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Topic: Dark Water (Read 444 times)

lakelady
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Posts: 11251

Dark Water
« on: Jul 8^th, 2005, 11:31am »

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Not much intrigue lurks beneath 'Dark Water'

By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
Dark Water is nothing if not dark. Most of the movie has a monochromatic, brownish quality, like the water that provides some of the film's most haunting images.

Water is a remake of a Japanese movie by Hideo Nakata, the director who made the creepy Ringu, upon which The Ring was based. The movie is directed by Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles (Motorcycle Diaries), stars American and British actors and is set in New York. Those disparate cultural influences make for an intriguingly layered, if flawed, horror film.

There is an unsettling quality to the simple story, with two mother-daughter relationships at the heart of the film. The dominant of those involves Dahlia, played by Jennifer Connelly, and her 5-year-old daughter, Ceci, played by Ariel Gade. The two share a run-down apartment after Dahlia's husband leaves her and initiates a custody battle.

About the movie

Dark Water
* * 1/2 (out of four)
Stars: Jennifer Connelly,
Ariel Gade, Camryn Manheim
Director: Walter Salles
Distributor: Touchstone
Pictures
Running time: 1 hour,
45 minutes
Rated: PG-13 for mature thematic material, frightening sequences, disturbing images and brief language
Opens Friday nationwide

Mother and daughter are trying to make the best of their newly reconfigured family, but Dahlia's mental state is fragile. The film posits that her estranged husband might be trying to drive her crazy to win custody. Or maybe the depressing apartment building where they rent is haunted. Then again, the building manager is creepy, so the strange goings-on — such as brackish water leaking into her apartment and the sound of menacing footsteps — could be his doing.

We learn through flashbacks that Dahlia is still traumatized by having been mistreated as a child and abandoned by her own mother. So this is a ghost story on a couple of levels. As such, it works well. Salles, who made the poignant Central Station about an orphaned 9-year-old boy, clearly is interested in the parent-child bond.

The viewer is effectively kept off balance throughout, but the resolution is unsatisfying. Because so much of the film is rooted in reality, the supernatural denouement feels jarring.

What does work well is the film's drab look and evocative score by Angelo Badalamenti. The setting is Roosevelt Island, a mere tram ride from New York City. But it's a grim place that has a remote feel to it, like a location that might harbor ghosts.

The movie resembles The Ring, perhaps most in the way that mother and child seem alone in the world. It also has a scary bathtub scene that recalls Ring 2, also directed by Nakata.

Connelly's performance at times feels one-dimensional. Even when terrorized, she's remarkably low-key. Perhaps that's preferable to uncontrolled screaming, but it takes away from the film's sense of realism.

Dark Water has more substance and a more interesting look than many horror films, but the familiar elements of the story disappoint.

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rustic75
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Helloooooooooo Charlie Brown!!!

Posts: 12

Re: Dark Water
« Reply #1 on: Jul 21^st, 2005, 1:01am »