Dark Water
Things aren�t going too well for Yoshimi Matsubara, recently divorced and looking for a job and home so she can support her 5 year old chid, Ikuko. And to make matters worse, her ex husband is trying to gain custody of Ikuko, bringing up her earlier mental instability as cause for concern.
Beggars can�t be choosers and Yoshimi ends up renting an apartment in an aging, and not very well maintained, tower block.
On moving in, she notices a dripping water stain on the ceiling which she reports to the apartment supervisor � and elderly and uninterested man who promises to make a note of it.
Yoshimi also manages to get herself a job. Unfortunately this proves to be something of a double edged sword as the pressures of trying to keep everything together mean that Yoshimi rarely manages to get to the kindergarten in time, leaving Ikuko standing alone in the rain as the other children leave with their mothers.
And things can only get worse as the stain on the ceiling keeps growing, a red bag keeps reappearing and Yoshimi starts to catch glimpses of another little girl�
Dark Water is another ghost story, directed by Hideo Nakata and based on a novel by Koji Susuki � both of whom were also responsible for Ring. But this film isn�t a patch on Ring.
The location of the ghost�s physical remains are pretty obvious, to say the least and, although it tackles an interesting theme � that of parental responsibility � the story has a less coherent feel than either Ring or the other Asian films I�ve seen this week.
Whereas Ring�s Sadako was indiscriminately vengeful, Dark Water�s ghost appears to be more discriminating in that she has lain silent for two years, yet there is no real sense to Yoshimi being the target of the ghost�s attention � she is effectively being punished for failing to cope with her new single parent status.
Certainly the film has plenty of creepy images, just glanced from the corner of the eye, and some highly effective jumps. Unfortunately, it just doesn�t hang together as well as it could.
Monday 14 Apr 2003 | Paul Pritchard | Horror, Quick Takes
