CANCELLED – Dark Waters at HOME

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
HOME

Dark Waters at HOME Manchester, Manchester 28 February — 19 March 2020 Tickets from £7.50 — Book now

Mark Ruffalo plays Rob Bilott, a big shot pharmaceutical defence lawyer who changes track to take on chemical giant DuPont in Todd Haynes’ gripping new procedural. Based upon true events, Dark Waters shows us Bilott taking up the cause of a family acquaintance — a West Virginia farmer (Bill Camp) who has lost 190 cows to mysterious and grisly medical ailments. The case becomes a crusade that dominates decades of Bilott’s life, as he fights dark forces to uncover the ways in which DuPont’s development of Teflon has poisoned not only the residents of Parkersburg, West Virginia, but potentially the whole world.

Haynes emerged from the radical New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s, and at first glance the straight-forward subject matter of Dark Waters looks an odd fit. But Haynes has demonstrated a fascination with traditional genre and modes of filmmaking throughout his career, from his experimental biopics (Velvet Goldmine, I’m Not There) to his reworking of Hollywood melodrama (CarolFar From Heaven). His new film fits into a lineage of paranoid thrillers and whistleblower procedurals that encompasses everything from The Conversation and All the Presidents Men to The Insider.

Indeed, there can be no suggestion that the director has abandoned his counter-cultural tendencies. This is a radically angry, effective film and DuPont cannot be happy to be on the receiving end of the filmmaker’s ire. Working with his long-time cinematographer Edward Lachman, Haynes uses a muted, poisonous palette of sickly greens and murky greys alongside judicious canted angles and shadowy interiors. The result is a queasy depiction of a tainted world bound to corporate interests and the debilitating yet heroic efforts required to even begin to fight back.

Dark Waters at HOME Manchester, Manchester 28 February — 19 March 2020 Tickets from £7.50 Book now

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Where to go near CANCELLED – Dark Waters at HOME

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Indian Tiffin Room is a restaurant specialising in Indian street food, with branches in Cheadle and Manchester. This is the information for the Manchester venue.

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This huge three-floor pub, formerly a Victorian warehouse, then an umbrella factory (hence the name), has one of the city centre’s largest beer gardens. The two-tier terrace overlooks the Rochdale canal and what used to be the back of the Hacienda, providing an unusual, historic view of the city.

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Standing on the corner of a junction opposite The Bridgewater Hall, The Briton’s Protection is Manchester’s oldest pub. It has occupied the same spot since 1795, going under the equally patriotic name The Ancient Britain.

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The influential Castlefield Gallery sits at the edge of Manchester’s exciting Castlefield district, an ideal home for thought-provoking contemporary art.

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