Rain
(2008/Image Entertainment DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Film: C+
Maria
Govan’s Rain (2008) is an ambitious
film about a young 14-year-old lady (Renel Naomi Brown) who wants to reunite
with the mother (the underrated Nicki Micheaux (Lincoln Heights) in a thankless performance) that abandoned her for
reasons of closer if nothing else and still deal with being considered an easy
target by predatory men and a poorer world that offers exploitation at every
turn. One possibility of better things
is through running and when she finds the inspirational support of a
progressive-thinking track teacher (CCH Pounder in yet another standout
performance), she sees possibilities of her life changing and having the
strength to deal with the ugliest possible situations.
I liked
many of the scenes here and liked the cast, but Govan’s screenplay is not able
to go beyond the sad and sadly predictable goings on young women like Rain have
to go through in a world that should have progressed in eliminating poverty,
when it instead has decided to use it as a weapon against the most easily
targeted. This is a woman’s film with a
naturalistic female point of view, which helps it out and explains the critical
acclaim, but I wanted to see it go further and it folded just when those
moments could have happened. In one way,
it may offer running as a solution too simple for its own good, but Rain is worth a good look, even when it
does not hold together. Irma P. Hall and
Calvin Lockhart also star.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is not bad, but can be soft and is
possibly shot on 16mm film, HD or a combination of both. Watchable and with some interesting
locations, Director of Photography Martina Radwan (William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe) gives it its own look
and that is not always easy. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo mix is just fine, but there are slight location audio
anomalies and budget limits, yet this sounds better than many low budget
productions we have seen and heard of late.
There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
