It’s nice to know that even the beautiful people get a raw deal once in a while, which is what happens to Jennifer Connelly after she splits with her butthole hubby and has to take up residence in the leakiest, creakiest and, oh my, creepiest shoebox apartment on Roosevelt Island. Dahlia (that’s Jen’s character name) is none too happy about this unfortunate turn of events, especially since she’s got her daughter, Ceci (spooky kid named Ariel Gade), with her, and the heartless ex and agents from social services keep trying to pry the little girl away. Plus, it won’t stop raining, the lighting’s terrible, and Jennifer Connelly looks a little too thin for her own good these days.
And when Dahlia notices a big, black wet spot on the bedroom ceiling, there’s a look on her face that says, “Oh God, not ‘The Ring 2’ again!” Sure enough, it isn’t long before a ghost girl with an ax to grind and perpetually wet hair shows up and starts freaking the bejesus out of Dahlia. She fears she’s losing her mind (and that her snarky ex might be manipulating her surroundings), but knows she’s gotta keep it together if she wants to maintain custody of Ceci and … wait, is that a face in the washing machine? And what’s with all the clumps of black hair in the sink? Is Cher using the bathroom when we’re not home?
Brazilian Walter Salles (“The Motorcycle Diaries”) makes his Hollywood genre film directorial debut with “Dark Water” and does a nice job keeping the focus on Dahlia as she unravels — make no mistake, this is less a horror movie than it is a psychodrama about the incredible lengths to which a mother will go to hold onto her child. The production design can be summed up in two words — unrelentingly bleak — and after nearly two hours of it you’re bound to leave the theater feeling quite dispirited. At least the filmmakers intended it that way, which is more than can be said for a lot of other films that are out there. (PG-13, for mature thematic material, frightening sequences, disturbing images and brief language. Running time: 111 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 8, 2005. Read the original PDF.