Lady in the Water

Let me preface this post by saying that I had been anxiously awaiting the release of Lady in the Water for quite some time.

I am a fan of M. Night Shyamalan's past projectds, and of Paul Giamatti's work in Sideways and Private Parts.

There are very, very few films that I will actually go see in a theater.

I usually wait til they come out on DVD to avoid the annoyances that come with being crowded-in anywhere with the general public.

But, I digress.

Giamatti cannot be faulted for his performance, nor can the rest of the cast in the film--with the exception of Shyamalan himself.

Yes, that's right, the director plays a very pivotal role in the film himself.

Well, perhaps pivotal isn't the right word.

There were way too many scattered points made in the convoluted narrative to designate any in particular as being pivotal.

Shyamalan is to be admired for his efforts at originality. This film is definitely an original. But, the primary reason for that is its tremendously self-serving themes. For instance, his character is assured by Story the Madame Narf (yes, I'm serious) that his social commentary will become the basis of some future president's political ambition.

Fortunately, LitW does have some light humor to distract the audience from its pointlessness, and it does savage film critics in a deliciously wicked way. But, it ultimately leaves the casual movie-goer with a lot of great big question marks by the time they leave the theater.

The biggest question mark, of course, is why did I waste the time and money on seeing this tripe?

But, even a tremendously bad impression is better than no lasting impression at all, I guess. Sadly, most of the junk generated by Hollywood nowadays is quickly dismissed from the conscious. At least this film had me thinking about it the next day, punching holes in the narrative, etc.

Maybe, that was M. Night Shyamalan's intention all along . . . genius?! I don't know. I'm so confused . . .