Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Lady in the Water
2006
*
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey Wright

M. Night Shyamalan hits the bottom with this dull, baffling and humourless fairy tale which Disney, his usual collaborator, refused to produce - for a good reason. Paul Giamatti plays a traumatised janitor who discovers a water nymph in the pool and attempts to help her to return home. The apartment complex also houses a nasty film critic and a visionary writer played by the director. Is there a message here? This is an archetypal Shyamalan mystery, this time without the twist ending. However, his plot is an endless series of red herrings, and I stopped caring how it ends well before the climax.