In this beautifully understated tale of a teenage girl's sexual awakening, director Christine Jeffs crafts a moving tale of lost innocence and the end of childhood.
Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki) is 13-years-old and on a quest to grow up by the end of the summer. Bored by her parents' booze-soaked lifestyle, Janey spies on her mother's growing relationship with rugged drifter Cady (Marton Csokas, looking like Russell Crowe's long lost brother) before deciding that she wants him for herself.
Shot through with a melancholy listlessness, "Rain" is a haunting slice of drama. As the teenage temptress eager to keep her mother and father together and, more importantly, discover her burgeoning womanhood, Fulford-Wierzbicki turns in a startlingly fragile performance: half terrified, half flirtatious, totally bored by everything around her.
Left to her own devices with her little brother Jim (Araon Murphy), Janey's growing sense of sexuality forms a stark counterpoint to her parents' ennui. Trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of alcohol, parties and barbecues, Kate (Sarah Peirse) and Ed (Alistair Browning) are clearly suffering from some kind of post-60s hangover, desperately trying to cling to their youth even as their daughter is struggling to find her place in the adult world.
There are a few strained moments, particularly from Peirse's occasionally stilted delivery and the obvious budgetary restraints, but the ethereal beauty of the story shines through.
Using the landscape to frame her characters' psychology - the moment when Kate returns from Cady's grounded boat, walking barefoot through the ankle deep water says more about her than any line of dialogue ever could - "Rain" is an unexpected treasure that's as fragile, sensitive and ultimately tragic as its all-too-human characters.
Rain (2003)
