Dark Water (2005) November 22, 2006
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Walter Salles
Like lots of the recent US horrors (The Grudge, The Ring), this is a remake of a Japanese film. Titled ‘Honogurai mizu no soko kara’ (From the Depths of Dark Water), it told the story of a woman looking for a new life after separating from her husband. Three years later, and we’ve got ‘Dark Water’, the same story, this time set in Manhattan.
Jennifer Connelly plays the woman in question, named Dahlia. She and he daughter (Ceci) move into a slightly run-down apartment building which, though cramped, fits their modest budget. Things don’t run smooth though, and along with the stress of a bitter custody battle, her daughter starting a new school and trying to find a job, Dahlia discovers a leak in her bedroom ceiling. As the leak gets worse, her mental state begins to deteriorate. She hears mysterious noises, and sees the ‘dark water’ referred to in the title. Meanwhile, her daughter has made a mysterious invisible friend called Natasha. Could she be a link in the puzzle surrounding the dark water?
I’ll let you discover the answer to that question, although if you’ve seen any movies from this genre in the past five years you can probably guess. I’m waiting for the ‘invisible friend’ plot device to get old and stop appearing, but it hasn’t happened. Regardless, this is one of the better psychological thrillers of recent times. And I say psychological thriller, because like when I reviewed The Ring [link], I don’t feel there are many horror elements to this movie.
Brazilian director Walter Salles works hard on the visuals and mood of each scene, while Jennifer Connelly does a fine job of keeping the tension up. Plus there is some great talent on display from the supporting actors: John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, and Pete Postlethwaite. The main problem is that the film sets up these interesting characters, but then fails to use any of them in a suitable way. Tim Roth especially seems almost superfluous. And the same can be said about some of the plot points, namely the punk kids who are supposed to be flooding the apartment upstairs.
It’s a shame really because as I’ve said, this is one of the better attempts at this kind of movie. The apartment building is suitably creepy, and you can really feel the pressure Dahlia is under. For most of the film the audience can really get involved in her life, and try to piece together where all the characters fit in to the mystery. Unfortunately it all falls apart in the last ten minutes with an ending that feels very unsatisfactory - things actually work out for the best, but whether you’ll feel that way is a different matter. Although there is one last nice moment to wait for between the big climax and the final credits.
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