Customer Reviews

NEW Rain (DVD)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first and perhaps least known of a spurt of great girl films from Down Under, highlighted by Alicia Fulford's delightful performance. The other films, of course, were Rabbit Proof Fence (Everlyn Sampi) and Whale Rider (Keisha Castle-Hughes). This Oceanic "Girl-Trilogy" gives us a great perspective into the region's three primary ethnic groups: Europeans, Aborigines, and the Maori.

The female director of Rain apparently used to make music videos, which show in the fine cinematography and soundtrack. The film often looks grainy and distorted, which helps to evoke a mood of hazy memories of a childhood summer vacation.

The storyline appears to borrow heavily from Satyajit Ray's 1955 classic Hindu cinema debut, Pather Panchali. But it builds upon that base admirably with the added thematic dimensions of Janey's flowering feminine beauty and her family's unfulfilling bourgeois life, all framed beautifully with the marvelous cinematography and score.

I have a hunch that in 5-10 years when all the glow comes off the other famous film trilogy from New Zealand, these three neglected feminine tales will all be viewed as superior films. Why wait for the masses, enjoy this film now!

I've only seen this film once, but once is enough to proclaim this flick as my new all-time favourite! The cinematography and location of the film in scenic New Zealand is absolutely and positively phenominal, and that alone would have anyone gazing in amazement at the simplistic beauty and phenominal nature of the film narrated by the main character: Janey. Simple, beautiful, natural, and amazing - four elements of a wholesome and gratifyingly delicious story of life, old/young love, jealously, adultery, escape, guilt, imagination, sorrow, regret, innocense, and death, amongst a broken family of four attempting to tape together the pieces - all in perspective through the eyes of a twelve year old..... Now you do the math! Two thumbs, and Five Stars for a movie that's 'as right as rain': )

... in giving this film such high praise (along with several notable newspapers on the back advertising flap), but RAIN did sport the undercurrents of a possible brewing storm. Unfortunately, the real RAIN probably begins after the film's tragic (but not entirely unpredictable) climax.

A summer holiday at a shack of a coastal home is the principal setting for this slow moving tale of 13-year-old Janey. At first, she appears an ordinary teen ... hoping for the life of a supermodel and sneaking a drink of alcohol when mom and dad aren't watching. As the film progresses, we quickly learn that Janey is a teen coming to grips with her budding sexuality -- far faster than most her age -- thanks to the knowing extramarital daliances of her mother with a local friend. Intrigued by accidentally witnessing their forbidden kiss, Janey begins to feel the yearnings of sexual attraction. The destination it leads her, however, is one exploring the loss of far more than simple innocence.

Nearly an exercise in boredom through much of the story, RAIN juxtaposes ordinary existence with the oft-explored 'coming of age' tale with mixed results. At times, RAIN boasts some astonishingly beautiful photography (some desperately grim, some wonderfully lush), but some scenes are slightly out-of-focus (intentional?) or characters heads are completely chopped off in the 1:33:1 ratio in which it was filmed. The film sports a soundtrack that is harsh, at times, and I found myself constantly questioning the director's annoying choice of background music and incessantly long film scenes with minimal cuts. A tighter pace might've improved RAIN's inevitable lingering timing, but perhaps that isn't what the director wanted.

I suppose the greatest strength of RAIN is the second half: Janey kicks her interest in the opposite sex up several notches by titillating youth (simple kisses on the mouth) to exploring the body of a much older man (her mother's secret suitor). The man is her first lover (largely depicted in some wonderful symbolic images). Finally, the film explodes in emotion by the family coming to grips with growing old together, even though they'll never quite be the same after the events of the summer. However, by this point in the film, the drawn out cadence of the narrative didn't offer enough hooks to captivate this admirer of foreign films, delivering a little too little a little too late.

Still, RAIN isn't a bad film. It's certainly watchable, and, as a character study, one could argue that it's a purer coming of age film in contemporary society than TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was in its day. The plot draws out like a "New York Times" notable bestseller of the week, complete with the requisite tragedy comparing the loss of innocence with the loss of life.

If there had been something new here (other than the sparkling performance of the young lead), I might've rewarded the film with higher marks. As it stands, RAIN is much like the weather: it's a bit of fun to play in at first, but, after awhile, it just feels darn cold.

