''The Water Man'' is a 2020 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

David Oyelowo David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo ( ; born 1 April 1976) is a British actor, director and producer. His accolades include a Critics' Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards as well as nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards ...

, in his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Emma Needell. The film stars Oyelowo,

Rosario Dawson Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama ''Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include ''He Got Game'' (1998), '' Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in Bl ...

, Lonnie Chavis, Amiah Miller,

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

and

Maria Bello Maria Elena Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and writer. Her film roles include '' Permanent Midnight'' (1998), '' Payback'' (1999), '' Coyote Ugly'' (2000), ''The Cooler'' (2003), '' A History of Violence'' (2005), '' The Mumm ...

. Oprah Winfrey serves as an executive producer via her revived

Harpo Films Harpo Productions (or Harpo Studios) is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. It is the sole subsidiary of her media and entertainment company Harpo, Inc. The name "Harpo" is ...

banner. ''The Water Man'' had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on September 13, 2020, and was released in the United States on May 7, 2021, by

RLJE Films RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 34 ...

Plot

Gunner Boone ( Lonnie Chavis) is 11 and has recently moved to Pine Mills, Oregon, a small, rural town. He spends his time working on a graphic novel about a detective investigating his own death, riding his bike, and visiting a nearby bookstore to borrow detective stories and books on cancer, as his mom Mary (

) has leukemia. As they just moved to town, he has no friends yet. Gunner's escapism comes from deep within. Gunner’s father Amos (Oyelowo) is a Marine, rarely at home. When he is around, he cannot connect well with Gunner, and accidentally destroys a painting that Gunner made of Detective Knox while attempting to get Gunner to play football with him. Gunner comes across a local legend about the ghostly being The Water Man. Local kids pay blue-haired Jo ( Amiah Miller), a grifter who claims she has seen him, indicating a scar on her neck from him as proof. Gunner, a fan of mysteries, tracks down an undertaker (

) who thinks The Water Man may have the secret to immortality. Gunner then pays Jo to take him to the ridge where she saw The Water Man. Carrying food and supplies for the journey, they venture into the forest. Their quest has a fairytale feel (the bookstore Gunner visits is called Once Upon a Time). Like Hansel and Gretel, he and Jo are neglected by their fathers, and explore on their own, creating a world together. The woods are full of curious things: strange sounds far off, wild horse stampedes, shiny, dark rocks hung along the way (like bread crumbs) through the forest, a river of beetles, and at one moment it seems to snow, although it's July. The children have no idea there is a raging forest fire on the other side of the ridge, and they are moving towards it. On their journey, they disagree, solve problems, and bond. Gunner's sketch and comic books "come to life" as he wishes himself into a magical world where a watery immortal being may save his mother. They help us see through Gunner's eyes. In the end credits we see the finished version of Gunner's graphic novel.

Cast

as Amos Boone *

as Mary Boone * Lonnie Chavis as Gunner Boone * Amiah Miller as Josephine Riley *

as Jim Bussey *

as Sheriff Goodwin *

Jessica Oyelowo Jessica Oyelowo (née Watson; born 1978) is a British actress and singer. Early life She was born Jessica Watson in Ipswich and spent her childhood in Suffolk, England. She attended Woodbridge School as a child and was a member of the National ...

as Mrs Bakemeyer * Kenny Powell as Drowned Man

Production

In June 2015, it was announced

would direct and produce the film, from a screenplay by Emma Needell, with Oprah Winfrey set to executive produce the film under her

banner, with Walt Disney Studios distributing. Oyelowo originally intended to simply star in and produce the film, but after the original director dropped out Needell convinced him to make his directorial debut on the project. In March 2019, it was announced

, Lonnie Chavis, Amiah Miller,

, and

had joined the cast of the film, with Disney no longer attached to distribute. Oyelowo said he reached out to

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...

Nate Parker Nate Parker (born November 18, 1979) is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He has appeared in '' Beyond the Lights'', '' Red Tails'', '' The Secret Life of Bees'', '' The Great Debaters'', ''Arbitrage'', ''Non-Stop'', ' ...

Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his appearance in the ''Star Wars'' films ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as a young Owen Lars, a role he reprised i ...

, and

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...

about acting in films they directed.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on September 13, 2020. In February 2021,

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, and set it for a May 7, 2021, release, with

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

set to distribute internationally. It was then released on Netflix on July 13.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . According to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which sampled 21 critics and calculated a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, the film received "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Water Man, The (film) 2020 films 2020 directorial debut films 2020 drama films American drama films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films