Post by Matthew on Jul 30, 2006 11:37:23 GMT -5
I saw Lady in the Water yesterday.
I was utterly captivated by it: It was, as the subtitle suggested, a bedtime story.
This is M. Night Shyamalan's own "the Hobbit": a story he told his own children that he chose to share with the rest of us: it requires what just about any fantasy does: the complete suspension of disbelief, and a willingness to embrace wonder.
Funny thing is, only one or two of the reviews out of the dozens I've read thus far seem to come anywhere near that kind of understanding. One reviewer said something like "This certainly ain't a bedtime story for children" citing the VERY scary monsters, and the frustration our Hero, Cleveland Heep, feels in trying to find the right path. That reviewer's idea for a great bedtime story for children(presumably all ages)? "Goodnight Moon".
I got tucked in with "The Hobbit" and "Frankenstein" and other wonderous stories that had real DRAMA to them. No sex, no cussing, just adventure and spooky thrills and pain and joy and heroic acts and sweet chaste romance.
In that manner, Lady in the Water fills every single expectation. Cleveland Heep in incredible as the caretaker of the apartment complex who has a heart big enough to try to take care of all his residents, not just their plumbing and hardware. Bryce Dallas Howard has grown up into an incredibly beautiful woman, who captivates as the alien creature, the fish-out-of-water. Shyamalan puts in a great performance as writer who needs a muse, and who stares into the face of his own mortality. And the rest of the characters.. delights. weirdos and oddballs and freaks, oh my!!
Another problem many reviewers had with it was the simple acceptance of everyone in the film for the magical elements.
Well, by god, when magic thrusts itself into your life, and you can feel it, you accept it, without question. What kind of fairy tale, bedtime story, do you have if everyone is protesting "oh, this canNOT possibly be happening"? Magic leaves its mark when it touches you, and they are all aware of being touched by it.
I loved hell out of it. I went in expecting a "hobbit"-like fairy tale, and I wasn't at all dissapointed. I laughed, I cried, I was thrilled and nervous and hopeful along with the characters in the movie, and.... It was just fun.
So I highly reccomend it, in defiance of what the reviewers all say about it (you'll see why the reviewers didn't like it about three-quarters of the way through the flick).
Romance and adventure and self-discovery as something special and knowledge that if you pull this off, a better, kinder, wiser world is in the offing for your children... the subversive message that you have to depend on yourself and your friends to watch out for yourself above the "authorities"...it's... a delight.
I was utterly captivated by it: It was, as the subtitle suggested, a bedtime story.
This is M. Night Shyamalan's own "the Hobbit": a story he told his own children that he chose to share with the rest of us: it requires what just about any fantasy does: the complete suspension of disbelief, and a willingness to embrace wonder.
Funny thing is, only one or two of the reviews out of the dozens I've read thus far seem to come anywhere near that kind of understanding. One reviewer said something like "This certainly ain't a bedtime story for children" citing the VERY scary monsters, and the frustration our Hero, Cleveland Heep, feels in trying to find the right path. That reviewer's idea for a great bedtime story for children(presumably all ages)? "Goodnight Moon".
I got tucked in with "The Hobbit" and "Frankenstein" and other wonderous stories that had real DRAMA to them. No sex, no cussing, just adventure and spooky thrills and pain and joy and heroic acts and sweet chaste romance.
In that manner, Lady in the Water fills every single expectation. Cleveland Heep in incredible as the caretaker of the apartment complex who has a heart big enough to try to take care of all his residents, not just their plumbing and hardware. Bryce Dallas Howard has grown up into an incredibly beautiful woman, who captivates as the alien creature, the fish-out-of-water. Shyamalan puts in a great performance as writer who needs a muse, and who stares into the face of his own mortality. And the rest of the characters.. delights. weirdos and oddballs and freaks, oh my!!
Another problem many reviewers had with it was the simple acceptance of everyone in the film for the magical elements.
Well, by god, when magic thrusts itself into your life, and you can feel it, you accept it, without question. What kind of fairy tale, bedtime story, do you have if everyone is protesting "oh, this canNOT possibly be happening"? Magic leaves its mark when it touches you, and they are all aware of being touched by it.
I loved hell out of it. I went in expecting a "hobbit"-like fairy tale, and I wasn't at all dissapointed. I laughed, I cried, I was thrilled and nervous and hopeful along with the characters in the movie, and.... It was just fun.
So I highly reccomend it, in defiance of what the reviewers all say about it (you'll see why the reviewers didn't like it about three-quarters of the way through the flick).
Romance and adventure and self-discovery as something special and knowledge that if you pull this off, a better, kinder, wiser world is in the offing for your children... the subversive message that you have to depend on yourself and your friends to watch out for yourself above the "authorities"...it's... a delight.