 | Dark Water Director: Walter Salles Rated: M Now screening  One cannot help but notice Jennifer Connelly's unique inability to age, or at least exhibit any signs of it. Indeed in 'Dark Water' she appears the product of physical de-maturation, looking as suave and moving as nimbly as ever. Certainly though, her uncannily brilliant performing ability is moving in the other direction, as she proves with delightful detachment in this comparatively unworthy film.Connelly plays Dahlia, a mentally unsound, migraine burdened woman having trouble dealing with the legal issues of her recent divorce. Of central concern to her is the nurturing of her only child Ceci (Ariel Gade), an imperative which seems to keep her alive. Dahlia is searching for a suitable residence for the pair but, because of financial difficulties, is forced to settle for an apartment in a building of shifty staff and indigents. Tension and mystery emerge as dark water starts leaking throughout the building. The narrative, which shows its vapidity (particularly in the film's latter half) should be ignored in favour of atmospherics. Immuring corridors of distorting orange glow and cavernous blue shadow, complemented aurally by the distant patter of rain and incessant dripping provide Connelly an ideal space in which she can practice her overcast and at times unearthly screen presence (or, if you like, absence). Connelly's interaction with her sober physical space is so precisely measured that environment and individual seem indistinguishable at points, making for a compound of sight and sound that is rare and fantastic to behold. It is difficult to divert one's attention from this synergy, but uniformly average dialogue in cahoots with some artificial attempts at tension do their best to pollute the viewing experience. 'Dark Water' suffers further by inviting comparison to Kubrick's infinitely superior 'The Shining', with Ariel Gade's Ceci resembling the telepathic Danny in voice and presence, some of the aerial camerawork alluding to Kubrick's images of the brooding Overlook Hotel, and even some vague similarities in frailty between Connelly's Dahlia and Shelley Duvall's Wendy. In itself however director Walter Salle's film deserves congratulations for achieving hints of the ethereal nature of Kubrick's masterpiece and, indeed, relative to virtually everything else occupying the horror and thriller cinematic streams these days, is of a rare, respectable quality.  | |
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