XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

kenjha A New Zealand teen copes with the dissolution of her parents' marriage while the family is vacationing at the beach. Directing her first feature film, Jeffs does a good job of capturing the shattering impact a failing marriage can have on children. She also gains intimacy by filming it like a home movie, but needlessly resorts to gimmicks such as slow motion and black and white shots. Fulford-Wierzbicki turns in an affecting performance as the teen struggling to cope with her parents' breakup. Peirse is strangely cold and distant as the mother, perhaps intentionally. Murphy is adorable as Fulford-Wierzbicki's little brother. The ending is contrived. And there's no rain.

TheUnknown837-1 I am a real sucker when it comes to movies that deal with subjects such as coming-of-age, first loves, families dividing, and independence in the younger generation. So it was no surprise to me that I found myself wrapped in the story of "Rain," a 2001 import from New Zealand about a 13-year-old girl watching her family slowly separate with the coming of a photographer, who takes a shine to her emotion-drained mother. As her mother and the photographer begin an extramarital affair, young Janey also struggles to teach her younger brother in the ways of the world, and combat the fact that she has an attraction toward this man herself."Rain" is played with a straight face, but this is to its advantage. It is a nice little film about many subjects; some of which we can relate to, others we hope never to. The plot does not thicken or compound itself with complications and big, astronomical twists. For most of its running time, it's sort of mundane. It almost seems like a Yasujiro Ozu film with a constantly moving camera. It presents life as it is without becoming melodramatic or hyperbolic and I think this is the reason why a lot of us can understand the position of Janey, who is very well-played by Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, and get involved in a story that is edited with gentle pacing.Some of the directing is a little hampered (no surprise, since it was Christine Jeffs's debut) but is overcome by deliberately rich symbolism. There are symbols and graphic representations found all throughout this movie and a sharp-eyed person will be very appreciative toward them. Example: daughter wants to confront her mother about a touchy issue with a little hostility. Her brother is off to the side, blowing bubbles through his straw into his drink to simulate boiling water: a parallel to the brewing animosity between the two characters.The movie is also rich with its details about the coming-of-age part of a person's life and this is what, I think, really drew me in. Janey is on-screen almost all of the time and we see her go through the rough parts of growing up. She experiences her first kiss, her first crush on an adult, her strives for independence from her parents brews, her desire to both instruct her younger brother and to get away from him, to stand on her own two feet, etc. We've all been there before. We don't get that many (compelling) coming-of-age stories these days and so a movie like "Rain" is worthy of appreciation.Performances are very good. Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, most of the time, stays solid in her characters and expresses her emotions (many of them withheld) wonderfully. She's a very good actress. As her emotionally-drained, seemingly lifeless mother, Sarah Peirce is very good, representing her inner feelings remarkably well while keeping a straight, seemingly exanimate face. The same can be said of Alistair Browning as the father. There's great energy in the performance by Aaron Murphy as the young, highly adventurous and free-spirited brother and a solid performance from Marton Csokas, whom "Lord of the Rings" fans are sure to recognize. There's also a very good supporting performance from David Taylor as the boy down the beach with a crush on Janey. His part, though very small, also contributes to this very sweet little painting of a movie.Warning: parents considering showing this movie to children might want to take into mind a brief, erotic prelude scene to lovemaking, and some brief flashes of male genitalia during a beach scene.

noralee "Rain" adds a striking share to a trilogy of recent films with "Fat Girl (a ma soeur)" and "Girls Can't Swim (Les filles ne savent pas nager)" about young teen girls on vacation Down the Shore with neglectful parents and annoying and sometimes adorable siblings, with each taking a different approach to their sexual exploration. Based on a novella by Kirsty Gunn, New Zealander writer/director Christine Jeffs makes a powerful debut, capturing what the world of dysfunctional marriage, alcoholism, depression and adultery looks like to a girl trying to figure out how to model her behavior.Maybe it's that antipodean take on larrikins, but Jeffs more than the other women filmmakers visually shows just how powerful a draw a sexy man is to a rebellious girl and her frustrated mother -- and maybe how unfortunately irresistible they are to him too ("Like mother, like daughter," he knowingly says.). The patronizing guy in back of me completely disagreed with my interpretation focusing on the girl, instead going on that the movie was really about man's spiritual (and other) impotence causing depression or some such.The beautiful music was by Neil Finn, with an excellent range of moody pop songs mostly by him, and others such as Lisa Germano, that communicated the girl's thoughts, though I can't tell if they are original to the movie.I read the book to see if what I think was left a bit unresolved in the movie was in the book as well. The movie well captures the languorous poetry of the book and follows the basic plot, but emphasizes more the competition of the girl vs. the mother differently and the girl's growing pains, while the book stresses the sibling relationship, quite beautifully.(originally written 5/11/2002)

mweston A family of four vacations at their beach house in 1970's New Zealand. The parents are Kate (played by Sarah Peirse) and Ed (Alistair Browning), while the children are Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, about 13 years old) and Jim (Aaron Murphy, about 8). This sounds rather idyllic, but it is almost immediately obvious that Kate and Ed's marriage is on shaky ground. While the children get along better than most siblings and the parents do seem to care for their children, the adults in the film all drink large quantities of alcohol to numb themselves. The one other significant character is a photographer named Cady (Marton Csokas) who lives on his boat and reminded me a bit of fellow New Zealand actor Russell Crowe. I won't give away much of the plot, because there isn't much there to give away. This is not a criticism -- if anything, it is a compliment to the writers for avoiding unnecessary complications.The main character is Janey, who is in transition from girl to woman. The young first time actress is extremely good and quite believable with this complex material. The boy who plays her brother is also very natural. The adults didn't impress me as much, but then again they were supposed to appear emotionally shut down, and they succeeded admirably. That much of the film's feeling is conveyed without words is a tribute to both the actors and to the direction (by first time director Christine Jeffs). The cinematography didn't seem to me to draw attention to itself, except one shot looking backwards through a hand pushed lawn mower.The New Zealand accents were a bit difficult to understand at times. Without subtitles or the ability to back up and listen again, I did miss a few lines. Home video will likely make this aspect easier, but since much of the film is set outdoors, some of the atmosphere would be lost on the small screen.I am surprised that none of the reviews I have seen compared this film to "The Ice Storm." Both films are set in the 1970's with parents who are emotionally distant and children (child in this case) who are becoming adults. While Ang Lee's film is definitely better in my view, that there is a comparison at all speaks highly for this effort. "Rain" is worth seeing, though probably not going out of your way for.Seen on 6/3/2002.