Black water (2010)

Directed by: Elbert van Strien | 112 minutes | thriller | Actors: Hadewych Minis, Barry Atsma, Charlotte Arnoldy, Isabelle Stockel, Bart Slegers

A director like Elbert van Strien fills a (Dutch) film buff with hope. After seeing only a fraction of his work, it is clear that even in our small, cold little country there are filmmakers with a visual persuasiveness and a gift for creating atmospheric, imaginative images that stay with the viewer and get under the skin. You only have to watch one of his short films – such as ‘The Hidden Face’ , ‘Forbidden Eyes’, or ‘World of Stagnation’ to realize that a great talent has arisen here. Someone who dares to throw himself fully into the genre film and who knows how to rise above it. His films often have a surrealistic charge, and his style is reminiscent of the work of greats such as David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock. Not only the art direction, camera work and music of his films are special, thematically they are also often intriguing. ‘Black water’, Van Strien’s first real feature film, is therefore cause for great excitement. Because would he also manage to come up with context for his attractive visual style that continues to fascinate and amaze for almost two hours? Not quite (yet), unfortunately.

As expected – and hoped – ‘Black Water’ is often a joy to watch and Van Strien shows himself several times to be a master at evoking a dreamy, uncomfortable, exciting, and downright scary atmosphere. It can be seen that his fingers have been itching for the past few years to subject the general public to his probing, fear-inducing set-ups. One disturbing moment after another takes place as the not-so-perfect family moves into the stately, mysterious home of Christine’s late mother. Van Strien clearly masters the cinematic techniques to terrify his audience. As a director of genre films, he is in no way inferior to his colleagues from Japan, Korea, or America. Yet something is missing.

In the genre – supernatural, psychological thriller, ghost (house) film – ‘Black water’ is unique in the Netherlands. Never before has a film in this genre, with these production values ​​and maturity, appeared in Dutch cinema. But it can also go too far the other way. ‘Black water’ is admittedly not typically Dutch, but the film does look very familiar. Seeing the trailer immediately brings back memories of films like ‘The Ring’, ‘The Grudge, ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’, or their many clones, and the film itself only manages to offer a truly different experience. offer these kinds of movies. Now it must be said that as a viewer you are inclined for some time to reject the (now) predictable explanation of the story and to be taken along on the basis of the director and finally, at the end of the film, for a slight surprise. But with no reading, the film ends up working satisfactorily. Motivations of the characters are too sparse, and the logic behind the scares does the film experience (especially the middle part) too much violence.

It may be revealed – after all, this can already be seen in the trailer – that the daughter of Christine (Hadewych Minis) and Paul (Barry Atsma), Lisa (Isabelle Stockel) comes into contact with a scary, ghostly apparition in the film. This guarantees some real nail biters in the beginning of the film. Of course there are traditional (false) scares in the film, such as when someone suddenly stands in front of another character, accompanied by a big orchestral thump on the soundtrack, or when the girl goes on her knees to get something from under a bed or cupboard. where, of course, she is grabbed by something or someone – or simply startled for no good reason. But several times Van Strien does something new or special with his camera or set-up that makes you almost afraid to look or suddenly get the fright of your life. The director knows what to do with the frog’s perspective. Looking up at Lisa, when she – en route to the origin of a strange sound – comes down the woodcut staircase, with the railing poking intimidatingly (almost) through the screen (Van Strien does not need 3D effects), you walk as a viewer the shivers down my spine. Just like when she opens the cellar door, and in the (almost) pitch dark peers down (into the camera). As a viewer you are put in the shoes of “the monster” in these first really scary moments, much like how this happened in ‘Jaws’; which is not always common in these kind of (haunted house) movies. It creates a very uneasy feeling in the viewer, who is made complicit, as it were, and becomes increasingly afraid when the girl is seemingly watched by (and approached) by a mysterious something or someone. Another great example of this is when Lisa is sitting on the stairs outside the house and the camera pans very gently towards and around her, from a low vantage point. Later, the viewer looks at her from behind the basement window, which Lisa then approaches and investigates. The tension is really cut here.

So far (just) the much praise for the technique of Van Strien. It is fine and to get excited about. It is the context that eventually starts to play tricks on the film and does not form a good whole with the scary moments and mysterious atmosphere. In part, this is due to Lisa’s contact with the spirit. On the one hand, this is new and surprising, but on the other hand, the mind essentially becomes less scary and mysterious. We soon know who she is, what she wants, and Lisa is still a bit scared, but also starts a discussion with her quite quickly. Not only does this introduction make the film/atmosphere less scary for the viewer, it also makes Lisa’s panicked, surprised reactions when she encounters the ghost again under a bed or around a corner, a lot less believable. A brief startle response would be logical, but after that, at the very least, annoyance or anger should take over. The scary scenes just don’t work anymore and the scares are therefore often reduced to obligatory numbers, which we all know from other films. Lisa walks thoughtfully over a bridge/lock, in the dark blue tones of the film, with exciting music on the soundtrack, and a beautiful, ominous reflection in the water. But, even though the atmosphere is present, the course of the scene, and the moment of shock associated with it, is anything but surprising. And the motivation afterwards is unsatisfactory. Even the last twist in the story, which is supposed to give everything a new perspective, is too scant to explain the foregoing satisfactorily. In addition, the ending should be heartbreaking, but there is a good chance that there is mainly indifference on the part of the viewer.

An effective atmosphere is important (the ominous locations, the alienating effect of the camera angles and lenses [veel groothoek], powerful music), but if there is too little involvement – ​​in and not too abstract film – this is disastrous for the film experience. And the characters in ‘Black Water’ may have the potential to captivate the viewer, but there isn’t enough of them to cling to. A possible “extended edition” could do wonders for this film. Now the story doesn’t seem so organic and alive and mostly follows the points in script. If Lisa herself had shown a little more emotion, given a little more background, or paid a little more attention to her interaction with her father and mother, it would have made a difference. She now undergoes the whole story very stoically, which is also done for a reason, yet it lacks a necessary connection. For example, an important scene takes place in which Lisa is picked up late from school by her father due to circumstances. She was already feeling depressed in her new environment, so now she will be totally depressed. But when her father comes to pick her up at the bus stop with the moped, she does not get angry and father Paul does not even apologize. Still, she’s overjoyed sitting on the back of the moped, her hair blowing in the wind in slow motion, and a big smile on her face, about the only one in the film. It is a lyrical, dreamlike moment, but the context leaves much to be desired. Moments like these are ideal for getting inside Lisa’s head and taking her into your heart, but the film doesn’t allow this.

Unfortunately, ‘Black water’ is ultimately too flat from an emotional point of view and too meager in terms of motivation to be considered more than a beautiful-looking, and at times masterfully designed finger exercise by Van Strien. He has shown that he can do it. Now one more script that amazes and transports, and then it really is time for a party. Perhaps at his planned futuristic thriller. We are very curious!