Dark Water

By Adam Lippe

dark_water-431x300Hideo Nakata (Ringu, Chaos) is an extremely talented director, who thrives on creating dread inducing atmosphere out of simple elements. And when he is working on the mystery rather than the revelation of the story, the movie works very well. Nakata clearly storyboards all of his shots in advance, each frame seems to be taken out of a graphic novel, and when he is in complete control, letting the audience in with new details bit by bit, while simultaneously tantalizing and teasing us by throwing in creepy elements that haven’t received an explanation, he is amazing. The use of sound, especially the music, is superb. The stationary camera is enormously effective. Nakata has a way of lingering on a shot a little too long, usually while the characters do not move or say anything, increasing the creepy effect of the situation. He uses striking imagery, especially with the use of the watermarks in the ceiling, and an enormous (and enormously earned) scare, late in the film. The dirty look of the home and the dark corners that seem to penetrate each frame, the dingy colors, are infectious to the overall design of the movie, which only makes it more unsettling.

But the last 15 minutes, which play like a concession to someone, I’m not sure who, defeat the entire movie.

Spoilers below******

If the movie is supposed to play on a realistic level, what is the explanation of where the mother went? Why is there no thought of ever looking for her? If it is fantasy, what is the hold that the water tower has over everyone? If the building has been abandoned for 10 years, why is the inside of the apartment exactly the same, in terms of its condition? Since the lost little girl keeps making appearances over and over without physical or metaphysical explanation, is she only there to represent the mother’s lost childhood as well, which was noted by the aunt in an earlier scene? The last 15 minutes do nothing with the story and leave everything unexplained on all levels. They gave me more questions and more frustration that Nakata didn’t finish his story outline. I also noticed that these were the first scenes in which Nakata used handheld cameras, and that just reinforces his lack of control.

Spoilers Over******

darkwatrI would suggest that Nakata work with another driector similarly to the way that Jeuent and Caro did on Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, where one worked on the images and the other worked with the actors and the dialogue. The story seemed realistic, but the acting was shrill and and forced by the mother, and everyone else was a cypher. Only the little girl stood out for her naturalness. If Nakata can make a movie this creepy with a half thought out story (and I feel similarly about The Ring, brilliant first 1/2 before petering out once the explanation sets in), imagine if someone else can sort out the details for him and he can concentrate on the misc-en-scene.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a comment

Now on DVD and Blu-Ray

Roadracers

By Adam Lippe

Whenever there’s a genre parody or ode to a specific era of films, such as Black Dynamite’s mocking of Blaxploitation films or Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, the second half of Grindhouse, the danger is that the film might fall into the trap of either being condescending without any particular insight, or so faithful that it becomes the very flawed thing it is emulating.

Black Dynamite has nothing new to say about Blaxploitation films, it just does a decent job of copying what an inept [...]


Veegie Awards

Winner: BEST ONLINE FILM CRITIC, 2010 National Veegie Awards (Vegan Themed Entertainment)

Nominee: BEST NEW PRODUCT, 2011 National Veegie Awards: The Vegan Condom

Recent Comments

Archive

Featured Quote (written by me)

On Cold Fish:

Though the 16 year old me described the 1994 weepie Angie, starring Geena Davis as a Brooklyn mother raising her new baby alone, as “maudlin and melodramatic,” Roger Ebert, during his TV review, referring to the multitude of soap-operaish problems piling up on the titular character, suggested that it was only in Hollywood where Angie would get a happy ending. “If they made this movie in France, Angie would have shot herself.”

Well Cold Fish was made in Japan, where Angie would have shot herself and that would have been the happy ending.