Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
64 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Rain

EMAILPRINTIDP Distribution

Rain reviews
71
8.1 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Christine Jeffs
Kirsty Gunn (novel)

Directed by: Christine Jeffs

Release Date:
Theatrical: April 26, 2002
DVD: February 11, 2003

Running Time: 92 minutes, Color

Origin: New Zealand / USA

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, Sarah Peirse, Marton Csokas, Alistair Browning, Telma Hopkins, and Aaron Murphy

A chronicle of the sexual and moral awakening of a thirteen-year-old girl as her family disintegrates around her.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Boston Globe Loren King

Affecting, troubling, dazzling film.

Read Full Review >
90

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The visual beauty of the film, rather than distracting from the troubling story, makes it more troubling still.

Read Full Review >
90

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

All about undertones, obliqueness and expectancy, about the scent, if you will, of something no one can stop

Read Full Review >
90

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Moves way past the predictable into the shocking. Indeed, the film is so expertly structured and paced that its denouement knocks you off your feet.

Read Full Review >
90

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Through exquisite details, evocative music and bold dramatic strokes -- including a tragedy that transcends the melodrama it might have been -- Rain renders this family's life in its full dimensions.

88

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Rain is a quiet, disquieting triumph.

Read Full Review >
83

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Quiet, sexual, disturbing, often beautifully melancholic, Rain, as seen through the eyes of a precocious girl, recalls a parental split-up with sobering accuracy. It reminds us why so many teen-agers go through a sullen phase -- and sometimes never shake it off.

80

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A character who triumphs over a clumsy story line is a very rare creature. It takes a smart director and a sensitive actor to bring him to life, and to keep him breathing all the way through.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

What lingers are the unsettling feelings, inexplicably potent images and realization that some of life's key crossroads are visible only in the rearview mirror.

Read Full Review >
75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Gorgeously evocative visually.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Movies about the dawning of female sexuality and its links to mother-daughter competition are tough to pull off, but Rain is a splendid example of how to get it right.

75

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The cast of Rain is first-rate, especially Wierzbicki and Peirse, whose tense relationship is as loving as it is competitive.

75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Jeffs is an unusually gifted director, but her screenplay (based on Kirsty Gunn's novel) never quite gets a firm grip or a fresh perspective on its coming-of-age subject matter.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Some of the visual flourishes are a little too obvious, but restrained and subtle storytelling, and fine performances make this delicate coming-of-age tale a treat.

Read Full Review >
70

TV Guide Ken Fox

Adapted from Kirsty Gunn's acclaimed novel, New Zealand director Christine Jeff's debut feature is a small masterpiece of atmosphere.

Read Full Review >
70

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Jeffs' meticulous framing nicely counterpoints all the messy turmoil, and her screenplay flows with the cadences of life -- its awkward eruptions and long, hurtful silences -- but she never pulls you deep enough into her characters.

Read Full Review >
60

New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf

Heavy with mood and Finn's fine music, Jeffs' debut feature merely moistens us when we should be soaked. Maybe next time she'll let it all come down.

58

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

As it moves from the drizzly to the overly stormy, Rain freights a young girl's self-destructive eagerness to lose her virginity with so much danger and even horror that it's as if the events were trying to make up for the film's previous lack of drama.

Read Full Review >
50

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Rain lays so much portent on every scene that it becomes ungenerous and morally forbidding, as if each bummed cigarette or leisurely cocktail will lead the family that much closer to oblivion. In this case, the punishment is far greater than the crime.

Read Full Review >
50

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Sexual curiosity is a very dangerous thing in Rain, a dazzling mood piece from New Zealand filmmaker Christine Jeffs.

Read Full Review >
30

Village Voice Jessica Winter

The visual subtleties don't come to bear on the storytelling, unfortunately -- the dialogue is cumbersome, the simpering soundtrack and editing more so.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jonathas S. gave it a9:
It's a amazing film about discoverings with great actors.

Tracy R gave it a6:
Craftfully and carefullly done - and I very much appreciate this, but I think we've hit the point of one too many sex = death scenarios. Enough already! Let's say something other than that female sexuality is dangerous. Disappointed to see women continuing to do this to other women.

alissa gave it an 8:
All I'm going to say is that you'll need a bloody stiff drink after watching this. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing.

My Friends Call Me Gilbert Mulroneycakes gave it an 8:
Oh GOD...MAKE IT STOP! Not that it's a bad film (sob) or anything, it's just (howl of despair) so damn HEAVY. (scream) Beware. But watch (sobs again) it (smacks head against wall repeatedly) anyway.

Chad S. gave it a 10:
Something happens in "Rain" that could've made "Mermaids" a classic film. But when it does, you want to look away. Director Christine Jeffs pulls off the most gut-wrenching denouement in recent memory. It's fictitious. The job of great art is to suspend your disbelief and accept the representative as real. The actors are uniformly good but the real star is the woman yelling, "Cut!" She's able to enthrall with material that would depress in lesser hands. "Rain" is the best film of 2002. It's a gem.

L. Y. gave it a 10:
A disturbing movie unfolding beautifully and slowly enough to appear ordinary, even banal, which as an afterthought disturbs even more. Excellent screenwriting and directing job, brilliant acting all around. A must see.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use