Rain

My friend and I spent the after-movie coffee trying to decide whether Rain was indeed the best New Zealand movie we have seen. An intense, evocative slice of 1970s beach holiday life, there is nothing about it that doesn't work.

This project clearly couldn't have worked or even happened if it weren't for the amazing discovery of the star, the very young Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki. She makes Rain an uncomfortably accurate portrayal of what it's like to be inside an adolescent girl's body and life. Her character, Janey, is twelve-going-on-twenty, experimenting with the power that can come from being a young woman, full of new secrets. Her performance is intense in a deliciously natural way and carries the entire film.

While her character is central, this is not just another coming-of-age story. We also see the complex interactions of her family members and various holiday acquaintances and watch tested loyalties, experiments in love and attraction, and quite a bit of swimming and fishing.

The cinematography is distinctive and excellent, all the other actors are faultless and the soundtrack, by Kiwi icon Neil Finn, is exactly right. Rain is a frighteningly impressive debut by director, Christine Jeffs.

In New Zealand, the teenager Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki), her young brother Jim (Aaron Murphy), her mother Kate (Sarah Peirse) and her father Ed (Alistair Browning) are spending their summer vacation in a seaside cottage. Janey takes care of Jim most of the time, teaches him how to have endurance under the water, and observes the behavior of her parents, whose marriage is near the end. Kate and Ed promote many parties in the house and mainly Kate drinks a lot. She is also having an affair with the photographer and owner of a boat, Cady (Marton Csokas). The confused adolescent, rebel with her mother and dealing with a growing sexuality, tries to act like an adult with tragic consequences to the family.

"Rain" is a great surprise, being a profound, powerful, nostalgic and sensitive coming to age and family drama. The impressive and very mature debut of the young actress Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki in the key role of Janey would certainly deserve a nomination to the Oscar if "Rain" were a Hollywood movie. The story is very simple and dramatic, but never corny, all the characters are very well developed though their personal dramas and the very convincing performance of the unknown cast is amazing and touching. This is the first work of director Christine Jeffs that I see, and I am very impressed with her sensibility and taste. The music score is wonderful, and the cinematography is indeed very beautiful. I would like to record my congratulations to the people involved in this little gem. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Chuva de Verão" ("Summer Rain")

"Rain" adds a striking share to a trilogy of recent films with "Fat Girl (a ma soeur)" and "Girls Can't Swim (Les filles ne savent pas nager)" about young teen girls on vacation Down the Shore with neglectful parents and annoying and sometimes adorable siblings, with each taking a different approach to their sexual exploration.

Based on a novella by Kirsty Gunn, New Zealander writer/director Christine Jeffs makes a powerful debut, capturing what the world of dysfunctional marriage, alcoholism, depression and adultery looks like to a girl trying to figure out how to model her behavior.

Maybe it's that antipodean take on larrikins, but Jeffs more than the other women filmmakers visually shows just how powerful a draw a sexy man is to a rebellious girl and her frustrated mother -- and maybe how unfortunately irresistible they are to him too ("Like mother, like daughter," he knowingly says.).

The patronizing guy in back of me completely disagreed with my interpretation focusing on the girl, instead going on that the movie was really about man's spiritual (and other) impotence causing depression or some such.

The beautiful music was by Neil Finn, with an excellent range of moody pop songs mostly by him, and others such as Lisa Germano, that communicated the girl's thoughts, though I can't tell if they are original to the movie.

I read the book to see if what I think was left a bit unresolved in the movie was in the book as well. The movie well captures the languorous poetry of the book and follows the basic plot, but emphasizes more the competition of the girl vs. the mother differently and the girl's growing pains, while the book stresses the sibling relationship, quite beautifully.

(originally written 5/11/2002)

A family of four vacations at their beach house in 1970's New Zealand. The parents are Kate (played by Sarah Peirse) and Ed (Alistair Browning), while the children are Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, about 13 years old) and Jim (Aaron Murphy, about 8). This sounds rather idyllic, but it is almost immediately obvious that Kate and Ed's marriage is on shaky ground. While the children get along better than most siblings and the parents do seem to care for their children, the adults in the film all drink large quantities of alcohol to numb themselves. The one other significant character is a photographer named Cady (Marton Csokas) who lives on his boat and reminded me a bit of fellow New Zealand actor Russell Crowe. I won't give away much of the plot, because there isn't much there to give away. This is not a criticism -- if anything, it is a compliment to the writers for avoiding unnecessary complications.

The main character is Janey, who is in transition from girl to woman. The young first time actress is extremely good and quite believable with this complex material. The boy who plays her brother is also very natural. The adults didn't impress me as much, but then again they were supposed to appear emotionally shut down, and they succeeded admirably. That much of the film's feeling is conveyed without words is a tribute to both the actors and to the direction (by first time director Christine Jeffs). The cinematography didn't seem to me to draw attention to itself, except one shot looking backwards through a hand pushed lawn mower.

The New Zealand accents were a bit difficult to understand at times. Without subtitles or the ability to back up and listen again, I did miss a few lines. Home video will likely make this aspect easier, but since much of the film is set outdoors, some of the atmosphere would be lost on the small screen.

I am surprised that none of the reviews I have seen compared this film to "The Ice Storm." Both films are set in the 1970's with parents who are emotionally distant and children (child in this case) who are becoming adults. While Ang Lee's film is definitely better in my view, that there is a comparison at all speaks highly for this effort. "Rain" is worth seeing, though probably not going out of your way for.

Seen on 6/3/2002.

Visually and acting wise masterly, the coming-of-age-story of a teenage girl unfolds an atmospheric undertow which solidifies through the parenthetical film music and the non-involved voice from the off of the young protagonist. It's shot mainly in sepia which in its dim alignment contributes to the mysterious beauty of the film. Convincing ensemble: Sarah Peirse personifies Kate with a restless and lascivious sensuality. The performances of Alistair Browning and Marton Csokas require a much more subtlety than their "Lord of the Rings" parts. But the true heart of the film are the wonderful performances of the young artists: the 15 years old Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki who got the New Zealand Film Award as Best Young Talent, and the honestly adorable Aaron Murphy, playing the young, cute brother Jim. "Cinema of Unease", beautiful and uncomfortable at the same time, dangerously calm with subtly accentuated shots of a dusky landscape, the story tells the chronicle of an announced death.