The movie, which will debut in theaters on May 7, before a video-on-demand release, seemed to connect to Oyelowo on a metaphysical level. “‘The Water Man’ is indicative of how I see parenthood. How I see love,” he said. “It’s a force that can cut through stone, and parenting is something you fail at every day, but it doesn’t mean you love your children any less.”
“The Water Man” harks back to beloved films of Oyelowo’s youth: “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” “The Goonies,” “Stand by Me,” and manages to mostly avoid the realm of treacly melodrama. Reviewing the movie when it played in the virtual Toronto International Film Festival in September, The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee called it “an impactful calling card for Oyelowo, whose choice of debut is a sign of exciting, and big, things to come,” while the Globe and Mail’s Johanna Schneller described it as “magical,” specifically because audiences get the chance “to root for a young Black male hero as he navigates a family crisis that’s both specific and universal.”
The Netflix executive Tendo Nagenda, who had worked with Oyelowo on “Queen of Katwe” and was an original champion of “The Water Man” when he was at Disney, compared Oyelowo to another actor-turned-director, Kenneth Branagh. “You can’t put either of them in a box,” he said, adding that it’s Oyelowo’s global worldview and his faith that drive his professional choices.
“He wants to work and he doesn’t want to have to choose work that he doesn’t believe in, so he chooses to create it himself,” Nagenda said. (Doubling down on that commitment, Yoruba Saxon just signed a two-year first-look deal with Disney for films across all platforms at the studio, including Disney+.)
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/movies/David-Oyelowo-Water-Man.html
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