M. Night’s latest movie Lady in the Water debuted this weekend to very disappointing numbers.  I hope this review encourages you to go out and give this beautiful and wildly original movie your support so that Hollywood will produce more of the same.  And to be honest, I don’t understand the terrible reviews for this movie because at the end of both showings that I saw this past weekend, the audience clapped!

 I can assure you that Lady in the Water will be unlike anything you’ve seen.  Night does a great job of introducing you to a huge cast of characters, all desperate to put their faith in something.  If you can at least temporarily believe in something magical with the characters, you will leave the theater with a new sense of hope.

 Paul Giamatti plays Cleveland Heep, the superintendent for an apartment complex.  He’s been there long enough to have a relationship with most of the tenants and we are introduced to each of the many players and their quirky characteristics.  Heep quickly discovers a young woman swimming in the pool at night and when she turns out to be a mythological character from an eastern bedtime story, she transforms his life and the lives of many of the tenants.

 The real meaning in the movie lies in the theme that all human beings have a purpose, and that we are all linked together.  Much has been made about Night’s role in this movie as an actor, and it is true that this is probably his largest and most important part to date.  Instead of thinking about this as egotistical, perhaps he wrote this role to define what he wishes his writing might accomplish…not what he thinks it already does.  In a movie where every character has a pivotal and profound purpose, I think most people would choose the one that they aspire to the most.  Night is not a Guardian, or a Healer, or an Interpreter.  He is a writer, and therefore the part of the Vessel made the most sense to him.