Letter Back Home - 5 Beginning of second week
Dark Water
Directed by Walter Salles
Starring Jennifer Connelly, Ariel Gade, Douggray Scott, Pete Postlethwaite, Tim Roth, John C Reilly, Perla Haney-Jardine, Camryn Manheim.
Very atmospheric, almost to the point of making you feel you were staying in one of those cramp units in the pigeonholed apartments in Roosevelt Island. Beautifully haunting long corridors, steep and narrow staircases, spooky and dilapidating lift, deserted basement self-service laundy room, the 
never-ending rain and the leak of dark chocolate water everywhere, all these are more than enough to give you the creep. I must say that I watched this film with at least two biasness in me already, I believe, subconsciously. So, it is quite difficult to judge the film for what it is. One, I have seen the Japanese version, few years back, when I was still pregnant with Aidan! Two, I met the director, Walter Salles (and thinks that he is such an articulate and great director) personally, when I was in Berlinale Talent Campus early this year. Three, I saw the Japanese one on a big screen. Very tempted to compare the two films naturally.
never-ending rain and the leak of dark chocolate water everywhere, all these are more than enough to give you the creep. I must say that I watched this film with at least two biasness in me already, I believe, subconsciously. So, it is quite difficult to judge the film for what it is. One, I have seen the Japanese version, few years back, when I was still pregnant with Aidan! Two, I met the director, Walter Salles (and thinks that he is such an articulate and great director) personally, when I was in Berlinale Talent Campus early this year. Three, I saw the Japanese one on a big screen. Very tempted to compare the two films naturally.Personally, I felt the scare more in the original version. I remember 
walking out of the cinema having this unexplainable deep sense of sadness in me, for essentially, to me, it is a sad story of a girl in search of the mother's love she never had. A lot of things were left not detailed out but in this Hollywood version, it goes more details with the sub plots of Jennifer's character and her relationships 
with her husband, mother, the landlord, the lawyer and the security officer. Each has its own merits, definitely. Though the Japanese version seems simpler in comparison to its more stylishly done western one, I have to say that I loved it slightly more. Walter did express that he was not too satisfied with the outcome of Dark Water when he was asked about the film in Berlinale but he took up the project for specific reasons. We were also fortunate enough to be able to watch his other documentary film called Life Somewhere Else which he shot entirely in black and white. It was so beautifully told that I could still remember those vivid and moving images from the film. I can't wait to watch another film of his - The Motorcycle Diaries.
walking out of the cinema having this unexplainable deep sense of sadness in me, for essentially, to me, it is a sad story of a girl in search of the mother's love she never had. A lot of things were left not detailed out but in this Hollywood version, it goes more details with the sub plots of Jennifer's character and her relationships 
with her husband, mother, the landlord, the lawyer and the security officer. Each has its own merits, definitely. Though the Japanese version seems simpler in comparison to its more stylishly done western one, I have to say that I loved it slightly more. Walter did express that he was not too satisfied with the outcome of Dark Water when he was asked about the film in Berlinale but he took up the project for specific reasons. We were also fortunate enough to be able to watch his other documentary film called Life Somewhere Else which he shot entirely in black and white. It was so beautifully told that I could still remember those vivid and moving images from the film. I can't wait to watch another film of his - The Motorcycle Diaries.
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