Like Sunday, Like Rain

This drama paints a striking portrait of Reggie (Julian Shatkin), a wealthy and neglected twelve-year-old prodigy with the maturity of a middle-aged man; and Eleanor ( Leighton Meester), a broke ex-musician in her twenties recently out of work, boyfriend and home, who lands a job as Reggie's au pair for the summer in Manhattan while his mother (Debra Messing) travels overseas. Written and directed by Frank Whaley, produced by Uri Singer, and breathtaking cinematography by James Jones.

This film took a very different, almost romantic approach with a charming, artistic, sensitive yet domineering child rather than the traditional spoiled brat who hates the nanny. The two hit it off right away. Eleanor naturally accepts his maturity and treats him as an equal when she realizes that trying to be the grown-up in the relationship is pointless in the company of a genius. In many ways, Reggie takes better care of her than she does of him.

The conflict doesn't stem from the relationship between these two unlikely friends, but from their personal lives. This could have been why it felt a bit lacking in conflict overall, because no major problems arise between the two main characters. However, this blossoming friendship is where the unexpected bulk of the humor comes from, with witty and surprising dialogue between these very different but equally troubled characters learning how to co-exist.

Several things were set up or talked about that were never paid off, which underplayed the conflict and there wasn't enough of a resolution. Rather than showing how the characters have grown or been changed and strengthened by one another, the whole final act kind of feels like a montage of shots of them missing each other while trying to go back to their previous lives.

Very good acting, Julian Shatkin is phenomenal, the film is worth watching for his performance alone; not to take away from the rest of the cast. Leighton Meester is very natural in her role, Debra Messing is quite funny as an unjustifiably stressed-out woman whose normal routine includes going to the spa and on exotic vacations; and Georgia Ximenes Lifsherr is hilarious as Eleanor's best friend Silvia. Even Eleanor's parents who, while not in much of the film, manage to stay memorable with their hostile quirks. We weren't very impressed with Billie Joe Armstrong's performance as Dennis, Eleanor's boyfriend. His style was pretty over-the-top and childlike, very "acty," not terribly believable. Overall film score: 9/10. Here's the breakdown:

– Story: 8/10 — Characters: 10/10 — Acting: 9/10 (would be 10/10 if not for Billie Joe's performance) — Cinematography: 10/10 — Soundtrack: 10/10 — Most Lacked: Conflict & Character Arc

10/10 Masterpiece. Some are calling this melancholy, but I think bittersweet is a better word. Above all, it's a story about a 12 year-old music prodigy being played by a c. 12 year-old acting prodigy. As good as child acting has gotten, few if any could have pulled this off as well. What's the significance of 12? It's that age where you're as mature as you're going to get before the onset of puberty. But what if your emotional maturity and profound awareness outstrip your physical growth? It's about resigning yourself to your solitude, until.... The result is a bittersweet gulf between two otherwise kindred souls. This isn't about dramatic friction, it's about something distinctive, enigmatic and fleeting. It's like playing a beautiful tune on a cello in an empty swimming pool with good acoustics. It's like Sunday, like rain.

Maybe the best "child" performance ever.

I enjoyed very much this story: the encounter of Eleanor and Reggie.Leanore needs a work and a place to stay, Reggie is a solitary music prodigy, who lives quite alone and he has had troubles with his former caretakers.Then appears Eleanor and little will grow a friendship: both are musicians and then a relationship with a lot of tenderness and affection. This film is also about self-improvement: Eleanor will discover again her pleasure to play music. The performances of Leighton Meester and Julian Shatkin are really very good.

This is such a beautiful simple movie , i loved every second of it and i really didn't want it to end. the casting is amazing that little boy is really talented and Leighton Messter is one of the best actresses out there. It's a must see movie. The movie will keep you absorbed and interested until the end even though it is really slow pased. It is also beautifully written the script was amazing it was like wise poetry in some way. this movie goes straight to my all time favourites and i will be rewatching it as soon as i can. the main soundtrack "like Sunday like Rain" is also amazing such beautiful sad music that goes perfectly with the kid's and the Nanny's current situation. absolutely beautiful.

17 February 2016. There are reasons this movie might be an "eight" instead of a "seven," but there still remains the inherent fundamental weakness in its very attempt at qualitative greatness. What so great about this movie is its avoidance of the pretentious, mainstream dramatic plot outline that directs the pacing and acting and plot of the entire story. Like Sunday, Like Rain dismisses such pablum for an excellent independent style movie narrative. Yet it is the very attempt of this focus on independence that part of the story seems to lose. Unlike Lost In Translation (2003) where the focus is almost required by the story to be exclusively on two people, Frank Whaley directs his own script with a number of characters several of which seem to have some importance to the story but don't seem to get be developed very well nor tied up very well. In short a number of characters are introduced and them dumped. With Room (2015), the nature and the focus on two primary characters being the essence of the story can command the entire movie when necessary. Even years before Richard Dreyfus's Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), his portrayal in a multi-layered duo character movie The Competition (1980) regardless Dreyfus's worse actor award notwithstanding review how consistently engrossing and emotively appealing a movie can be.