Great Film: Dark Water
Good character-driven human drama; I blame the teenagers for the low rating.
Once more, a great injustice has been done by IMDb voters. Dark Water
currently has a rating of 5.4, with 16% of the voters giving it a 1!
Note that 16% is 251 users, so it's not that a lot of people thought it
was bad, it just that not many people saw it and/or voted.
It's quite obvious what happened. In what must be the most idiotic
marketing move of the century, Dark Water was promoted as a horror
movie. Not only is the original Japanese version not that scary to
begin with, and focuses more on the drama and the human aspects of the
story, but in the remake, the horror element completely gets thrown out
the window in favor of an intelligent, mature human drama. I can say
that 75% of the people who were with me in the theater had no idea what
kind of movie this is going to be. Needless to say, about an hour into
it they began shifting in their seats, chatting or giggling. Most of
them were teenagers, who came looking for cheap thrills and got a
"bore-fest" instead. The same kind of teenagers who, I bet, later voted
it a 1.
True, the movie could have been edited a little tighter, and some
sequences could have been left on the editing room floor, but it's not
boring. It does take its time establishing and developing the
relationships and the characters, but since the movie is all about the
characters, that's a good thing. It's quite an ambitious drama, and as
such, it doesn't always strike home. The script, I think, is the main
problem. Since it presents us with very real people with real problems,
but doesn't seem to know where to take them from there. As a result,
the plot is thin. It's certainly not an event-driven movie. It remains
unclear what the main conflict is for the heroine. The writer wasn't
fine tuned on what he wanted to say, or maybe the director, Walter
Salles, mishandled the material. For me, the story was about learning
to let go, and the difference between loving someone and wanting them
to be happy, and loving someone so much that you want that person to
belong only to you. It's the difference between being willing to
sacrifice vs. a selfish and possessive kind of love. I think the movie
should have put more weight on that.
Other than that, the film does strike the right chords more often than
not, and provides a lot of touching, sad moments. The acting is
wonderful and three dimensional. All of the cast does an excellent job,
but especially Jennifer Connelly, who proves once more she is the best
American actress working today. The cinematography and the art design
are beautiful, with a lot of attention to atmosphere. Also, Walter
Salles shows some neat directing techniques in playing with the
viewer's minds, making us doubt what's real and what's imaginary, and
giving visual expression to the heroine's ever deteriorating state of
mind.
All in all, I'd rate this movie a 7.5. But 5.4?!!!! That's lower than
Fantastic Four, for crying out loud. I just hope that it finds the
right audience when it's released on DVD.
Cast
- Dahlia Williams played by Jennifer Connelly
- Veeck played by Pete Postlethwaite
- Teacher played by Camryn Manheim
- Young Dahlia's Teacher played by Debra Monk
- Mr. Murray played by John C. Reilly
- Jeff Platzer played by Tim Roth
- Kyle Williams played by Dougray Scott
