Soundtrack Review: Lady in the Water

By Douglas Strassler Aug 9, 2006, 16:18 GMT

M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water was a departure from his other, twistier, films. Many felt let down by its ultimate lack of suspense, though it had a texture all its own. He reunites with past scoring artist James Newton Howard again for Lady, making them quite the pair of artists by now.

Lady tells the “bedtime” story about Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti), the superintendent of The Cove (an apartment complex in the outskirts of Shyamalan’s Heep has a past h has tried to forget, but he finds new hop for life with the appearance of a mysterious creature named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard). and his tenants work to bring her back to her world while fighting off her add animal-like enemies.

Howard’s score is sweet and scary in all of the right places.  It starts right off the bat, with “Prologue,” combining the softer sounds of piano, strings and a chorus. “Charades” is a sad score accompanying Story telling a little about herself. Howard repeats the flute both here and in “Officer Jimbo.”

Other tracks are odder and more aloof-sounding. “The Blue World” has an anxious

Tone that combines the sense of discovery with fear. “Delivering the Kii” also echoes this theme, blending strings and piano. “The Party,” on the other hand, builds in a slightly bolder fashion. “The Great Eatlon” is also an exciting, brassy song during the climax of Lady.

A bonus on the soundtrack is the appearance of several covers of Bob Dylan songs: “The Times They Are A-Changin", sung by A Whisper in the Noise; "Every Grain of Sand" by Amanda Ghost and Silvertide, who cameo in the film, sing “Maggie’s Farm.” The soundtrack features the additional cover of “It Ain’t Me Babe,” also by Silvertide, which does not appear in the film.