Lady in the Water

Is this or is this not a fairytale? As a "regular" movie it is terrible, but as an experiment it is fascinating. A fairytale for adults that plays around and turns all the common clichés and established narrative procedures upside-down. You have to play Shyamalan's game otherwise this will just be a boring mishmash for you. That is, except for the small detail that it is not a mishmash. Quite the opposite. Playfulness with established procedures is only hindered by Night's egoism. Too bad about that. (14/09/2006)

I don't know if Monday Night wanted to make a fairy tale or something in the style of The Village or any of his more famous films, but the result is definitely worth a look. The fairy tale story supported by an appealing performance from Paul Giamatti unfortunately "offers" a lot of plot holes, but if you ignore the few Shyamalan excesses, you can enjoy this rather untypical fable with a beautiful score by James Newton Howard (as has become customary). (28/11/2009)

After the extremely underrated The Village, another great effort by Mr.Shaymalan, where I felt a film moving away from mainstream audiences, which I applaud. As with the previous film, a wonderfully atmospheric affair with a great Howard score, some strong moments and Giamatti definitely going into my acting top ten. If you hated the twist of The Village (which was not the point of the film, no matter what anyone says), you will not find anything similar here. Shyamalan has abandoned his traditional trademark of surprising final twists (unless you count the reveal of "The Guardian"), but from the start he develops an original fairy-tale mythology that makes this film at times what one might call "strange" but intriguing. It's impeccable to discuss with equally afflicted film buffs and loses nothing with a second viewing. So, I say, carry on Mr Shyamalan and next time you’ll get 5*. I just hope he won't be deterred from further work by the not-so-favorable response from audiences and film critics (you can do it, Shy, you send the Skrunts after them and it'll be fine). (13/01/2007)

The leaky logic is excused by the fairy tale, which always has its clearly given rules, and which Shyamalan strictly sticks to all the time. The phenomenal Paul Giamatti and the ethereally beautiful mysterious look in Bryce Dallas Howard's eyes, along with the wonderful atmosphere, ensure that this film is a major win for the director (at least definitely for me)! (08/02/2007)

Shyamalan begins to descend into the depths of this film, where his dialogues sound incredibly funny, pathetic, and pitiful. As if he can no longer achieve something that doesn't try to pretend to be an incredibly important thing that will change people's lives. Yes, there are interesting characters here, especially in the case of Cleveland, but that simply isn't enough. The film is drowning in its attempt to make fiction enter reality. However, the film does not stand on solid ground because Shyamalan simply cannot work properly with the characters. (06/05/2014)