Dark Water

Plot synopsis:
Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) and her daughter Ceci -Cecelia- (Ariel Gade) move to a flat in a condominium because of Dahlia's impending divorce. They go to live to Roosevelt Island, a neighbourhood in New York. Because her soon-to-be-ex-husband Kyle (Dougray Scott) rejects the new school and the new surroundings, it looks that the proceedings for Ceci's custody are turning nasty. The mediators (Bill Buell and Linda Emond) feel that Ceci would be the most damaged person at the end of the divorce, regardless of whom the custody's winner will turn out to be eventually. Dahlia and Ceci live on the ninth floor. Dahlia tries to keep her routines, reading children's books to Ceci before going to bed, taking her to school, etc. However, she keeps on getting splitting headaches and has to take heavy medication. The condo has laundry facilities in the basement and a rude clerk called Veeck (Pete Postlethwaite) who is always complaining about everything but not doing much.Pretty soon, Dahlia finds herself exhausted. She needs to keep her job to pay her bills, her mother (Elina Löwensohn) disapproves of her life and finds herself worried about Dahlia's psychological strength. When Dahlia first took a look at the flat, she didn't notice that there was a damp stain in a bedroom, but later on, when she and Ceci are already living there, it becomes a huge problem. They also begin to hear strange noises coming from the other side of the walls, The flat is badly-lit, the same as the dilapitated corridors or the dark basement. The clerk promises to call in a plumber.Two teenaged boys are making mayhem around the flat. They are almost always together and they are considered vandals. One of them even makes a sexual remark to Dahlia when they found her on the basement preparing a washing machine full of clothes. However, they leave , and Dahlia is alone when she turns on the washing machine. It doesn't seem to work properly so she starts another one. She hears strange noises, the water inside the washing machine turns nasty brown and Dahlia thinks that there is a girl inside the washing machine. She pulls the lid until the machine's door opens, but later, when she realises that there is nobody inside, she blames it on a prank played by the two teenaged boys.Ceci has been unable to make friends in her new school, so she starts playing with her imaginary friend, Natasha. Dahlia tries not to worry, but the weight of the world on her shoulders starts to take its toll. The clerk says that Ceci must have seen/heard Natasha, the little girl who lives in the 10th floor with her father. After the incident in the laudromat, Dahlia sees the red Hello Kittly schoolbag named after Natasha. When Ceci gives it back to the clerk, he just throws it away again.Jeff Platzer (Tim Roth) is Dahlia's lawyer. He seems to live in his car, all on his own. However, when Dahlia calls him in panic a Sunday evening, he says to her that he is taking his family to the cinema and that he will call on Dahlia the next day. Cue to him, all by himself in the gritty cinema.Dahlia talks to Ceci and tells her to stop playing with her invisible friend. Later, at school, Ceci is making a drawing of herself and her mother in front of the home. It looks like an invisible force is forcing her to paint on top of the drawing, so that everything becomes a blurred disaster. Ceci gets annoyed and shouts to the invisible energy to stop it. The teacher (Camryn Manheim), sees that Ceci is having a kind of nervous breakdown. She takes Ceci to the bathroom so that she can wash her hands. There, muddy water goes out from all the taps, and Ceci encloses herself within a toilet cubicle. A dark-haired girl in a red coat walks by, splashing on the watery floor.The teacher (Camryn Manheim) phones Dahlia, who arrives all wet from the heavy rain. She is told that Ceci got dizzy and fainted in the bathroom.Kyle accuses Dahlia of being unstable and a bad influence for Ceci. Platzer asks Dahlia whether there is anything real in all those accusations, and Dahlia talks about her headaches. Platzer takes the matter on his own hands, as he seems to feel that Dahlia is about to have a breakdown. He phones the owner of the building, Mr Murray (John C. Reilly), who seems really upset when he notices the level of damage made by the water coming from the 10th floor. Murray promises that a plumber will arrive the following day. Next day, the plumber says that the pipes themselves are not the problem, as there was no leakage to begin with.Dahlia decides to take her fears seriously and investigate the matter. She goes up to the 10th floor, but nobody lives there anymore.On