Review: Todd Haynes returns with "Dark Waters"
Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 6:30PM
You know you are in good hands when the actor chosen to come in and jumpstart the plot, give dimensionality to the film, or just wreck the audience hearts is Bill Camp. This is exactly who Todd Haynes chooses to do all three of these things in Dark Waters. Camp is a Virginia farmer who calls on a corporate lawyer he knows from the old neighborhood (Mark Ruffalo) to help him sue the big corporation that is killing his animals, his family and himself with the toxic waste they spill out in the water system and into the bodies of the unsuspecting.
This is just the tip of a big iceberg that Robert Bilott (Ruffalo) uncovers...
The film is inspired by real events and based on a 2016 NY Times article by Nathaniel Rich about Bilott and his expose of how corporate giant DuPont was responsible for systematically contaminating the blood of 99% of the world population with harmful materials they put in many of their products. Yes it is that shocking and anger inducing.
Haynes and cinematographer Ed Lachman take us into the hallways of power, and into the farmland ditches where the poison is spreading. Along the way they build a depressive sense of the enormity of the situation as Bilott continues his indefatigable crusade to find and expose the truth. They are as resolute in presenting this story with no varnish and with just the right set of paranoid detachment as Bilott is in his pursuit.
That is most evident in a brilliant scene where the enormity and scope of his discovery overwhelm Bilott in the middle of the night and drive him to noisily check out the pipes in his house and all the utensils in the kitchen waking up his wife in the process. He fails to rationally explain to her what he’s doing and what he’s afraid of; Haynes reveals that the world can view conspiracy theorists as crazy even when they are absolutely correct. Sometimes the truth is more wicked than any outlandish theory. If only the by-the-book screenplay had more of these compelling scenes.
Bilott’s wife Sarah (Anne Hathaway) will give long time fans of Haynes whiplash. The director most adept at chronicling women’s inner lives in movies like Safe (1995), Far From Heaven (2002) and Carol (2015) has gone ahead and given us a stock supporting wife character. You know the kind -- she's always in the background, trying to convince the great man of not harming himself while doing the great thing and/or supporting him while he does the great thing. Hathaway does that and she does her best with the material, sometimes straining a bit harder than needed to get noticed. Of course this is the script’s fault - credited to Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan. However you’d think that if anyone would’ve been able to add soul and depth to that stereotype it would be Haynes, but alas even he fails this time.
I'm sure it’s a nod to the real person but Ruffalo gives a charisma-free performance. He’s dogged and quiet, but does not vary his performance or give the audience anything to latch onto. This film needed a dose of charm to make it more palatable as Haynes’ effective mood and the story itself provide plenty of paranoia and anger. The comparisons to Erin Brockovich (2000) are easy to make but the Steven Soderbergh inspiration Haynes should’ve taken to heart is that crusading and organizing are more satisfying when you let your star be hot. All the more reason to be thankful that Camp is on screen to give the film a boost of verve and pathos.
Still, here's a sign that the film has met all the goals it has set for itself: you leave the screening wanting to scream as loud as you can and to fight corporations as doggedly as Bilott. B
Reader Comments (19)
in what world does a guy like Mark Ruffalo get someone like Anne Hathaway lol. be realistic hollywood! it doesn't even seem like they try to ugly her up any to make that pairing more realistic. regardless, this trailer looked pretty bland so not surprised the film is not all that successful nor am I surprised there are some great scenes/portions (given the director + cast).
Something I'll catch when it is on netflix.
This is the last film I expected from Todd Haynes the man who gave us "Far From Heaven" (2002) a modern classic
I honestly don't understand what brought Todd Haynes to this movie. Looks like a lazy Soderbergh.
Jaragon: I LOVE Far From Heaven (A+), I love Safe (A), I really liked I'm Not There and Carol (both A-), but his projects post Carol haven't interested me AT ALL. Part of the issue is I'd say he's a better writer than a director (oh, really good at both, but if I had to choose the one he was better at...) but hasn't filmed his own stuff since Mildred Pierce. Another part is he's seemingly embraced an ice aesthetic. Y'know, like what he really wants is to make the next House of Cards US. I watched three seasons of that glacier. We don't need another.
