mouth, its second week fell sharply to $7.1 million, pushing its total to only $32.2 million. Its third weekend was no better, falling another 62.1% to $2.7 million. As of September 14, 2006, its total was $42.285 million.[16] In addition, the film only made $30.5 million in the foreign box office, pulling its tally to approximately $72.785 million internationally. The movie had an estimated budget of $75 million[17] for production and a further $70 million[18] in advertising costs. [edit] Home mediaThis movie was released simultaneously on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray from Warner Home Video on December 19, 2006. The extras included on the DVD are:
[edit] Related books [edit] Children's bookShyamalan, who credits the development of the movie to a bedtime story he told his children about what happens in their pool at night,[19] wrote the 72-page children's book Lady in the Water: A Bedtime Story (Little, Brown, New York, ISBN 0-316-01734-5) to coincide with the movie. The book's illustrations were made by Crash McCreery. It was released on the same day as the film, on July 21, 2006. The book describes the narf, scrunt, Tartutic, and Eatlon, in detail, their roles are identical to those in the film. The book includes details not present in the film and omits others: additional details include the description of the sensations experienced by a vessel upon its awakening and the suggestion that a narf's presence activates the lawn sprinklers. The roles of Madame Narf, Healer, Symbolist, Guild, and Guardian are only suggested and not stated openly. The tone of the book resembles in some respects that of Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, sharing with it an air of unnerving mystery and a similar pace. [edit] The Man Who Heard VoicesThe Man Who Heard Voices (Gotham Books, New York, ISBN 1-59240-213-5), by Sports Illustrated writer Michael Bamberger, recounting the making of the film, was released July 20, 2006. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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