Lady in the Water (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by James Newton Howard
Coming up from Renovatio Records, we have another release from the M. Night Shyamalan-James Newton Howard duo: the score for the 2006 fantasy thriller Lady in the Water, starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Paul Giamatti, Bob Balaban, and Jeffrey Wright. Advertised as a “bedtime story”, the film’s plot tells the tale of Cleveland Heep, a Philadelphia apartment complex superintendent who one night stumbles upon a young woman in the swimming pool. He and his neighbors soon realize that the woman is in fact a Narf -a sort of water nymph-, named Story, who is on a quest to find The Author, a writer that will make great changes to the world through his work. However, Story’s life is in danger since she is being stalked by a mythical wolf-like creature called a Scrunt that tries to prevent her from returning to her watery home, the Blue World. To save herself, she needs help from a team of people -a Symbolist, a Guardian, a Guild and a Healer-, and it turns out that some of the kindhearted residents of the apartment complex may well be these gifted individuals without them knowing it.
While its premise is indeed interesting, and several of its technical aspects are spot-on, the film was a critical and financial failure. Much of the criticism was directed at the self-indulgence with which Shyamalan cast himself as The Author, pretentiously giving the impression that his writing is of immense value to the world. The theme of the film deals with the fact that every person in life has a reason to exist and a profound spiritual purpose, but Shyamalan himself playing this character results in the message being cheesy and a bit laughable. Also, Balaban plays a movie critic, a character that is in the movie to suggest how inconsequential and misguided are cynicism and the inability to openness when faced with extraordinary events. However, the character is presented with such poor taste that it ends up being no more than a jab to those who do not like Shyamalan’s films. All in all, Shyamalan’s ideas for Lady in the Water are very intriguing but poorly executed, making it difficult for audiences to take the film seriously and, alas, hardly achieving an effective suspension of disbelief.
Nevertheless, one of the aspects in which the movie excels is in its score. By the time James Newton Howard tackled this movie, he had collaborated with the director four times already, providing high quality scores for all four of them. Lady in the Water is no exception as the composer seems to have been greatly inspired by the fantastic elements of Shyamalan’s script. While it does have some similarities with those previous scores and many of Howard’s mannerisms, Lady in the Water stands out in harmony, orchestration and thematic authenticity, providing everything you would expect to hear from a fantasy score. Howard’s score is both a delight in its ingenious instrumentations, and in its thematic richness. But the standout quality of the score is its undulating rhythm, perfectly and fittingly encompassing the constant movement of water. Howard effectively plays around with the rhythm, intensifying it for specific scenes in which characters progress in their search of truth and meaning (as in the compelling cue “Charades”), or lessen it to build a menacing sense of momentum and intrigue (as in the ominous cue “The Party”). Pretty much every track has a constant feeling of motion, while showcasing remarkable choices of instrumentation. For the Blue World, Howard resorts to soft strings, chimes, harps, celestes, woodwinds and distant choirs, contrasting this with the bass-heavy sections of the orchestra for the dangerous threats of the story. Choir is quite omnipresent in the score, with high female vocals at times subtly accompanying the ensemble, while at other times exploding and taking the lead in big moments of awe.
As expected, Lady in the Water is richly thematic. The opening track “Prologue” works as a small introductory suite, hinting at the main themes that will be explored throughout the score. The magnificent title theme for Story and the Blue World is a simple 6-chord progression that is repeated in most of the cues, from slight treatments by piano and celesta to robust full-ensemble performances. This theme is quite basic in its harmony but it is instantly recognizable and so hopeful and enjoyable that it brings pure joy each time it appears. The Scrunt also receives its own themes and motifs. An ominous and dark fantasy theme appears for the first time the Scrunt makes its appearance during the second half of the “Scrunt” cue. Similarly, in Jaws fashion, the cues “Story in the House” and “Giving the Kii” introduce a scary low key effect that resembles a distant howling, suggesting the presence of the Scrunt without it being on screen. But the most notable motif for the Scrunt is a strong brass descending 4-chord progression of ferocious evil that is introduced in the mid section of the “Prologue” cue and revisited throughout the entire score. Giamatti’s character is also treated with a theme, a tender motif that first appears during “Cleveland”. This theme is usually performed on woodwinds, soft strings, and it represents the troubled life of the titular character who is desperate to find a new meaning in life after losing his family. The theme is fittingly reprised in full form in piano and strings at the “End Titles”, when Cleveland finally understands his purpose thanks to Story, giving closure to his character arc. There are also some interesting small motifs for flutes in the first half of the score, predominantly in cues like “Ripples in the Pool”, “Scrunt”, and “Story in the House”, which help enhance the fantasy and mystery qualities of the film, almost as a siren’s call that draws characters into the story.
The score for Lady in the Water is generally remembered by film music enthusiasts for offering a number of standalone tracks that are some of the best that Howard has produced in his career. “Charades” is a perfect example of this, an impressive feel-good track that encapsulates the movement of water idea by means of small swirling motifs that are passed around through different sections of the orchestra as the track develops. On top of that, Howard expertly intertwines his main theme, building a track that will have you hitting the repeat button several times. Howard saves the best for the last though, with the outstanding “The Great Eatlon”, a phenomenal cue that displays Howard’s mastery at writing orchestral action music. This track begins with a build up that culminates in a strong ensemble performance of the main Scrunt theme, and later progresses into a full action mid section that exhibits complex layers of brass, strings and choir, before finalizing with two consecutive beautiful performances of the main Blue World theme, first with the entire orchestra and choir, and then with a gorgeous quiet choral performance that rounds up the cue. Here, Howard finally releases the tension that he has built up during the whole score, providing a payoff of orchestral and choir beauty in their full glory that is hair-raising as it is cathartic.
The official album presentation for Lady in the Water was provided by Decca Records back in 2006. This release only offered approximately 40 minutes of score, out of the 70+ minutes of music recorded for the film. Missing from the album were significant cues from the first and second act of the film. Furthemore, the release was further harmed by the inclusion of four Bob Dylan cover songs at the end that are largely skippable and really break the overall listening experience. This new assembly put together by Renovatio Records provides almost 20 minutes of unreleased music, and in chronological order so that the story-telling aspect of the score can be further appreciated.
James Newton Howard is known for having produced high quality scores throughout his career, but Lady in the Water may well be regarded as one of his top 5 best scores to this day. It is never too late to revisit film music at its finest.
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