the 10th floor there lived a family of Russians. They were a disfunctional family: the mother was an alcoholic, but their only young child, Natasha (Perla Harney-Hardine), was nice and welcoming. The mother checked herself into rehab, leaving Natasha with her father. The father returned to Russia, taking for granted that Natasha was with her mother. The child was abandoned by both parents, so one day, when on the rooftop, she walked up the ladder to the big reservoir and drowned in it. It seems that the clerk knew about it, but he refused to do anything about the matter, because after all, it was not his job. Instead, he just stopped taking care of the reservoir, and that was why Dahlia's apartment was getting flooded again and again.Dahlia peers inside the reservoir. She immediately spots Natasha's corpse. Natasha opens her eyes and tries to take Dahlia inside, but Dahlia leaves the place and phones the police. The police arrest Veeck, but there is no way to prove that either of Natasha's parents killed her, and Veeck is probably only guilty of not having phoned the police when he realised that Natasha was dead.Once that the ordeal seems to be over, Dahlia talks to Kyle. She proposes to reach an agreement over Ceci's custody and live closer to Kyle. Kyle is overjoyed to hear it. Dahlia intends to leave the condo in only a week... for good.That night, Dahlia prepares a bath with bubbles for Ceci. Dahlia leaves Ceci in the bath and talks on the phone to her mum. Dahlia is having her bath playing with a blue doll. When Dahlia is about to take Ceci out of the bath the girl is already in the living room, wrapped in a robe. Dahlia starts reading a children's book to her, when suddenly she realises that it is Natasha, not Ceci.Dahlia has to break down the bathroom door. Natasha is trying to drown Ceci. To save her daughter, Dahlia offers to take care of Natasha forever. The bathroom becomes flooded.The police are in the building again. They think that Dahlia has committed suicide. Kyle picks Ceci up, and takes her to his home. When they are in the lift, they become stranded. At that moment, the ghost of Dahlia talks to Ceci, combs her hair and tells her that if she has a problem in the future Dahlia would be in the building waiting and that she would help her. Meanhwile, Ceci leaves the building happily, and Dahlia stays to take care of Natasha.

Tags: suspenseful, horror, flashback

Review:
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 have never posted a review on this site, but I feel that I should inform some people on "Dark Water".This is NOT a horror film.Yes,it's being marketed that way but it's not.This is a drama about a mother and daughter trying to make it on their own with a bit of a ghostly twist.Jennifer Connelly is amazing and has become one of my favorite actresses.In this,she is strong and fragile.She almost made me cry once or twice as she tried to hold things together and convince herself that she is not crazy.The little girl playing her daughter is sublime;The next dakota fanning maybe.
This film is slow paced,there are NO big scares,no blood-just tension and mystery under the surface.The pace brings you to really care about the characters and not root for dahlia because it's Jennifer Connelly,but because it's Dahlia.It has one of the saddest yet hopeful endings I've seen in a while.This stands head and shoulders above "The Ring" (which I liked) and "The Grudge".Give it a try if you're looking for a good drama..
Of all the recent remakes of Japanese horror films, I have to say that Dark Water is the only remake that actually surpasses the original.
If you go into Dark Water expecting something more akin to Rosemary's Baby or a Hitchcock thriller, you might just end up enjoying this film.As far as comparing this remake to the original, I will say that I felt that Jennifer Connelly was a much more compelling character than the mother in the original movie.
Their A.D.D.-addled brains couldn't sit still long enough to decipher the complex plot points or to appreciate good character-building (something sorely lacking from movies nowadays.) Comparing this movie to "The Ring" is like comparing "Godfather" to "Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer." The movies are in two completely separate genres.I blame the marketing department.
Jennifer Connelly is superb as always, but the young daughter is quite skilled as well, and I expect to see her more often in the future.I won't get into specifics, but the ending is something I really wasn't looking for.As I left the theater, all the adults (most of whom didn't know each other) were talking about what a great movie it was as we filed out the doors.
