{"id":19331,"date":"2024-10-26T09:20:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T09:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/entertainment\/19331\/"},"modified":"2024-10-26T09:20:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T09:20:27","slug":"screen-share-films-that-pay-an-ode-to-the-rains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/?p=19331","title":{"rendered":"Screen Share | Films that pay an ode to the rains"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n A still from \u2018Kannathil Muthamittal\u2019
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An uncharacteristically wet October has seen several parts of south India swathed in heavy rainfall over the last couple of weeks, thanks to the north-east monsoon. Depending on how many power outages and building leaks you are annually subject to during this period, one\u2019s idea of romanticising the showers might differ accordingly \u2014 but it goes without saying that filmmakers, for long, have used the phenomenon as heady motifs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Inexplicably, two anime features from Japanese filmmaker and novelist Makoto Shinkai (whose obsession with rain is visible in pretty much every creation from his studio) first come to mind when I think of movies that are homages to downpours.\u00a0The Garden of Words<\/i>\u00a0depicts an almost-romance between a teenager and an older woman as they take refuge from the thunderstorms together inside a Shinjuku park, while\u00a0Weathering With You\u2019s <\/i> protagonist is an orphaned girl who can control the weather at will; both coming-of-age dramas feature an inordinate number of spectacular anime rain sequences that paint Tokyo as the most magical of atmospheric escapes.<\/p>\n

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A still from \u2018Garden of Words\u2019
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Gloomy, moody thrillers set against the backdrop of rain is a Hollywood staple, and no film encapsulates it better than David Fincher\u2019s\u00a0Se7en<\/i>. The storms shut down only when John Doe surrenders and his reign ends (no? but it was right there\u2026) Martin Scorsese\u2019s\u00a0Shutter Island<\/i>\u00a0and Matt Reeves\u2019\u00a0The Batman<\/i>\u00a0reboot are worthy additions to this list, along with several Denis Villeneuve outings like\u00a0Blade Runner 2049\u00a0<\/i>(Ridley Scott\u2019s original is also a great example),\u00a0Prisoners\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Arrival<\/i>\u00a0\u2014 fans did wonder if there was going to be a rogue shot of Arrakis veiled in fog at some point in the\u00a0Dune<\/i>\u00a0movies… but don\u2019t fret, we still have\u00a0Messiah<\/i>\u00a0to come. Perhaps, a fleeting mention of James Mangold\u2019s divisive whodunit\u00a0Identity<\/i>\u00a0is also in order here, as the entire mystery takes place around a never-ending deluge.<\/p>\n

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Korean auteur Bong Joon-Ho is another director whose usage of rains to set context \u2014 and subtext \u2014 is fascinating; in\u00a0Memories of Murder<\/i>, it is a harbinger of dread and doom as the cops discover a serial killer who attacks his victims whenever it rains, while in\u00a0Parasite,<\/i>\u00a0that storm and subsequent flooding lays bare the class differences between the Kim and Park households, and brings hidden truths to the surface.\u00a0The Host<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Mother\u00a0<\/i>are two of his other films that have fun with plot points influenced by rains.<\/p>\n

Closer home, and down south, Mani Ratnam\u2019s\u00a0Kannathil Muthamittal\u00a0<\/i>brims with the lush greens of Sri Lanka drenched in rain, leading to that heartbreaking climax with the family huddled under the umbrella as the strains of AR Rahman\u2019s mesmerising\u00a0Vellai Pookal\u00a0<\/i>takes over. Similarly, the filmmaker\u2019s\u00a0Raavanan<\/i>\u00a0plays out as a love letter to the waterfalls and continual rain in the jungles where the epic adventure was shot. Arivazhagan\u2019s 2009 horror-thriller\u00a0Eeram<\/i>\u00a0is another contender, complete with the lilting number\u00a0Mazhaiye Mazhaiye.<\/i><\/p>\n

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A shot from \u2018Maheshinte Prathikaram\u2019
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Vishal Bhardwaj\u2019s\u00a0Kaminey<\/i>, Mohit Suri\u2019s\u00a0Aashiqui 2<\/i>\u00a0and Anurag Basu\u2019s\u00a0Life in a Metro<\/i>\u00a0all feature memorable scenes in the rains, whereas Payal Kapadia\u2019s\u00a0All We Imagine as Light<\/i>\u00a0echoes both the charm and the chaos of Mumbai\u2019s monsoon season. Finally, two Malayalam dramas: Dileesh Pothan\u2019s\u00a0Maheshinte Prathikaram<\/i>\u00a0in which the cloudy skies and impending showers parallel the state of the romance in Mahesh\u2019s (Fahadh Faasil) life, and Padmarajan\u2019s\u00a0Thoovanathumbikal, <\/i>wherein rain is the ultimate metaphor for love and passion; it pours every time Jayakrishnan (Mohanlal) meets or even thinks of the woman he is in love with.<\/p>\n

Which prompts the thought: who doesn\u2019t love a good rain song? But that\u2019s a discussion for another day.<\/p>\n

From The Hindu cinema team, a fortnightly column recommending films and shows tied to a mood, theme, or pop cultural event.<\/p>\n

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Published – October 26, 2024 02:32 pm IST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A still from \u2018Kannathil Muthamittal\u2019 | Photo Credit: Special arrangement An uncharacteristically wet October has seen several parts of south India swathed in heavy rainfall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[6444,55728,55732,55730,55733,55727,15144,11381,55729,12300,253,21107,55731,9234],"class_list":["post-19331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-films","tag-films-about-rain","tag-garden-of-words","tag-kannathil-muthamittal","tag-maheshinte-prathikaram","tag-movies-about-rain","tag-ode","tag-pay","tag-rain-in-indian-films","tag-rains","tag-screen","tag-screen-share","tag-seven","tag-share"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t