Warm Summer Rain

I disagree that this movie is strictly a gratuitous sex film. I think it has a lot in common with American Beauty, in that it addresses how we choose to live our lives. In this case, they choose to have sex a lot, but that is not the point. The point is to deny the typical societal roles, and to live life however you want. The film has a lot of funny scenes, good dialogue, and a lot of David Lynch-style bizarre characters. Next to American Beauty, it is one of my favorite films. It is definitely a low-budget, intellectual, art-film, but worth watching if you enjoy intelligent filmmaking with a bit of humor.

Warm Summer Rain brings to us feelings we have all experienced... isolation, hopelessness, bewilderment, doubt... and opens a vein of self-examination that asks basically... why? Why me, why life, why love?

In seeking meaning and purpose in the midst of social disparity, the couple exploits a temporary pseudo-marriage relationship that allows them intensity. If the dialogue, the feelings, and the interactions sometimes seem awkward, it is in keeping with the ages of the characters...

Coming to us in the middle of what some called the ME generation, this film addresses those issues along with post-sixties sexuality and frankness. This has long been one of my favorite Art films and each time I see it I find new symbolism.

I swear I have been in several bars identical to the one at the beginning of the movie, and their abandoned house was where I began my own married life. When Kelly Lynch mentions the longing she wakes up with each morning, I know just what she means.

So here we have a damsel in distress, a Don Quixote sent to rescue her, some amazing sets, props, characters, and dialogue, and all the elements of a great myth... the conflict, the descent of the hero into the underworld, and the redemption. What else could we hope for?

A dance with a five-legged Iguana, that's what.

Don't miss this humorous, delightful, thought-provoking movie.

* Films similar to this one: Local Hero, The Swimmer (Burt Lancaster), Where the Heart Is (Natalie Portman), Amalie, Harold & Maude.

If you are a film buff, and do not mind a different style of film, this is worthwhile. It does not leave you with such a great feeling, but overall it is done very well. Psychological, even philosophical; thought-provoking.

Sometimes it is refreshing to see a film venture away from the usual 'Hollywood formula'.

More play than film, "Warm Summer Rain", is an obtuse character study of two troubled people who manage to spend a great deal of time naked, having sex. There are moments that are more akin to an acting class exercise than a real motion picture. Too much of the time we see the actors acting.

This film is very derivative. It borrows from many sources including "Last Tango In Paris", "The Terminator", "The Chase", the works of Eugene O'Neill and William Saroyan.

Although you can applaud the courage of Kelly Lynch and Barry Tubb, there is very little to admire here in a dramatic way. As a rental, I would barely recommend it.

Depressed Kate (Kelly Lynch) fails in her suicide attempt. She is brought into the hospital. After some visitors, she walks off wearing only her hospital gown and an overcoat. She takes a random bus and gets off in the middle of the desert. She finds a kitty and then finds a bar. It's a meandering drunken sexual journey. She wakes up next to the well-dressed stranger (Barry Tubb).

If you like Kelly Lynch drunk, troubled, and naked, this movie is for you. That is what you get and there is plenty of it. It's an erotic romance that leans more towards the art-house side. I'm not in love with this couple but I don't hate them either. It's an artsy erotic dysfunctional journey. Her bandaged wrists are the most striking part. Suddenly, there's a baby. Of course, they're naked a lot. This is one weird movie.