Her presence makes any movie that much more enjoyable.I'm not into the Japanese converted thriller/horror movies and enjoyed the fact that Dark Water was more interesting and plot developing than thrilling.
Where Salles succeeds in this adaptation of the original Japanese film by Kôji Suzuki (novel) and Hideo Nakata (director) is his concentration on developing interesting and strange people, characters with whom we can identify and thus whose encounters with the 'unknown' feel more intensely internal.The story has been related ad infinitum: Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) and her daughter Cecelia (Ariel Gade) move from Manhattan away from her recently estranged husband Kyle (Dougray Scott) to a creaky apartment building on Roosevelt Island to the benefit of real estate agent Mr. Murray (John C.
With that said though, I have a bone to pick with this movie.Dark Water has set itself up as a 'ghost' horror movie, and thus attracted an audience who expected to see blood, gore, chase scenes, a creepy ghost, and maybe even a naked Jennifer.
Dark Water has none of these things, except the ghost, who is actually a small part of the movie.What this movie should have advertised was a mother struggling after a divorce...a woman unable to escape the demons of her childhood...a ~mystery~ only she can solve, brought to her attention by the ghost of a child whose life clearly mirrored her own past before it was tragically ended...and a daughter caught in the middle of it all.
It may have even impressed those who weren't originally interested (Fathers/Sons/Boyfriends getting dragged along) as they wouldn't have expected gooey, gory, bloody things only to be let down.Anyway, I tend to be a little more open-minded, so though Dark Water wasn't what I expected I still found it very enjoyable.
This is the most effective drama thriller with elements of lets say survivor horror that i seen in a long time.Jennifer Connelly acts superb,she is became with this movie one one my favorite actors.Also the story is original and if you watch it at night after midnight like i did,you will get the full concept of how this movie is great.Drama element are her so sad and real that it seam that is better not to have children in this cruelly lonely place that we call world.
"Dark Water" is a remake of a Japanese horror film.
No matter what they do, the dark water keeps coming back, and the ghost of the young girl who lived there begins to visit Dahlia and Ceci, and is jealous of Ceci because her mother abandoned her.I liked the story to this film, even though it's a remake.
Jennifer Connelly was completely perfect in her role, playing the woman who has all too many problems - a bitter divorce, bad memories from her own childhood and her mother, and on top of that the ghost of a little girl is terrorizing she and her daughter.
Overall, "Dark Water" is a suspenseful, scary, all around good movie.
I wasn't ready for that kind of cinematic experience,the film isn't clearly a thriller.Its more about a struggle of a mother with a child against todays state of loneliness.A state that keeps us all constantly in a cage-like apartment.This film is clearly about this struggle that lasts for most of us all life long.Thats the reason why this film is meant to be liked i think,of course the plot develops slow but thats the way life goes and the art is only imitating life:-)Jennifer is a great actress,the whole story depends on her acting,so thats another reason why you must see this film,don't expect a typical Hollywood blockbuster!This is truly a great story and a more that classic film......
The film is a bit slow to start but gets more interesting as the custody battle between the parents becomes more strong and confusing, and the audience have to grasp with Dahlia's rightful concern of her daughter or her delusional paranoia brought on by a troubled past and stubborn migraines which I think were very well portrayed, the sound effects and emotions on Connely's face were very well portrayed, I could really feel the pain she is going through.
The only thing I could complain about and in my opinion make the film better *possible spoiler following* is when Dahlia is asleep next to her daughter and she has the nightmare about going up to the apartment 10F upstairs and sees her mother/herself/Natascha's mother in the bathroom, although well done I think was slightly confusing, and on my region 2 DVD on the bonus features there is an alternate sequence for this called "Wall of Water" which was very impressive, showing Natascha summoning water to cascade down her wall like a waterfall into Dahlia's apartment, and to Dahlia's despair downstairs, her acting is serene in this scene and the use of CGI is superb, I only wish this scene was included in the final cut.
