Warm Summer Rain

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.

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.

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.

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'.

Although given short shrift by the few critics who watched it, this is a worthy effort, marked by good acting, direction, technicals, and an intelligent script. Although in a state of undress through much of the film, Kelly Lynch is given an opportunity to display the full panoply of her acting range as there are essentially only two actors. And, as so often with independent films, all involved have an opportunity to be truly creative. The desert setting enhanced the starkness of the extreme emotions to which the viewer is exposed.