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Dark Water
Directed by: Walter Salles
Starring: Jennifer Connelly
Genre:
Thriller/Horror
Run Time: 105 min.
Release Date:
July 2005
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
How far would you go to
protect your child? We often hear parents say that they'd die for them,
but dying is only going so far. What would you be willing to endure in
the afterlife for your child ...and perhaps someone else's kid?
In DARK WATER, directed by Walter Salles and starring Jennifer
Connelly, we get to see exactly how far a damaged mother will go for her
child.
Dahlia (Connelly) is going through a bitter divorce and custody battle.
For her job's sake, Dahlia is forced to move outside the hub of New York
City and into a dark, dank apartment complex on Roosevelt Island. With
her comes her daughter, Ceci, a ten-year-old with a perceptive
extrasensory ability. Or does she have that ability? As soon as they
enter the apartment complex, Ceci begins to feel poorly and asks to
leave, but her mother insists that they check out the apartment. They
soon move in and stranger things begin happening: dark water drips from
the ceiling, Dahlia sees her mother (who'd abandoned her) in strange
dreams, Ceci talks to an imaginary friend named Natasha, and the
elevator button for their floor (#9) is burned or damaged.
As the plot unfolds, we learn that the neighbors directly above Dahlia
and Ceci's apartment were Russian immigrants who had a child, but
neither the child nor the parents have been seen in some time. Did
something foul happen to them? Further research by Dahlia's divorce
attorney (played by Tim Roth ) shows that the adults from the upstairs
apartment are separated and living apart ...but neither of them have
their daughter, who's name happens to be Natasha. Where is she? Is she
the same Natasha that Ceci talks to in her imagination? Are Ceci and
Natasha somehow connected with the dark water dripping from their
ceiling?
The tone and dark, wet scenes set the stage for DARK WATER in a very
revealing fashion. Water plays a vital part of how the viewer perceives
much of what is shown on-screen, giving the entire production a rather
somber (if downright depressing) feel. This is the prime strength of the
movie, getting us into how Jennifer Connelly's character feels and why
she reacts the way she does (especially after seeing her as a young girl
in the opening scenes, waiting for her negligent mother to come and get
her from school ...and again, it's raining).
Much has been said about this film regarding how much was intended to be
psychological versus supernatural. But for me, it was all supernatural.
The only part the psychology of Connelly's character played in the film
was, again, helping set the tone and as a method for one ghostly
apparition to feed off of. If Ceci (the daughter) can see the ghost,
then it's not a psychological breakdown on her mother's part.
Comparisons between THE RING and THE GRUDGE are pretty obvious, but it
didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film. But it did make me wonder
about how many other thriller films out there are using the same format
now. How about something original guys?
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Image from Dark Water
DVD cost: $10.99
Purchase:
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Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The heartbeat heard during
Dahlia's migraines are from an ultrasound scan of film editor Daniel
Rezende's wife who got pregnant at the beginning of the shooting.
Movie Quote: "There's
a leak in my ceiling. I can hear water running in the apartment
upstairs."
Other Actors/Actresses
from Dark Water
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