przgzr
This movie has a long, long line of events that prepare us for tragic ending. And it still comes unexpected, unless you've read the spoiler-containing comments.Having read other comments, I don't want to repeat what's been written. I'll share some thoughts about author's relation to characters, plot and year it happens.(IF YOU DON'T LIKE LONG COMMENTS SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH) First we notice that the director's relation to characters seems to be rather cold. We see a wife having a barely hidden affair and her husband not caring much. Is he used to, does he have affairs of his own, or he simply has no feelings for his wife any more, or maybe never even had? Or is this a kind of free love from flower-power? Is he resignated and waiting for the divorce, or is this situation convenient for him too? He can drink, stay home, go away, hang around with kids or ignore them and always have an excuse, he has a bad marriage. The parties these people take part night after night with their friends (turists as themselves) seem to be rather wild, with drinks, smoking, and maybe some drugs (I haven't noticed them, but...), wild enough that they (especially mother) need a lot of morning hours to recover (and prepare for next evening). During parties they swim nude, though they are not naturists (we never see them swim nude otherwise, even on such marvelous locations that simply lure for skinny-dipping - I can only dream to ever get there), so it is alcochol that rinses their inhibitions away. A girl, young teenager, has a few drinks, a few cigarettes, and her mother's reaction is weak, maybe just because she has an impression she should say something. But, being the one who is smoking and drinking and going alone with her lover, she knows she can't judge her daughter for following her steps. And the daughter goes forward, she chooses mother's lover to be her own as well. Is this the mother-daughter competition, the way daughter proves herself and builds her self-esteem, maybe trying to save her parent's marriage by taking mother's lover for herself or just imitating mother's behaving? We are left unanswered. (Btw, some people ask what happened between Janey and Cody. Did they watch some cut version, or do they really need an X-rated graphic version to understand what's going on?).After her brother's death there is an interesting, underestimated scene between mother and daughter. The girl blames herself for the accident, and mother comforts her. But this comfort is weak, inconclusive. It looks as if mother found a grain of consciousness but won't admit it and hopes for someone to say it's not her fault either. As they are rivals, both having an affair with same man, their guilt is equal, both were acting against the family. If they comfort and forgive each other, their own guilt will grow and they are not able to cope with it.The way all these events end gives us an answer why is the director on such a distance. She simply doesn't like any of the characters except the little child (as women often do), making him a victim to emphasize all the things she doesn't like in the world she is showing us. And she has no mercy and no understanding for any of these sinful adults.Just remember the last scene when the boy appears alive on the beach. He looks as if he knows it's all over, his world has collapsed, I can imagine this was the way children looked when they realized they'd be sacrificed to ancient pagan gods. This is a look that transfers a director's message: look what (and why!) happened to this cute kid, and most of viewers will agree, yes all those bad, bad people are guilty because of drinking, smoking, taking drugs, nude swimming, dancing, adultery, premarital sex, teenage sex, OK - sex in general; having headaches, pretending to have headaches, making photos, sailing, not sailing, going on holidays... well, doing anything amusing at all. It should all be forbidden to make the world better.Finally, why 1972? It seems as if the authors had some very bad experiences in 1970's and want to confront them. The basic plot could have happened in any period of history (even future), but the year looks to be carefully chosen, and none of the stereotypes people have about those years has been omitted. condemned After Manson "family" killed Sharon Tate and her guests four years before, making people realize the danger of drugs, Easy Rider was history in USA. Some (very) bad things in flower-power made people neglect positive sides of it. Few extreme situations were excuse for some people to terminate freedom movements, and plant a seed of paranoia that is blossoming today. Conclusion: the condemned life style led to L.A. murders, and it also led to Jim's death. We got analyzing the ten commandments one by one, then seven mortal sins, in more strict version than in ordinary churches (Pope John Paul II would forgive this sinners, and imams would maybe call back their fetvas, but there is no mercy from authors). The director must be a Saint herself. But if Christine Jeffs isn't Mother Theresa's pseudonym I can neither understand the authors nor feel sympathy for whatever happened to them in the 1970's.
kpkp_de
New Zealand 1972: 13-year-old Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki) spends the summer with her family near a "paradise likely" beautiful beach. Janey "wakes up" to a Lolita with immense sexually interest. Her mother Kate, like a Greek goddess, is afraid of losing her beauty. Already somewhat weathered, are her children an affectionate father, but whenever he strives for his wife, she rejects it. Thus he drowns his grief in Bourbon- and beach parties.((A small comment to a small mistake in a detail:Camera closeup to one of his whiskey bottles shows a so called EAN Code, a code of stripes which is in worldwide use today, i.e. for scanning articles in super markets.However, this product code was first time in use in the U.S. 1973 (!), so this whiskey bottle in the film (plays in NZ, 1972) must have come there from the future. (-;This excursus only, to show, that a good camera mans work is obviously watched in every detail by some spectators.))Back to the story: A photographer living on a boat makes friend with the family, and later on, secretly he takes photos of Janey, while her brother is drowned in the sea.Overwhelming pictures of camera man John Toon lets "Rain - lightning at the Kiwi beach (Title in Germany)" "float" like a dream.Nearly without words, with a view to the speaking things of the everyday life, Christine Jeffs in their celebrated feature debut creates exciting close tendencies between suspense and tragic necessity - the summer counterpart to Ang Lees film "Ice Storm". To the bitter end "Phantom Love", music by Lisa Germano. Her painfully beautiful voice seems to die at broken heart, but it holds out. "Rain" tells and shows eerily beautifully about "the art of standing though". Hold on!I'm sure, we will see Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki again! I'm looking forward to her next, even better film.
awillawill
I fail to see what the title had to do with the film, but that aside, Rain is a terrific tribute to the director, Christine Jeffs, and both the adult and actors. Right from the beginning, I could strongly sense the barren atmosphere of the location and the self-destructive behaviour of the adults. The acting of the girl/woman and her little brother was stunning, and credit must go to Christine Jeffs for ensuring that exactly the right tone was struck throughout. It so easily could have been a creepy Disney effort had the script not been so deftly performed and directed by such a skilled team. There could hardly be an adult watching this wonderful film who did not have their own childhood flooding back as they watched the girl/woman and her brother interact.
