Dark Water (2002)

Director: Hideo Nakata, Kyle Jones

Writer: Kôji Suzuki, Takashige Ichise, Kyle Jones, Yoshihiro Nakamura, Hideo Nakata, Kenichi Suzuki

Tagline: From The Creators of Japan's Acclaimed RINGU, Inspiration for the hit phenomenon THE RING

Actors: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata, Yu Tokui, Isao Yatsu, Shigemitsu Ogi, Maiko Asano, Yukiko Ikari, Shinji Nomura, Kiriko Shimizu

Runtime: 1h 41m

Category: Ghost, Japanese, Psychological, Thriller

Synopsis: Dark Water "Honogurai mizu no soko kara" (2002) is a melancholy look into the life of Matsubara Yoshimi, a young mother, struggling through an emotionally destructive divorce from her cold-hearted husband, Kunio Hamada. Beyond the obvious heart-ache and burden that comes with divorce, Matsubara is faced with an even bigger obstacle; trying to convince the Legal Committee that she is deserving of full-custody of their five year-old daughter, Ikuko. While it would seem that this would come easily, being as though Ikuko's father rarely remembers his daughters birthday, we are shown that Matsubara is finding grave difficulty escaping her track-record which is jaded with a long history of stress and psychological related illnesses; Not to mention that at current time, she is homeless and unemployed.

With nothing left to lose, Matsubara scrapes together what little she has left, and finds a very cheap apartment in a suburb outside of Tokyo. Despite the over-zealous sales-pitch of her real-estate agent, backed by the promise of a good foundation from the so-called "building manager", Matsubara is all too quick to notice that this very affordable apartment is located in a far from perfect building. Determined to prove she has what it takes to provide a secure and loving environment for her daughter, Matsubara brushes away her initial reservations and signs the lease on what she hopes to be the first stepping-stone toward a bright future for herself and Ikuko.

While being shown to their new "home", Matsubara notices that her daughter has run off. In a state of panic, she and the building manager check the premises, only to find that young Ikuko has found her way to the roof of the dilapidated structure, clutching onto a red bag filled with what appears to be children's toys. Though gracious to of found her daughter safe, Matsubara hastily takes the bag from her daughters grip, tossing it carelessly into what seems to be a trash bin upon the roof.

Back on the right track, Matsubara and Ikuko reach their apartment. After unpacking, the two begin to cheerfully settle in. Matsubara is filled with a sense of accomplishment and joy, for once everything might actually be okay...that is until she notices the enormous damp patch upon the ceiling of her bedroom, which seems to be growing in size and beginning to drip upon the floor. Trying to keep her spirits high, Matsubara reports the issue to the building manager, only to be further disappointed when he refuses to do anything about the problem, claiming that the apartment had never experienced issues of this style until they had moved in.

Although the optimism Matsubara had found was all too quickly fading, she decides to stay positive as possible. She sets her sights on getting a job and enrolling her daughter into kindergarten. Succeeding at both, Matsubara is once again filled with a sense of accomplishment. Her job is a breath of fresh air, and she finds herself succeeding beyond what she would have ever imagined. While this helps take care of legal fees and Ikuko's school cost, Matsubara becomes seemingly obsessed with her work, causing her to take on entirely too many hours, and too often late in picking up her daughter from school. While this problem is seemingly un-noticed by Ikuko, her soon to be ex-husband is informed of his wife's tardiness, using this as yet another tactic to turn the court against her.

If things weren't bad enough, Matsubara can't help but notice her daughter taking an extreme interest in her leaky bedroom; often speaking to "someone" that isn't there. To the dismay of her mother, Ikuko begins to spend her free-time wandering through the apartment building, often times getting her self lost, only to be found clutching the red bag her mother had thrown away weeks ago. With each "adventure", we find that Ikuko is becoming more and more obsessed with her invisible friend, doing and saying things that are quite out of her character. It seems there is nothing Matsubara can do to keep her daughter away from her friend that no one can see.

While trying to sleep, Matsubara is startled by the sound of her daughter talking to someone. Carefully, Matsubara walks down the hall of her apartment, finding her daughter in the bathroom speaking to a girl she calls by the name "Mitsuko". Matsubara is overwhelmed with fright when she realizes that Mitsuko is the name of a young girl pictured upon a poster outside of their apartment building, who is two-years missing, and feared dead. While investigating, Matsubara finds that not only did Mitsuko attend the same kindergarten as her daughter, but she and her family had lived in the same building that Matsubara and Ikuko live in now! On her way to question the building-manager, Matsubara realizes that her daughter has once again gone off. After what seems to be hours of searching, Matsubara finds her daughter in an abandoned apartment, unconscious.

Staggering through the stress of taking care of her daughter, not to mention the growing patches of stagnant, leaking water taking over her apartment, Matsubara begins to fall back into a cycle of mental anguish. If her home is not safe, then where? What must she do to prove to the Legal Committee and herself that she is an able Mother?

Review: After watching this film, I was filled with a sense of tension. Not only did this movie leave me spooked, but it also left me somber. While watching this film, you cannot help but to get dragged into the personal struggle that Matsubara is going through. You feel for her situation, and for her, as though she were a real person. This is a woman who is doing everything in her power to overcome not only her past, but herself. She is utterly selfless, caring only for the well-being of her daughter, only to find herself in yet another rut with every turn.
The acting in this film was fantastic, and when backed with the artistic cinematography, it was hard not to feel as though you were there, suffering through every bit of terror and psychological turmoil our main characters were forced to go through. On that note, I will have to say that this is not of your typical "Asian Horror" piece. This film does not touch on any sort of taboo topics of interest, nor is it filled with an abundance of sex or gore.

To most American viewers, this film will bring back memories of Ringu (1998) or The Ring (2002), (whichever you prefer) begging the question, "What is the Asian fascination with creepy water related ghosts?" This is the type of film which reminds us of how great horror can be when left to ones own psyche playing against them. The average viewer may find that in spots this film was slower moving, and if that be the case, I would suggest checking out the American re-make, which ended up cutting out a lot of the...I don't know, shall we call it, PLOT from this film.

Rating: I give this movie a 23/25. It's worth a watch even if you tend to not find yourself interested in horror films. (23of25).