I've seen most of his films since "Poison" (1991) not sure what happened to him after "Far From Heaven" (2002). "Carol" (2015) was well made but left me cold. This movie looks like it could have been directed by anyone
Well, OF COURSE Hathaway does what she can with that role! She's a consummate professional!
But, yeah, this movie had me excited all the way til that trailer got released....so disappointing.
Someone I know from school would watch any new Woody Allen film that's out in theaters. This was around the time Woody was making Anything Else and Melinda and Melinda. He loves Woody Allen films (not necessarily the man himself) unequivocally.
I am the same way with Todd Haynes -- I'd watch film after film he releases unequivocally, unquestioningly after I watched Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. Then he came to our class once and was introduced as a film semiotician by our professor. I always have a soft spot for the critic-scholar/director type more than the writer/director, and based on films I've seen from Haynes, I thought he can do no wrong (I'm obviously misguided). But yes, I'll still watch anything he does (even films he executive-produced like Quinceañera and films by Kelly Reichardt). I'm afraid I became that guy in school who watches Woody Allen films almost automatically.
Of course I'll still watch Dark Waters, mixed reviews notwithstanding. But I wonder if he can do another Far From Heaven again.
Haven't forgiven Mark Ruffalo yet for wasting his time and talent on that comic book series. Anyway, welcome back!
@Anonny You will be surprised or you live in a different reality (If only I can count older guys like Ruffalo hooking up daily with girls similar to Hathaway/Sienna Miller -or even boys like 20s. Jamie Bell/Timothée Chalamet- in my University). Beside it's not like Mark Ruffalo is Jay Baruchel/Jonah Hill in his most deglam role.
In real life, a guy like Mark Ruffalo can be considered a catch and handsome in earthly way (which actually he is a earthly sex symbol). And if you add the sexual raw he did in "In the Cut" or "The Kids are All Right", you'll have a male magnet... Imagine if he's a college professor, restaurant owner or Soccer trainer.
I personally loved this movie but it’s really shame that THIS was the hyped Hathaway/Haynes pairing. It’s like when Pfeiffer worked with Nicholas on what turned out to be wolf. Disappointing.
In real life there are plenty of gorgeous women like Hathaway who marry men like Ruffalo- they might looking for security not looks. But I'm sure Hathaway was hoping for another "Far From Heaven" no this movie.
No comment on the movie yet, although I'd be up for seeing it based on who's involved. But on the question of Ruffalo and Hathaway as lovers: I can't think of a reason they wouldn't make a good couple onscreen. The idea that people occupy different categories from each other, or different beauty leagues, is a mystery to me. There is no objective standard of beauty. There is just what society/culture deem to be beautiful at a moment in time. The entertainment industry has 'sold' us the idea that Hathaway's appearance is somehow on a higher level than Ruffalo's. But unless we see potential partners as status symbols, and therefore choose according to what we feel society will 'approve' of or 'allow' for us, I think the phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" gives us what we need.
and where has this idea that Ruffalo is not sexy come from? Have you not seen The Kids Are All Right? He's not sexy in this at all though. And thats a problem.
This is a dumb thing to have to interject but most find Ruffalo to be a grwat looking guy. What a dumb comment.
Todd Haynes is fine, but I can't take him seriously until he casts an actress of Glenn Close's caliber. Moore and Hathaway don't compare.
Murtada: I would even let this iteration of Ruffalo aggressively snuggle me. Video games and chill, he can bring his own joystick. I’ll be as animated as a Pixar flick.
If Mark Ruffalo is ugly I am Lana Turner. 💋
I was so disappointed by this movie. Haynes and Lachman of course do what they can (and what they can is gorgeous) but the script was terrible, full of characters vomiting out plot and What We Should Feel About Everything, and Hathaway's character is a one-dimensional shrew.
Bill Camp is great in this and unrecognizable. I hope he's considered for supporting actor especially since it's truly a supporting role.