Beautiful Lady

Tonight I led a Shema movie night and discussion about M. Night Shyamalan’s most recent film, Lady In The Water, which went pretty well. It prompted me to go back and re-read what I had written about it after I watched it opening day last year. This was in my personal journal pre-dating this blog, but I feel it’s appropriate to publish here since so few people have seen this movie.
Here were my first impressions:

July 21, 2006
“I have a confession to make. I really liked M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie Lady in the Water. I really really liked it. And from the looks of critical consensus, I may be the only one. It’s a different movie (yet still includes his signature themes of dark and light, the supernatural, and spirituality). Some will claim it’s entirely ego-driven. Maybe so. But it moved me.
The movie is about so much: realizing your true potential/discovering who you are meant to be, the importance of community, and redemption among them. It’s also a fairytale or bedtime story. It doesn’t purport to be anything more. And yet critics seem to think it is much more than that and are drubbing it hard.

And I wonder if I saw the same thing. I found myself glued to the screen in rapt attention. I wanted to hear the story. I wanted to be touched. And I was. I had chills during some scenes and even cried at one point (during Cleveland’s prayer to his family).

So I just wanted to put that down. I am unlikely to be backed up by many, but I’m glad Night had the conviction to make this film and I hope enough people aren’t put off by the critics that it has a chance to make an impact.”