“Dark Water” (Touchstone Pictures)
Jennifer Connelly stars in the new horror film “Dark Water,” and it is a murky, mystical, mysterious film that will hold your attention and stay in your thoughts for days to come. It is not a perfect film but it is one that overcomes the supernatural elements to touch the human and humane parts of your mind.
Connelly plays Dahlia, the mother of a young daughter named Ceci (Ariel Gade). Dahlia is going through a bitter divorce and a custody battle over Ceci. Her husband (Dougray Scott) thinks she is a whack case and will do almost anything to get Ceci away from her.
Dahlia and Ceci have to find a new place to live that they can afford so they take an apartment in a dreary and run down apartment building. Shortly after they move in a leak appears in the ceiling over Ceci’s bed. Dahlia complains to the man (John C Reilly) who rented her the apartment, and he in turns sends the building repairman (Pete Postlethwaite) to fix things up.
All of the characters in the movie seem to have a hidden agenda; including the man who refers the apartment, the building custodian, Ceci’s teacher, and Dahlia’s husband. Dahlia’s attorney (Tim Roth) seems more quirky than dangerous.
Soon after the leak in the ceiling is found there are more instances with brackish water. It spews from the sinks and seeps through the floors. It seems to be everywhere. And then there is the rain. New York City’s Chamber of Commerce should sue as this film makes it look like it rains more in New York than in Spokane, Washington. It just pours and pours and pours, day after day after day.
Connelly is excellent in the role of Dahlia. No one can portray vulnerability like she can, and in this movie she is also playing a woman who has at best a tenuous hold on reality. Dahlia appears to have a good heart but she is emotionally unstable.
The movie makes you wonder if Dahlia is imagining everything, or if her husband is really trying to drive her crazy. You also get the feeling the apartment might be possessed, or maybe it is the caretaker who is hiding some horrendous secret. There is a basis for each of those feelings in the movie, but the actual reasons, which come to light in the end, are fully satisfying.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence, but most of the violence is more psychological than visual.
Generally movies with plots that place children in danger are not for me, but this one spun a web of interest I could not shake loose. Maybe it was Connelly or maybe it was the cinematography. It might also have been the direction by Walter Salles of “Motorcycle Diaries” fame. It could have been any or all of those reasons, but whatever it was it made the film linger in my mind and haunt my thoughts.
“Dark Water” is a dark and deep film. It is haunted by the performance of Jennifer Connelly and the psychological nuances of the script. You have to see it to appreciate it.
I scored “Dark Water” a rippling 7 out of 10.