Set during a lazy summer holiday alongside the New Zealand coast RAIN explores the dynamic relationship between mother and daughter. Thirteen-year-old Janey is entering adolescence when her primary role model, her mother, is frequently drunk and engaging in infidelity acts. Torn between swimming and fishing with her younger brother Jim and imitating her mother's actions Janey appears to have a duel persona throughout the film. While watching over Jim during one of her parent's loud music and booze parties Janey manages to sneak alcohol and cigs while spontaneously kissing boys. RAIN does an admirable job in exploring how Janey explores her new devious side influenced by her mother along with her devoted love to Jim. Unfortunately this DVD lacks any special features and as previously stated by another reviewer I fail to comprehend the significance of the title (or maybe I'm thinking too hard). Although a couple of the plot developments were predictable it didn't deter too much from my enjoyment of this film. RAIN is a worthwhile film as Janey's troubles easily transcend national borders and is relevant to both girls and women across the globe. Enjoy!

I was very pleasantly surprised by this movie. I expected something of the Lolita kind of movie, but it turned out to be something completely else. Truth is that there was a 13-year old girl and much older guy involved, but the story certainly didn't evolve around that. It was basically an excerpt from a young girl's life and some of the most important moments of her life fall into that 'excerpt'. A summer that changed young Janey's life forever. One of the most important moments of the movie was when Janey told her father in front of her mother that "she [the mother] has him wrapped around her finger" and other truths about her mother and her behavior; and then stands up and leaves with her mother wanting to follow her when the father stops the mother and says "leave her, she's growing up". At that moment you can feel how pathetic the whole situation in which the family finds itself is, how well Janey knows what is going on and is disturbed by it - how she's turning from an innocent child into an adult feeling the weight of the reality on her unexperienced shoulders - that all is toppled later in the movie. It is a movie about growing up, about loss of innocence, about need for a better communication among people, about the need for 'caring for other people, not only yourself', about problems that need solving....about life.
This is a real life movie.
Great performances, great New Zealand scenery, perfect music. Thumbs up to Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki.

I'm not quite sure where this film got its title, seeing as though I don't think it rained once throughout the whole thing. But who was noticing? 'Rain' is a powerful coming-of-age drama that centers around 13-year-old Janey. Janey seems to have a great relationship with her little brother, but her relationship with her parents is flawed. In the scenes where Janey catches a glimpse of her mother getting up-close and personal with the family photographer friend, Cady, she doesn't seem at all surprised. Her mother drinks most of the time, but isn't a mean drunk. She just downs a few at all the beach parties they throw at the house, and runs off into the bathroom to committ adultery with Cady, all while her husband looks on sadly. He doesn't look all that surprised, either. At the parties, Janey is just the drink-server, and usually gets a sip of alcohol from whatever Cady is drinking. Her mother sees this, but doesn't do too much about it. A lot of this film is like this. This family has the worst communication skills I think I have ever seen in a movie. And while all of this is going on with her mother and the photographer, Janey herself is coming to grips with her own sexuality - there is a local boy who obviously likes her, but she just toys with him by kissing him, then ignoring him. She doesn't like him, but she doesn't tell him that. Again with the bad comminication.

This is beautiful film - literally. Filmed in New Zealand, the scenery is magnificent. Even if you didn't enjoy the story, you would certainly enjoy the view. The performances are all wonderful, especially Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, who plays Janey. She is a remarkable young actress who will go places. However, despite the fact that it's good, it is not at all a cheery film. After a while, you begin to sense that something bad will happen. You don't know when, and you don't know what, you just know that stories like this don't usually have happy endings. But that's why movies like this are better than your average blockbuster film. This is more like real life.

One of the best movies I've seen in my life!. It combines an amazing adaptation from the book by Kirsty Gunn, the beauty of the hidden New Zealand north coast and the right music by ex-Crowded House vocalist (and New Zealand native) Neil Finn. I, tenderly, call this kind of movies "Pieces of Sausage" because what they show are pieces taken random from a long thing called life without any apparent (and predictable) begginning or ending. Just a simple yet wonderful piece of life in which we see ourselves reflected one way or another. A few movies inspired such beauty and I guess that the lack of features on the DVD (no languages, no closed-captions, no commentaries) were made on purpose in order to show the foreign-movie lover the pure essense of the movie exactly as it was intended -and magnificently delivered- by the director Christine Jeffs.

Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki gives a phenomenal performance. From what I understand this is her debut film, but I fully expect to see her in more movies. The acting in Rain is superb all around, but so much of the movie rests on Fulford-Wierzbicki's shoulders. She creates a believable, complex character.

Special note also goes to the young actor who portrays her brother. There is a very real bond between the two characters, rarely are sibling relationships shown this realistically.

The film is also very beautifully shot. Many well-composed, strikingly-lit shots linger long enough to really appreciate them. This is a very leisurely paced film, yet the characters are so compelling that it never becomes boring. Give this movie a shot if you enjoy character studies.