ahlia Williams (Connelly) is in the midst of a bitter breakup with her husband (Scott). And so she moves with her young daughter, Ceci (Gade), to Roosevelt Island, just a tram ride from New York City, yet a place somehow a world apart, cold and isolated.
Their apartment is passable for the money, though a bit claustrophobic, and the super/janitor (Postlethwaite) is a tad creepy. Still, it could be worse. Murky water could leak ominously from the apartment above, and it might not be a bunch of bad boys opening the faucets while the homeowners are away. The ghost of a dead girl, Natasha (Haney-Jardine), could befriend Ceci—everyone initially thinks that Natasha is merely an imaginary pal—and then start to torment both Ceci and Dahlia. And Dahlia, already suffering from emotional problems that may have had a little something to do with the demise of her marriage, could be experiencing a total mental breakdown.
Oops, that's the plot. Add to that Reilly as a wry and dry property manager and Roth as an ambulance-chasing lawyer with a few secrets of his own who tries to help the put-upon Dahlia.
Non-potable Water
Fans of the Japanese original, by director Hideo Nakata, can debate the merits of how this remake compares, but looking at it as an entity unto itself, Dark Water would be better titled Still Water. Salles, a Brazilian making his English-language debut after winning acclaim with the likes of Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, aims more for profound family drama than horror, musing on the bonds between a mother and daughter and depicting the depths to which a mother will go to protect her child. On that front, the film delivers.
Connelly is in good form, compelling the moviegoer to go on this journey with Dahlia and lending gravitas to the more fantastical moments. Gade, who will be seen this fall on the SF series Invasion, is a talented child actor who, despite overplaying the cuter moments at the beginning, comes through when it counts, in her scenes with Scott, Haney-Hardine (whom Salles also daringly cast in flashback scenes as young Dahlia) and, most vitally, Connelly. Still on the performance side of the equation, Postlethwaite and Reilly elicit the occasional tension-busting chuckle, and Roth happily chews the scenery (though his role is woefully underdeveloped given the screen time Salles devotes to revealing the character's quirks).
Unfortunately, it's all for naught, because at the end of the day Dark Water just isn't very scary. I'd love to blame the PG-13 rating and suggest that more blood and gore would have upped the thrill factor, but that's not the case in this instance. Salles—working from Yglesias' literate script and benefiting from both Affonso Beatto's (Ghost World) atmospheric cinematography and Therese DePrez's moody production design—builds the suspense way too slowly, and by the time the last 15 to 20 minutes roll around and the fit hits the shan, so to speak, it's too little, too late.
