Lady in the Water - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
AS with any M Night Shyamalan movie, very little is known about Lady In The Water save for the basic, intriguing premise.
The film stars Paul Giamatti as Cleveland Heap, an apartment superintendent, who rescues a mysterious young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) from the building’s swimming pool one night.
Discovering the woman is, in fact, a nymph-like creature from a bedtime tale, Cleveland enlists the help of the building’s tenants to help her get back to her fictional realm.
But the task proves harder than anticipated when the group faces hostility from the deadly beasts that also dwell in the tale, who are keen to keep her trapped in reality.
Needless to say, Lady In The Water takes its cue from a bedtime story that Shyamalan wrote for his children.
But anyone expecting a straight-forward child-pleaser had better think again – the film is bound to exist in darker territory, while containing plenty of ambiguity.
It may also provide a refreshing break from a summer largely filled with explosive blockbusters such as Mission Impossible 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Superman Returns.
The trailer doesn’t give away too much (as per usual), although the smart money is on Shyamalan making his customary cameo, as well as delivering another clever ending.
His choice of casting also looks good, with Giamatti finally getting the chance to shine in a mainstream leading man role and Howard looking to build on the good work she did in Shyamalan’s The Village.
She clearly relished the opportunity to work with the writer-director again and said the set was often light-hearted.
“I’m a Pisces, so I’ve always been a little fish-like,” she told Premiere magazine. “Actually, we kept making a joke about it because Paul actually has to spend significantly more time in the water than me, so we kept saying it should be called Man In The Water.”