Original Post Date: 02.17.18
The Japanese horror movie Dark Water (2002) is another example of why I have been falling in love with the literary work from author Koji Susuki. In this film adaptation from his 1996 novel with the same title, the main character, Yoshimi Matsubara, gives us the best she has to give as a woman, a mother, and a protector. (And strangely enough, I saw glimpses of myself thru her and of course that made me happy, but ultimately it made me sad.)
The movie showed real vulnerability, anxiety for a life getting out of control (in Yoshimi’s case, divorce/custody battle, new apartment at run-down building with a leaking problem, new school for her kid with less than desirable teachers, a brand new job), worry for seeing this strange kid and her mysterious red bag when no one else did (was Yoshimi’s going mental again?). The movie was sad, scary yes, but mainly sad and that was a good thing as it made me feel the characters were authentic with real everyday life problems, characters just like you and me. Characters, however, that due to their unique circumstances were in the middle of experiencing supernatural events that were gradually getting worse and worse.
One might say that Yoshimi was a weak woman riddled with neurosis, and actually yes, she even verbalized it once or twice to her Lawyer when she shyly confessed “I get confused by myself,” but in the end that same alleged weakness, that same intensity for feeling things was what made her sacrifice herself to save her daughter, little Ikuko Matsubara. Yoshimi gave herself to the strange kid’s ghost, Mitsuko Kawai, so her little Ikuko would no longer be in any danger. Yoshimi chose to be the ghost’s mother so she could save her real daughter. Sad ending.
Now, let me talk real quickly about the beauty of the film. Visually, Dark Water was so intensely packed with nerve-racking images of decay, despair, isolation, frustration, and vulnerability, oh, and lots and lots of gloomy rain. (I LOVED IT SO FREAKING MUCH!)
These were the scenes I adored:
Ceiling leaking and getting the whole bed wet (my own anxiety was triggered major time!)
When the mom goes to the vacant 405 apartment upstairs looking for her daughter after getting lost/hearing footsteps and she opens the door and sees everything covered in water: floor, sinks, walls, its own ceiling, it almost looked as if it was raining inside, also, we see Mitsuko in the shadows just for a brief moment
After the manager fixes the “water problem” from 405, and Ikuko’s health starts improving, and the custody battle starts looking better for Yoshimi, all their sense of normalcy gets shattered when Yoshimi has a vision of Mitsuko’s death and goes to the roof to investigate, leaving little Ikuko alone and vulnerable to an attack by Mitsuko… this is when we see for the first time the ghost’s gray/pruney-looking hands!
When the mom finally comes downstairs and finds her daughter motionless on the floor and carries her to the elevator but the elevator doesn’t move and she sees from afar her daughter sleepwalking/coughing and… here’s when she realizes she carried the little ghost instead AND we see the little ghost girl in her yellow plastic attire with face, arms, and legs all gray/pruney-looking (this one scene was the one that made me scream in terror!)
Then, so sad, the mom accepts that she has to let go of her own daughter to save her… so she leaves her alone and both mother and daughter know this is goodbye and start crying in pain (dude, my feelings!)
The daughter goes after her mom, takes the stairs from the third to the seventh floor and while sitting on the floor, defeated, suddenly the elevator door opens and only dark water comes rushing out, sweeping the little girl, leaving her alone (for real this time), crying for her mom… cut to the water tank on the roof, fade to black*
Since I must insist on the great visual quality of the film, I feel obligated to share it with you in the following twenty-one screenshots. Enjoy:
In Love and Fear,
- Marath
[*] I would have loved the movie had ended here but it didn’t and instead gave us an extra eleven minutes of the 10 Years Later deal which kind of felt unnecessary to me, it felt like a failed attempt at trying to give the audience some sort of reassurance that things were going to be okay for the dead mother and the abandoned daughter. News flash! Horror movies do not need to have a happy ending, just FYI.