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| Movie Review: Before the Rains Alternate Title: Fatal Attraction
Story: So what went wrong in
the making of this lush, visually splendid film? The ingredients were
all in order. There was a good cast, an interesting, albeit, not original
story and beautiful scenery. Perhaps the blame is firmly at the hand
of director, Santosh Sivan (The Terrorist)
and the screenplay by Cathy Rabin. The story was based
on Israeli film maker, Dany Verete's film The Desert
Trilogy: Yellow Asphalt. The passion between the characters was
edited out or never existed. They all played their two dimensional roles
well, but there was just no there, there. The setting is 1937, Kerala, India. The Indian resistance to British
Colonialism is rising but young Henry Moores wants to build a road up
the mountain to get those much desired spices to market and prove his
worth to his English father-in-law. He seems oblivious or indifferent
to the consequences of engaging in an affair with a young married Indian
woman who works on his plantation. As soon as he makes a gift of a handgun
to his faithful Indian side kick you know things are going to go terribly
wrong. And they do. Enter the English wife and son, the angry Indian
husband, tribal tradition and the film quickly becomes a film about
moral dilemmas, decency and honor - but you have seen it all before. It had lots of promise. But the essential spice was missing.
The trailer is all you need to
see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q37yxRpKzx0 Acting: Linus Roache, who now plays
Michael Cutter on Law & Order - who knew he was English? as Moores
was just fine. Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Jennifer Ehle
and John Standing were all fine in their roles - they
just had no zip.
Predilection: I like 'all things Indian.'
Critters: It is India so there are lots of critters.
A frog, bees, an elephant, dragon flies, a dog, birds and of course,
cows.
Sex Spectrum: The one sex scene was filmed sensitively
and looked more like a commercial for shampoo or perfume.
Opening Titles: Type superimposed over the lush landscape
of Kerala, India.
Visual Art: You can have no qualms about the stunning
landscape and the attention to detail of India in the '30's.
Theater Audience: We were in the balcony of the Paris
Theater with a few other people. I do not know how many were downstairs
but the ladies room was of course crowded as we exited the theater.
Weather: Lovely before the rains.
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: Watching a woman being beat up is always
squirmy.
Drift Factor: I started to look at my watch after
only 30 minutes.
Predictability Level: Over the top.
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: No
Big Screen or Rental: Rental would be fine. Try any
of the other wonderful films that were also produced by the team of
Merchant Ivory or any film by Mira Nair and you would have a better
show.
Length: Long at 100 minutes.
LOBO HOWLS: 5
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