Lady in the Water

Review by Tania Martin

A supernatural thriller set completely in an apartment block full of weirdos and involving lots of water? Doesn’t sound too interesting huh? But Melrose Place: The Reunion this ain’t. Thanks to the M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable – anything else with a ‘didn’t see that coming’ twist in the third reel) black magic touch – something Disney became obviously sceptical about, considering they dumped this from their slate a year or so back, leaving M.Night to find a new home at Warner - the unconventional mix is actually quite compelling.

Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man), brilliant as always, is Cleveland Heep, the apartment building’s stuttering superintendent with what seems like a vacuous past and a mundane existence, tending to tenants’ repairs and an obvious avoidance to being involved in anyone else’s lives and vice-versa. Enter the beautiful Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), a mysterious nymph of sorts who appears to Cleveland as he’s tidying-up around the pool one dark evening. Cleveland’s curiosity is borne and his long-gone spirit for life reawakened as the soaking wet and terrified Story relays dark, fairytale-like words of warning of how she is in deep peril and needs human interaction in order to get back to her watery, not-of-this-earth homeland.

The first quarter or so of the film is somewhat frustrating, with a bunch of hushed banter about myths and monsters, and I was almost tempted to stop watching at this point and pull out a good magazine, but unlike Shyamalan’s plotty snorefest The Village, this one actually improves – big time. Suddenly, the plot thickens and it becomes well worth seeing through to the end.

There are plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments, balanced with quieter, more dialogue and character-driven scenes, where you slowly get to put all of the pieces together (although you have to listen carefully – so crank the aids up to 11) and see the inhabitants’ personalities come to light, leading to a welldeserved and satisfying ending.

This film requires a good imagination, an ear for detail and a desire to be drip-fed mythical related information, but it’s great escapism, with a touching moment or two thrown in for good measure. With the bad rap this films been getting, colour me surprised!

3.5 out of 5

Lady In The Water
Australian release: 7th September, 2006
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Freddy Rodriguez, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
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