Susan Granger’s review of “RAIN” (Fireworks Pictures)
The New Zealand film industry is thriving these days and its artistry is represented superbly by Christine Jeffs’ “Rain.” Based on Kirsty Gunn’s 1994 novel, it’s a brooding, Chekhov-like cinematic portrait of the anguish of a mother/daughter competition set against a seascape in which a family falls apart in slow motion. Back in 1972, a dysfunctional family rents a beach house on an isolated bay on the east coast of New Zealand. It’s the first summer that 13 year-old Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki) is caught in the aching turmoil of adolescent awakening, particularly her aversion to the melancholy sexuality of her depressed, alcohol-addicted mother (Sarah Peirse) and helpless ineptitude of her naive father (Alistair Browning). Like a blossoming Lolita, she sips on her mom’s drink and puffs on her cigarette, while her uncommunicative, indolent parents carelessly indulge in their boozy debauchery. But Janey and her kid brother (Aaron Murphy) are acutely aware of the ominous psychological threat posed by a seductive photographer (Marton Csokas) who lives on a nearby boat, particularly when Janey sees him kissing their mother on the beach. She’s not really angry or jealous about her mother’s infidelity, just curious about the testing the boundaries and force of her own budding sexuality. As the haunting coming-of-age story evolves to its inevitable climax, the realization of Janey’s loss of innocence is profound – with much credit going to the restrained realism of director/writer Christine Jeffs, the naturalistic cinematography of John Toon, and the evocative score by former Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Rain” is a sensitive, subtle 7, illustrating how storm clouds gather, not only in the sky.
