Wade In The Water is a 2019 drama about a man who receives a mis-delivered package that sets him on a troubling journey into his own dark past.
What do you do with a secret you were never supposed to know? Hold it to yourself? Tell someone close? Let it go? What if that secret held evidence to something truly terrible? This is where director Mark Wilson and writer Chris Retts drop us in Wade In The Water, following the slow consumption of an isolated man taking the law into his own hands while dealing with his personal haunts. This is not your usual vigilante movie. It’s something much, much more.
Working from home as a billing specialist for a health care conglomerate, an unnamed man (Tom E. Nicholson) is stuck in the routines. He is obese, introverted, and depressed. He goes to a counselor (Sheila Mears) who works to make headway but he is unwilling to grow. One day, he receives a small package in the mail, a CD that was not meant for him. On it is the very worst he can imagine and is instantly repelled, breaking it into pieces. He ponders his next move, then decides to find out more, eventually learning who the disc was meant for. Consumed by what it means, he decides to take absolute action, in the process forming an unusual relationship with the daughter (Danika Golombek) of his target, all while revisiting the evils of his past.
Nicholson cuts an imposing figure as the nameless hero of Wade In The Water, a hulking dour man forever soured by events in his childhood, ones that have shaped who he has become. He lives in literal and metaphorical shadows, his home draped in darkness as he manages to make his way to the safe places, including a burger joint with a very patient clerk (Matthew Daniger). Wilson takes his time in developing ‘Our Man,’ as he is listed in the credits, establishing with great care the fragility of a very large character ready for drastic change. Even his own end.
What’s particularly interesting about Wade In The Water is that it takes what would normally be the finale of a film like this and sticks it at the end of the first act, allowing the consequences of his actions to frame the rest. This includes the strange and curious bond that comes about between Our Man and the girl, who knows who he is and what he’s done. She is insightful and understanding, battling a dreadful truth while trying to cope, finding herself drawn to the kinship she finds in the company of this awkward, broken, lonely person.
Wade In The Water gets its name from an old spiritual song about finding freedom and this is just what Our Man seeks, even as he knows every step he takes puts him farther away. This is a daunting story with many dark corners, a character study of two deeply disillusioned people seeing change before them but finding moving forward almost impossible. It is both tragic and heartbreaking yet, as Our Man and the girl spiral together, somehow hopeful. These are a pair of deeply connected performances held together by a director in complete control of a film that is darkly comedic while ultimately very moving.
It’s uncommon to see a movie cast an actor like Nicholson and not make what he looks like be the reason he is in the movie, and while his appearance holds some significance to the story, it is not what defines him. That’s refreshing. This isn’t is a romance by any definition, but the chemistry between Nicholson and Golombek is what drives the film in its second half, leading to a final shot that is earned not because it’s conventional that she would would react so, but because it expresses everything that these two will forever lack, and that makes all the difference.