With it's pointless shocks, boring "extra" story lines and dull dreary look, made we wonder why I was so excited to see the remake of 'Dark Water'.This time I had seen the original 'Dark Water' (Honogurai mizu no soko kara), and though it wasn't a world beater nor very scary, it did tug my heart strings and I was curious to see just how much of a mess Hollywood had made of this remake.
'Dark Water' is a wonderful adaption of the film and is actually right up there with the original Japanese version.
'Dark Water' is an extremely hard film (like 'Ring') to act in with the psychological confusion that has to be made clear in her character.
Connelly played her role to perfection and did a better job then any woman has in any Hollywood horror movie in a long time.
She was the original choice to play Rachel Keller in 'The Ring', so it's nice to see her in another Hideo Nakata horror remake (and a better one of that).I was also very impressed by Ariel Gade who played Dahlia's daughter, Ceci.
A rare talent in someone so young is rare to find and I think she was perfectly cast as Ceci.Walter Salles, unlike Gore Verbinski, knew what was expected of 'Dark Water' to make it an equal to it's original.
It didn't drag and it didn't for once make me think, "This is boring!" The storyline had only been edited for the good of a Western audience and it didn't patronize us with answers and explanations.With never a dull moment, Jennifer Connelly and Ariel Gade lead a tale of a mother and a daughter, wounded by recent divorce, trying to find a home they can afford.
Based on a novel by Koji Suzuki ("The Ring"), director Walter Salles ("High Art") hands us a flat, uninspired, at times boring rendition of the traditional Hollywood genre.Despite a nice cast and excellent performances by Jennifer Connelly (looking unhealthily thin), John C.
Dark Water is another one of those slow PG-13, atmospheric and creepy ghost stories in the vein of The Ring and the Grudge, and like those two, it is worthwhile.The film certainly has flaws, but it is also clever and has some great drama.
I don't know if I was ever as bored in a movie theater before today.The story (based on a tired formulaic novel by Japanese hack Koji Suzuki), follows Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) and her daughter, Ceci (Ariel Gade).
I do not blame the cast, as they all did a good job, but sometimes a movie is just bad for other reasons such as story, lack of mood, and no real scares considering this is supposed to be horror.
You may want to check it out if you like a really mild thriller, but otherwise if you are looking for scares, alas there are very few of them (actually I would say there are none) I would avoid this movie and wait for the next Japanese horror turned American remake or see something of ours that isn't rated pg-13 and can put ya to sleep.
Director:Salles and Screenwriter:Rafael Yglesias (Fearless, Les Misérables "1998", From Hell) remained faithful to the original film by adding more character development by the supporting cast and changing certain plot points or suspense from the 2002 movie.
But Connelly's excellent performance and an top supporting cast makes this remake work.DVD is the original theatrical cut to the movie.
My girl friend after viewing Dark Water, looked over at me and said, "Do you think I could get a refund on the last two hours of my life?" I think it's time to step up to the plate and start putting out some quality horror/supernatural films.
If it's not very scary, I didn't mind.I loved Jennifer Connelly in the leading role, she is fantastic as single mom Dahlia Williams, who moves into a crappy (and creepy) apartment with her daughter (Ariel Gade).
Reilly is great as the Realtor who would do anything to get his property sold, and there's Pete Postlethwaite's performance as the maintenance guy who you know is hiding something from the beginning.The ending is touching and sad, and Connelly's performance enhances it even more.Dark Water is an excellent, very underrated film.
The astonishing thing is that DARK WATER is a brilliant little film; in this instance I haven't seen the original Japanese movie, but I don't see how it could improve on this.The movie works because it's about people; it's a human drama with real-life characters in situations that almost anybody can identify with.
The original "Dark Water" was one of the better Asian horror movies.
The good thing of this remake is the presence of Jennifer Connelly, of whom I am a great fan, and the young actress Ariel Gade, with an excellent performance.
After seeing a lot of the garbage that has come out in the scary movie genre recently, I was very surprised to find that "Dark Water", which did not get many stellar reviews, was truly a movie worth the four dollars I paid to rent it.This film follows in the footsteps of other Japanese remake horror films that the US has been putting out recently.
