Water: A Film by Corrie Jones
Director and co-writer Corrie Jone’s short ‘Water’ has already swept up wins at some of the major short film festivals (including Milan International Film Festival, SHORTini International Short Film Festival, AFI and Australian Directors Guild). IMDB‘s brief synopsis tells us it’s about Toby, who:
yearns for a life like any other eight-year-old kid, but his mentally disabled father is a constant reminder that life for Toby will never be normal.
‘Water’ really is a piece of subtle, unassuming excellence. The story unravels inside out, giving very little away at first. It opens on Toby and drifts for a while, with a drawn-out focus on the young lead (Adam Lowrie) as he makes his lonely way back and forth to school. An early shot sequence, where Toby stares into a dirty mirror set’s up the premise of the protagonist exploring his mirky sense of identity. Toby seems far too burdened, too lacking in glee for a young child, and cinematographer Andrew Mcleod does a great job of emphasising this through a multiplicity of close-ups on his stoney eyes and face. The colour palate is never bright, but filled with greys and blues… always feeling somehow whitewashed.
It is only as Toby’s severely disabled father appears; bent-over, gollum-like and pained by his unspecified affliction, that we begin to understand the reasons behind the child’s blank stare.
But ‘Water’ gives no easy answers. It stone-walls us at times, just like it’s protagonist. The specifics of the father’s illness are not expressed. We know he once taught Sean to surfboard, but how did he get this way? How long has he been this way? Is the disease degenerative like Parkinsons? The script keeps dialogue scarse and naturalistic, relying rather on the actors’ actions and expressions for impact. What matters is how Toby is affected by his day to day experiences and – as symbolised by the role of family friend Sean – the future he faces as a carer for his helpless, tantrumming father.
While we mostly feel left in the dark as to what the characters are really feeling, much is revealed through brief outbursts which contrast with a mostly subdued tone. But it is the subtlest gestures; the stroke of a hand, tap of a fish-tank, which often carry the most weight.
The father’s watery eyes are deeply resonant. Does he want to live? Or be put out of his misery? Assuming, that is, he is even capable of such thoughts. Our interpretations remain ambivalent to the end. And Toby, who skates a strange line between childish aggression and wise sympathy, remains an ambiguous enigma even at the last moment.
Water can be cam, healing; a giver of life. But it can also be turbulent, profoundly deep… many have drowned in it. Is this the symbolic motif behind ‘Water’?
Maybe. Although I like to think that by the end, Toby has taken an small step to accepting his lot.
I enjoy you because of every one of your hard work on this website. Gloria delights in managing research and it's easy to see why. I know all about the powerful method you convey worthwhile solutions on this web site and even recommend participation from other individuals on this concept plus our favorite princess is undoubtedly becoming educated a lot of things. Have fun with the remaining portion of the year. You are always performing a powerful job.
[...] they don’t want to take a chance on a new director. But the truth is that the industry hires new directors all the time; it’s just that most of them are white males.” …the youth of both America [...]