When You Thought it Was Safe to be ...Out of the Water!
Joining the growing number of mixed reviews to the list of M.Night "However Do you Spell or Say His Name" Shamalayan's critics, I have to put in my own 2 cents. (In this case, it would be $8.75 plus the cost of coke, popcorn, and a hotdog.) I have to give credit to Mr. Shamalayan's courage in putting out a movie as original as this. To satirize Hollywood's murder of originality in the business of filmmaking, Mr. Shamalayan strategically places a film critic as a new tenant in Mr. Heap's apartment complex. The film critic's lament of the absence of originality is probably felt by all film audiences, but perhaps Mr. Shamalayan overestimates the audience's capacity to believe in what he calls narfs, scrunts, and (another display of my weakness in spelling) tartoogas?
The premise appears simple enough. Mr. Heap, endearingly acted by Paul Giaomatti, is the superattendant of The Cove. The tenants all appear unassuming as the man who takes care of their building. Mr. Shamalayan would like you to think that each of them may not have a purpose but back to that later. One night, a la Steven Speilberg's E.T., Mr. Heap hears a splashing in the pool. With great apprehension, he edges slowly out to the pool to investigate. Perhaps too quickly, we meet Story, the narf who saves Mr. Heap from drowning in the pool after slipping and falling into it. And here is where the film starts to lose me.
Granted, any work of fiction requires us to suspend our disbelief. You're reading a review by the same person who saw The Lake House, another movie worthy of criticism. Perhaps any movie with a title that suggests something wet should signal our inner flag. Lady in the Water and the Lake House intersect in two ways: 1) they are both original and 2) their plots are so fantastical, one would have to be crazy to believe such things in real life happen! The two differ greatly in that one is more a sort of legend vs. romantic drama, but both the supporting characters are willing to suspend their disbelief at such an abrupt and sudden pace it's hard to believe that these people are living in the real world. One only has to catch a glimpse of the guy who only works out the one side of his body to know that this movie is totally "out there!" That's M. Night for you.
The dialogue at times can be a little convulted as the plot. There are scenes that could have been developed more or restructured or edited out. The one scene where an Asian girl interprets the legend as spoken by her mom spills the legend bit by bit but the diction is so stereotypical of what an Asian-American girl would sound like, that I begin to lose interest. And because of the way some of the dialogue is carried out, a lot is misunderstood but can be deciphered gradually as the action develops, however erractically.
Creating tension is how Mr. Heap falls into this legend. Story, the narf, is supposed to meet her vessel to pass on the secret of his future. Here Mr. Shamalayan plays it up for the camera. What an opportunity to be on the other side of the lens. It isn't any wonder why he's a director and not an actor. His performance, however small, seems stilted with exception of a smile here and there. The rare smiles or lack of looseness in his character I suppose is to portray his character as being very intense and dedicated to his writing which is supposed to affect the future of the country. In his portrayal on screen, I think we catch a glimpse of his directing style: very intense in the purpose of the film forgetting the lightness in mood that life also has to offer. Though he does show some redemption for all those involved centered around Story's need to return back to the Blue World, a quest constantly thwarted by those nagging scrunts who come out of nowhere from the grass. And you thought weeds were a problem!
Out of the mess is Paul Giaomatti's performance. He is truly and unsung and prolific actor. (I look forward to the Illusionist, in which he'll star). Through his performance, as in his film Sideways, Giaomatti delivers a human aspect that would have been missing had he not starred in this film. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that Mr. Shamalayan wrote the screenplay with him in mind, knowing his capacity to deliever the vulnerabilty but courageousness displayed in Mr. Heap's character. Unable to resist the urge to cry, I found myself becoming the Lady in Tears during the scene where everyone tries to bring back Story back to life. Being a "healer" myself, we find that among the band of misfits at the Cove, Mr. Heap through his supplication to God as it were (which I found refreshing) gave the power to heal and restore life to Story. Just as Mr. Heap brings Story back to life, Paul Giaomatti "heals" the Lady in the Water from nearly drowning.
In the end, we find that everyone has a purpose and that every act will affect another. We are all connected. These are great elements for any story, but could have been structured better here in this film...but who am I to criticize. Enjoy the movie. And maybe in the end you'll be rooting for the scrunt in one scene....Watch it and you'll know what I mean....
>(a shirt that M. Night could wear: "Critics= Srunts' Lunch")