I very much enjoyed Dark Water - and on two levels: the dynamics between the characters, and the thrilling aspect.It's not particularly scary (and, I must admit, I prefer scary films that are actually scary), but it seems to me that it was marketed as a horror (at least in the UK), whereas it is clearly a slow-burning thriller.
I liked Dark Water because it isn't just a stupid horror movie,.
I did not see the original Japanese movie of which Dark Water is a remake but I found this remake set in the creepiest apartment building on the Roosevelt Island, NY imaginable, a very underrated, good on its own merits and certainly worth watching drama/psychological thriller with the elements of supernatural thriller.
This is really the only thing i can say about this movie, but i need a bit more to submit this - so here goes: When i watched the original version of Dark Water, i actually enjoyed it, even though it wasn't that scary, compared to a few films that have actually given me a scare whilst watching them on a windy night at 2:00am in my bedroom with the curtains open ( to actually feel scared whilst watching excellent films such as The Exorcist and Ringu).
The director takes his time setting up the movie (drawing out divorce, custody hearings, looking through the apartment for a good 20 min., walking around the halls, riding in the elevator, going to school, among many other things), and then when you finally care about what is happening, it is like he slams the book shut and leaves you disappointed.
I am not normally inclined to see horror movies, but I am a fan of Jennifer Connelly and figured that if she would choose to be in this film it must be good.
Not since Mike Nichols liberally used water as an ambivalent motif in The Graduate has water had such a psychological impact as it does in Dark Water, a thriller that abundantly uses horror story techniques but goes further to expose the tender nerve endings of a single mom, Dahlia, caught in a cheap Roosevelt Island apartment that drenches her and her young daughter, Ceci, incessantly both inside and out with leaking ceilings and flooding floors that promise drowning both real and figurative.Outside the obligatory ghost, incompetent apartment super, and conflicted dad lies the awful reality of vulnerable women being forced to live in substandard housing, dangerous to health because separation leaves separating wife and husband with no means to do better.
In addition, I already watched the original "Dark Water (2002)" and really hated it (it had good atmosphere, but I found it very boring and the plot to be silly and predictable).Unlike many remakes, this movie is actually much better than its origin (in my opinion, of course).
It works more like a psychological thriller.There is a very good acting by the entire cast: Jennifer Connelly is gorgeous as ever and really carries the movie - she is very convincing, even in the more-clichéd situations; Pete Postlethwaite and John C.
Reilly are both good as the sleazy guys; Camryn Manheim (from "Happiness") behaves like she's been a teacher for years; Ariel Gade is surprisingly good for a 7-year old in her second feature film; And I didn't even recognize Tim Roth as the lawyer who runs his office from the car.Director Walter Salles and writer Rafael Yglesias did a good job in avoiding many of the cheesy horror movies tricks and creating good atmosphere.
Gauzed in the razor-thin sheen of a classy ghost story (like some many recent films revolving around a dead little girl ), "Dark Water" is really about coping with being abandoned by your mother...a depressing real life horror many children face.
The movie starts off by showing a mother Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) and her daughter Ceci (Ariel Gade) as they struggle through a divorce and move into a new apartment in Staten Island.
This is where the mystery begins as it seems like someone still lives in the apartment above where the water is leaking from.Right off the bat, I have to say without Jennifer Connelly, this film would have really sucked.
But I can safely say this film is the best of all films like this that follow the same story.So to wrap everything up, if you want a fresh and original movie then your not going to get it when you see "Dark Water", however, if want to see a suspense thriller that actually contains suspense and good performances then you might want to check this film out.
It is not a horror film nor is there blood and guts.Don't necessarily expect the happiest ending in the world and enjoy the brilliant acting of Jennifer Connelly and direction of Walter Salle.
"Dark Water" is a film of several layers of understanding, a horror movie that happens inside the head of the characters, a game of suspicion and discovering AND a realistic divorce story.
Ariel Gade, who played Ceci, did a great job and will probably be successful if she continues acting.If your looking for a scary horror story, go watch the original film.