Dark Water
directed by Walter Salles
directed by Walter Salles
So I had no preconceptions about about its quality or that of the the original Japanese story.
After watching this movie I appreciated that it was ominous and a little eerie without relying overmuch on special effects, gore, or exposed female flesh.
Dark Water is a throwback to much earlier genre films. Instead of overloading the viewer with a million frames per second as some hyperactive films do, the director lets the story and action play out at its own natural place.
Near the ending I thought there were a few too many jump scares but most of the film's "horror" comes from a steadily increasing sense of unease and discomfort that wraps the viewer in a cold cloak of weirdness and holds on tightly.
Although the two aren't yet at a point where they can't speak to each other without hurling obscenities, it's clear that a divorce must be executed right this minute, if not yesterday.
One major divorce issue is the custody of the couple's five year old daughter Ceci (Ariel Gade). Laws and customs being what they are Dahlia manages to get temporary primary custody. So na na boo boo to her soon to be ex.
Kyle was the couple's earner. Kyle argues that he can provide a better standard of living for Ceci than Dahlia, who has little money and no job.
But the resourceful Dahlia soon finds a job and a small cheap apartment on Roosevelt Island. Living there will allow Ceci to attend a better school. But it's obvious that the apartment is bad news. The renting agent Cory Murray (John C. Reilly) radiates insincerity, bad faith, and apathy. Murray over promises and under delivers. Murray's only interests are extracting money from tenants while avoiding spending money on tenants.
Elevator not working? Not his job. Mail missing? Not his job. Be halfway polite and non-creepy? Definitely not his job. When Dahlia moves in she and Ceci notice a constantly spreading black water stain on the ceiling. It would seem to come from the tenants above her. But both Veeck and Murray tell her there are no tenants upstairs.
Black water often gushes from the sinks, toilet, and shower. After polite entreaties fail to move Murray or Veeck, Dahlia scrapes some money together to hire a lawyer (Tim Roth) to force necessary apartment repairs.
But a lawyer can't fix the strange waking dreams that Dahlia is having or explain why Ceci is constantly talking to her imaginary friend Natasha, who shares her name with a missing young girl. Both mother and daughter show odd behavior. Dahlia does more research on past events. This was a solid unpretentious and ultimately unsurprising movie that may appeal to viewers who don't need ultra gore in their lives.
