Themes: Sexual Awakening, Mothers and Daughters, Crumbling Marriages
Main Cast: Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, Sarah Peirse, Marton Csokas, Alistair Browning
Release Year: 2001
Country: NZ
Run Time: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Television commercial director Christine Jeffs makes her feature debut with this intense family drama about the collapse of a marriage and the dissolution of a mother-daughter relationship. Thirteen-year-old Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki) and her younger brother Jim (Aaron Murphy) are largely left alone in their seaside bungalow as their parents try to piece their marriage back together. While Janey's mom Kate (Sarah Peirse) gets blind drunk, flirts with other men, and nurses hangovers, her father Ed recoils in disgust at his wife's dissolute behavior. The family's simmering tensions explode with the appearance of Cady, a rakish freelance photographer. While Kate immediately starts to flirt with the younger man, Janey herself is attracted to him, believing that he is her only ticket out of her dysfunctional family. Soon Kate and Janey find themselves locked in a desperate and despairing battle for Cady. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Review
Rain doesn't have a particularly exciting or original plot, it suffers from a contrived and overly melodramatic ending, and it's too portentous for its own good (due in part to heavy-handed symbolism and overuse of slow motion shots). Nonetheless, director Christine Jeffs successfully conveys the languid mood of a hazy, booze-drenched summer vacation, thanks to the gorgeous cinematography by John Toon, a melancholy score by Neil Finn (from the rock bands Split Enz and Crowded House) and Edmund McWilliams, and the judicious inclusion of Dusty Springfield's "Spooky" on the soundtrack. Furthermore, Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki gives a convincing, natural performance as a sullen adolescent who is exploring her sexuality while disdaining her alcoholic mother, and Aaron Murphy is particularly appealing as her younger brother. The film fares better at attention to small details than at making big statements, but its visual style and performances make it interesting despite its flaws. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide
