USA: Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's new film, "Lady In The Water" has its New York City premiere

Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's latest venture into the paranormal, 'Lady in the Water,' premiered in New York City on Monday (July 17), with the lead actors of the film walking down the red carpet, which had actually been morphed into blue to serve the watery theme. The premiere had an unusual venue -- 'The American Museum of Natural History'. So, below giant posters of a lizard and a tortoise at the entrance of the museum could be seen smaller posters (in blue of course) of 'Lady In The Water'. Shyamalan, walked the 'blue' carpet with his wife, Bhavna, who had donned an elegant Indian sari. The director spoke of how his new paranormal tale was different from what he'd done previously, explaining how the fantasy element was stronger. "I made it kind of in a kind of a improvisational state. Knowing that I am usually like very super meticulous about everything. There's a fantasy, which I haven't done, kind of flat out fantasy, kind of that Harry Potter, other world, like it's not normal. Like everyone's acting slightly in a fantasy world, like Edward Scissorhands world. It's possible - that you have scissors on your hands? Like that's possible, like that a heightened reality. So, that was fun to direct a movie, cause I'd written 'Stuart Little' in that fashion," said Shyamalan. 'Lady In The Water' tries to locate extraordinary events within the ordinary and everyday. The setting is an apartment complex, Cove Apartments, surrounding a swimming pool in suburban Philadelphia. Living, breathing creatures from a child's bedtime story lurk within its confines. The plot revolves around Story (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), who is a 'narf,' a creature from the water, and her vicious adversary, a "scrunt," which when it finally becomes visible is a cross between a hyena and wild boar with matted, spiky fur and a really bad temper. The bedtime tale insists that several humans in the area where the narf appears have powers, unknown to themselves, that will enable them to protect and guide her to her destination. The thread of the film emerged from a bed time story that Shyamalan used to tell his own children. Shyamalan has reportedly said that the film can be seen by young children as well. It is rated PG-13. When asked whether he consciously had to rein in the dark side to make the film more palatable for children, Shyamalan said that he was worried about doing that at the outset, but then decided to go ahead with his natural instinct and give into the urge to "scare them (the audience)." But several critics are saying that Shyamalan has not done a very thorough job of actually scaring the audience. A Reuters reviewer writes, "Shyamalan does project genuine menace and suspense into this mundane location, especially in night-time scenes. But the magic that would transport you from reality into fantasy is missing. The particulars of the fairy tale are simply too sketchy and convoluted to inspire confidence in its mythology." Other critics have said that the duration of the film, less than two hours, just wasn't adequate time for the director to successfully build an entirely new mythological tale of creatures in the water. When Shyamalan was asked to respond to this opinion, he didn't quite answer the question directly, saying instead how he felt his movies have traditionally benefited from "time" and from people liking the movie more at the second screening. In the film, Paul Giamatti plays the kind of character he does best -- Cleveland Heep, a guy hiding out from life as a caretaker/manager of the Cove Apartments. From his cottage near the pool, he suspects someone has been swimming in the pool at night against regulations. Pursuing this intruder one night, Cleveland falls into the pool and is rescued by a nymph-like female (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is very quiet and frightened and calls herself Story. She insists she comes from the world of water and that fierce beings want to prevent her return to that world. Giamatti is reported to be marvellous as a tortured soul whose damaged life may get resuscitated in this close encounter with a narf. But he said that portraying "terror" in the film was challenging. What it made it a bit easier, at least for him, was the fact that there was a psychological dimension to the terror. "This is not like a guy in a hockey mask coming after with you a chain-saw kind of terror. So, I mean, there's all kinds of existentialist terror and stuff like that about it. So, that's actually a little bit easier to do. Because everybody's all wounded to begin with anyway, so they've all got these kind of scary problems anyway, and there's psychological dimension to the terror," Giamatti said. While, Howard, who reportedly makes a beguiling, sculptural, waif-like being, in a role that is more ephemeral than her one in Shyamalan's 'The Village,' said that one of the biggest challenges was portraying a completely new bed-time story character. The hurdle was a developing a rendering from scratch, with no real popular culture references to rely on. Speaking about her character, Howard said that "it was very important for us (the film crew) as we were making decisions, to make decisions that defined her, yet didn't define her to a point that people would quite understand who she was, cause suspense is an important element of Night's films." Shyamalan also has a role in the film -- as an Indian writer who lives in the apartment complex with his sister, Anna Ran, played by actress Sarita Choudhury. Choudhury, well known for her role in the film, 'Mississippi Masala', said that it was tricky working with Shyamalan as both a co-actor and her director. "Because he is so friendly and lovely - to maintain being the actress with the director and not be like "get out of my room" to my brother, I had to be really careful. Because he's just such a nice guy and I have so much respect for him but I was playing his sister and I did want to say - "get out of my room", so, that was interesting," Choudhury said. Shyamalan's films, taking place in twilight zones far afield from all other Hollywood science-fiction, fantasy and horror, have earned 2 billion U.S. dollars in box office and video sales. So clearly there is something about his vision that resonates with audiences. Consequently, the general outlook amongst critics is that 'Lady' should open strongly, but the concern is that since it might not have taken "that very necessary step into the wardrobe as 'Narnia' most recently did", the lack of any genuine frights or thrills may not sustain a long run. ENDS.

ITN Source | July 20, 2006

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