Dark Water - Dunkle Wasser (Dark Water) 
U.S.A.
2005
Opening 22 Sep 2005
Directed by:
Walter Salles
Writing credits:
Kôji Suzuki, Hideo Nakata, Takashige Ichise, Rafael Yglesias
Principal actors:
Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, Pete Postlethwaite
Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) takes her young daughter Cecilia (Ariel Gade) apartment hunting in New York City after leaving her husband who is having an affair. Trying to find reasonably priced lodging in the city is frightening enough, but then Cecilia sees a menacing dark water spot on the bedroom ceiling of a flat. Spot closeup! Ominous music! Most children would flee in fear of such a lack of maintenance but after finding a Hello Kitty backpack on the rooftop of the grim Brutalist Style apartment building on Roosevelt Island, Cecilia overcomes her mold phobia and insists they take the apartment.
A dark wet spot on the bedroom ceiling is not scary no matter how many close-ups you take, how large the spot gets or how creepy the music sounds. Although Jennifer Connelly is terrific in her portrayal of a mother driven mad by bad plumbing, she probably wasn't acting after she realized she couldn't get out of making such a ridiculous film. The scariest aspect of this film is that people actually paid millions to make it. Dark Water is sewage that should just be washed down the drain. (Mary Nyiri)
