Lady in the Water

Ambiguity is a crutch some filmmakers use to justify complaints about clarity. How can you apply logic to a fairy tale? It’s supposed to be ridiculous. Even though structure and logic are different, if a movie lacks structure, or neglects it, it lacks it’s own internal logic. Such is the case with Lady in the Water. And despite the great performance from Paul Giamatti, if we don’t know who Cleveland Heep is or what he wants, we’re not going to connect with any of his choices. And the crutch comes in when complaints about this can be dismissed because a movie about water nymphs doesn’t need structure. But when the box-office results aren’t what they were for Signs or The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan can justify it by saying people didn’t “get” it, or people are too cynical and aren’t in touch with their inner-child, or whatever. But the reviews for Monster House were better, and the box-office was better. Movies need structure.