Dark Water English Movie
"Dark Water" gets its strength from a series of tendon-stretching images denoting nightmarish visions that could be derived from a universal fear psychosis of the unknown. On the other hand, it could be a manifestation of your innermost fears.
Either way, "Dark Water" scores points for creating a gloomy ambience where characters - limited in their number but unlimited in their dark and spooky resonance - seem to project a creaky credibility.
The actors suffer from a lack of motivation but make up for this inadequacy by creating an aura of forbidding fear not just in their body language and facial expressions, but also through the camera and lighting, which weave in and out of the corridor where most of the 'action' unfolds.
Or perhaps action isn't the right word for the way director Walter Salles deals with the dynamics of the horror genre.
Most of the film's valuable moments converge on the mother-daughter pair of Jennifer Connelly and Ariel Gade who enact their parts so beautifully that they appear to be a splendid island of parent-child bonding. The constant fall of water into the frames adds to the feeling of being in the middle of a marshy motherhood.
And when the stunning heart-wrenching ending comes on, you suddenly realise why "Dark Water" stands out among the multitude of films from "The Sixth Sense" to "Hide & Shriek", where the kid 'sees' spooky things.
This isn't really a straight-off horror film. It's a tangentially poignant parable on parenthood where the dark horrors that the man-less mother - and -daughter pair encounter in the elevator, bathroom and laundry basement of their dark dingy new home is a metaphor of single parenting.
"Dark Water" can also be appreciated as a chilling thriller. The endgame shocks and saddens you.
The narration is dotted with accomplished performances. Tim Roth as a scruffy but well-meaning lawyer (the much-maligned legal system finally gets a pat on the back), John C. Reilly as a harassed real estate agent, Pete Postlethwaite as an evil building attendant...they all add up to the feeling of fearful normalcy secreting a damning secret.
The rather different and moving horror tale has been shot by cinematographer Affonso Beato in the dimly lit corridors of an average apartment block as though there's more to it all than meets the eye.
