The Water Man is a 2020 American drama film directed by David Oyelowo, in his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Emma Needell. The film stars Oyelowo, Rosario Dawson, Lonnie Chavis, Amiah Miller, Alfred Molina and Maria Bello. Oprah Winfrey serves as an executive producer via her revived Harpo Films banner. The Water Man had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2020, and was released in the United States on May 7, 2021, by RLJE Films. Plot Gunner Boone (Lonnie Chavis) is 11 and has recently moved to Pine Mills, Oregon, a small, rural town. He spends his time working on a graphic novel about a detective investigating his own death, riding his bike, and visiting a nearby bookstore to borrow detective stories and books on cancer, as his mom Mary (Rosario Dawson) has leukemia. As they just moved to town, he has no friends yet. Gunner's escapism comes from deep within. Gunner’s father Amos (Oyelowo) is a Marine, rarely at home. When he is around, he cannot connect well with Gunner, and accidentally destroys a painting that Gunner made of Detective Knox while attempting to get Gunner to play football with him. Gunner comes across a local legend about the ghostly being The Water Man. Local kids pay blue-haired Jo (Amiah Miller), a grifter who claims she has seen him, indicating a scar on her neck from him as proof. Gunner, a fan of mysteries, tracks down an undertaker (Alfred Molina) who thinks The Water Man may have the secret to immortality. Gunner then pays Jo to take him to the ridge where she saw The Water Man. Carrying food and supplies for the journey, they venture into the forest. Their quest has a fairytale feel (the bookstore Gunner visits is called Once Upon a Time). Like Hansel and Gretel, he and Jo are neglected by their fathers, and explore on their own, creating a world together. The woods are full of curious things: strange sounds far off, wild horse stampedes, shiny, dark rocks hung along the way (like bread crumbs) through the forest, a river of beetles, and at one moment it seems to snow, although it's July. The children have no idea there is a raging forest fire on the other side of the ridge, and they are moving towards it. On their journey, they disagree, solve problems, and bond.