Film: Dark Water
Release date: 24th November 2003
Certificate: 15
Running time: 98 mins
Director: Hideo Nakata
Starring: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Drama/Thriller
Studio: Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Having adapted a novel by Koji Suzuki to huge international success with The Ring, the master of J-Horror, Hideo Nakata looked for similar results, adapting one of Suzuki’s short stories.
The story is deceptively simple; a recently divorced woman named Yoshimi moves into a new apartment with her 5-year-old daughter Ikuko and begins to be disturbed by a mysterious damp patch of water on the ceiling which gradually grows larger.
The landlord repeatedly ignores her complaints and we begin to wonder whether she is in fact imagining things, a result of the strain of single-parenthood. The mysterious water, continual re-emergence of a small red bag and sightings of a young girl in a yellow coat – are these the delusions of a woman struggling to cope, or is something more sinister at work?
For those expecting the full-blown horror of Ring, you may come away disappointed, as Dark Water is an altogether more restrained film. Although Nakata’s style can be recognised, the film seems much more personal and contemplative, though it certainly does lack the lingering horror and unease of his most famous horror film.
Less a straightforward horror, more a psychological study of the relationship between a mother and daughter - it is a thoughtful and disconcerting film. As he did so well in Ring, Hideo Nakata seamlessly combines family drama with more supernatural and eerie scenes - as with other Asian horror films of recent years, there is the preoccupation with family dysfunction. Yoshimi and her husband are in the middle of a messy divorce and custody battle, and she is trying desperately to prove she is capable of caring for her daughter alone, as well as balancing a career.
Nakata builds an atmosphere of isolation and dread very effectively in the first half of the film as we watch Yoshimi move into her new home and begin to notice odd things; a hair coming from the tap and, as mentioned, a small child in a yellow coat that appears and disappears constantly (reminiscent of the Venice scenes in Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now).
There are several tropes that we now recognise from J-Horror (and Asian horror in general): the obsession with water, isolation, loneliness in an urban environment, oppressive atmosphere and a young girl ghost with long lank hair, although there is no focus on the malevolence of technology. It is in many ways a more human story.
Saying that, however, the opening sequence is suitably creepy, as we see dank water swirling endlessly, set against an eerie score by Kenji Kawai and Shikao Suga. We are then immediately introduced to the main themes, as we see Ikuko standing alone waiting to be picked up by her mother from school. The tragic image of Ikuko waiting in the rain is one that recurs throughout the film. There is also an effectively sinister scene when the missing girl is spotted on CCTV in the lift, although this tactic has now been used many times, notably in Takashi Shimizu’s original Grudge film. Another scene involving a game of hide-and-seek at school when Ikuko spies the dripping ghost girl is also especially ominous.
It could be said that much of Dark Water is familiar but this does not diminish the film’s poignancy. The damp spreading and dripping throughout the apartment grows increasingly prominent and frightening, and Hitomi Kuroki does a brilliant job of playing an anxious mother, teetering on the brink of insanity. The father is unsympathetic, and Yoshimi appears completely alone in the film. The story rests on the interplay of her and Ikuko, and the scenes between the two of them are well acted and realistic, making us sympathetic towards their predicament.
The feeling you are left with after watching Dark Water is one of sadness, not terror. The final revelation about the missing girl and the denouement are devastating. Although one would hesitate to say that Dark Water is as memorable a piece of horror cinema as Ring, it is certainly affecting. CP
