Not suitable under 10; parental guidance to 13 (frightening sequences, themes of cancer and loss)
This topic contains:
Children under 10 | Not suitable due to distressing themes (grief and loss; cancer; child abuse) and frightening sequences. |
Children aged 10–13 | Parental guidance recommended due to distressing themes and frightening sequences. |
Children over the age of 13 | Ok for this age group. |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Water Man, The |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | N/A |
Length: | 93 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
11-year-old Gunner Boone (Lonnie Chavis) has a brilliant imagination but few friends and is spending his summer vacation exploring his new town on an electric scooter and writing a graphic novel about a detective investigating his own death. At home, Gunner’s mother, Mary (Rosario Dawson), is battling leukaemia and his father, Amos (David Oyelowo), is struggling to put his marine training aside to be the caring dad Gunner needs. As his mother’s health declines, Gunner learns about the ‘Water Man’, a local legend of a ghostly, undead figure who is believed to hold the key to immortality. After gathering information from the town’s eccentric undertaker (Alfred Molina) and enlisting the help of Jo (Amiah Miller), a street kid and probable grifter who claims to have met the Water Man, Gunner makes his way into the forest to find a way to save his mother. Jo and Gunner’s journey through the spooky forest is filled with other-worldly occurrences and a budding friendship, strained by the revelation that Jo’s connection to the Water Man may not be real. Meanwhile, Amos discovers the disappearance of his son and jumps into action to find him before a wildfire reaches the children from the other side of the forest.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Cancer; Grief and loss; Death; Natural disasters (floods and fires); Children as victims (emotional and physical abuse).
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
There is some violence in this movie, including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
Nothing further of concern.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
The Water Man is the directorial debut from David Oyelowo (who also stars) and tackles difficult subjects of loss, family discord, death, and what makes a meaningful life. The strong direction and performances balance the simplicity of the story to produce a moving film about life and loss from the eyes of the children it impacts. Due to its distressing themes and frightening sequences, this film is not suitable for children under 10 and parental guidance is recommended to 13. Consideration should be made about the suitability and impact of this film for children with lived experience of cancer, familial death, child abuse, or natural disasters.
The main messages from this movie are that having a strong, open, and honest parent-child relationship helps support through difficult experiences; and sharing a loving relationship with your family for a short time is better than having an unloving relationship with your family for a long time.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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ABN: 16 005 214 531