Up until now director M. Night Shyamalan has delighted in making movies which try to pull the rug out from under their audience's feet right at the last minute. But this latest offering sees Night taking a rather more conventional approach - even if the subject matter is less than straightforward. Based on a bedtime story he invented for his own children, \"Lady In The Water\" centres on Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti), a janitor at an apartment block who is shocked to find a young girl called Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) living in the corridors beneath the block's swimming pool. It turns out that she's a 'Narf', a mythical water nymph. Now not only must Cleveland try and help her return home, but it appears that Story may hold the key to the lives of the various tenants living in the block but also to the very salvation of mankind.Despite being very well made \"Lady In The Water\" feels more than a little bit muddled. Because it's based on a fairy tale from Shyamalan's own imagination, the plot doesn't seem to fit within any prescribed parameters and as such, anything can - rather conveniently - change at any time as his mythology is unfurled. It's the kind of story you'll find yourself wanting to believe in but ultimately there are too many twists, turns and coincidences for comfort. However it's the performances that save this 'Lady' from a watery grave. Giamatti is superb as Heep, a man who is as lost and lonely as Story following a personal tragedy while Howard too offers Story the kind of ethereal air the character needs to convince.\"Lady In The Water\" may not be Shyamalan's best but it does offer an interesting change of direction for the master of the cinematic slight of hand.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>","fnc":"googleTrackerHelper.doTrackPage( '\/'Lady-In-The-Water-film_options~19058'\/Reviews\/ViewAll\/1' );"}