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David Oyelowo, who directed the film, and Rosario Dawson in The Water Man. (Karen Ballard/RLJE films/ShivHans Pictures)
Lonnie Chavis and Amiah Miller in The Water Man. (Karen Ballard/RLJE films/ShivHans Pictures)
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For family audiences, “The Water Man” is an exhilarating gift.
• 5 min read
Karen Ballard/RLJE Films
Lonnie Chavis, left, as Gunner Boone, and Rosario Dawson, as Mary Boone, in a scene from The Water Man.
A 12-year-old boy heads into the Oregon woods in search of a mythic creature he thinks has the healing power to save his dying mother.
That’s the premise behind “The Water Man,” a deeply felt family adventure, touched by the supernatural. Executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, the film marks a heartfelt directing debut for David Oyelowo, best known for his brilliant portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King in “Selma.”
A Star is Born, Regina King’s
One Night in Miami, Zach Braff’s
Garden State, Kevin Costner’s
Dances with Wolves, and so forth. Fans might expect British-born actor David Oyelowo to take the same route, given his history of portraying weighty roles like Martin Luther King Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s
Selma. Instead, he opted for a totally different path: His first directorial outing,
The Water Man, is a Spielbergian romp.
In
The Water Man, Oyelowo plays Navy veteran Amos Boone, a father who recently relocated his family to the small idyllic Oregon town of Pine Mills. The quiet setting is a perfect retreat for Amos’ terminally ill wife, Mary (Rosario Dawson). But the story doesn’t center on Amos or Mary: It focuses on their preadolescent son Gunner (Lonnie Chavis). The young, fanciful boy doesn’t know his mother is dying from leukemia, he just understands that she’s sick. So when her health suddenly deteriorates, he turns to a local legend about an immortal man w
CST
RLJE Films presents a film directed by David Oyelowo and written by Emma Needell. Rated PG (for thematic content, scary images, peril and some language). Running time: 92 minutes. Opens Thursday at local theaters.
This is a movie about a monster in the woods that’s really about much scarier things for children: a mother in one family who is seriously ill; a father in another family who is physically abusive; a wildfire raging in the mountains. All terrific adventure stories like this need a winning protagonist and Lonnie Chavis (“This is Us”) is eminently likable as 11-year-old Gunner Boone, a bright and sensitive kid in the sun-dappled, golden, cinematically ready Pacific Northwest town of Pine Mills, Oregon, who gobbles up books like Reese’s Pieces and is fast at work on his first graphic novel, about a ghost detective investigating his own murder. It’s easy to see why Gunner is consumed with fantasy and escapism, given his beloved mother Mary (Rosario D