It's definitely good, definitely a little bit boring.
Comment
10/18/08
Before the Rains (2008)
37
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:7
Rotten:12
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: While lushly photographed and politically suggestive, this soapy melodrama lacks emotional resonance.
Theatrical Release:May 9, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $954,114
Synopsis: Forbidden romance, empire, and culture clash all lie at the heart of this drama. In 1930s India, Britain's reign is beginning to lose its hold on the region. In the midst of this turmoil, a British... [More]
Starring: Linus Roache, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Jennifer Ehle
Director: Santosh Sivan
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Reviews for Before the Rains
1 - 19 (sorted by date)
Top CriticIndia has rarely looked so beautiful onscreen. Against the anguish of his human characters, director Santosh Sivan juxtaposes a tranquil, green world in the hills of the southwestern state of Keralain 1937, 10 years before independence.
06/20/08
Top CriticWhen the rains in Before the Rains finally arrive, there's nothing to cleanse, no real dirt to wash away -- not with history already so neatly packaged and polished to a dull shine.
06/20/08
Top CriticUnfortunately, the parade of consequences brought on by the affair has little emotional substance.
05/23/08
Top CriticProducer Ismail Merchant died in 2005, but Merchant Ivory's stuffy tradition of quality lives on.
05/16/08
Top CriticI can't quite recommend it.
05/16/08
Top CriticA predictable patchwork of forbidden romance, English arrogance, a gun given as a gift, suicide, corruption, deception, rising Indian nationalism and a short-lived chase through the jungle.
05/16/08
Top CriticBefore the Rains is never less than compelling, but never more than adequately realized.
05/15/08
Top CriticIt's standard soap opera dramaturgy in wrinkled linens, loincloths and saris.
05/15/08
Top CriticThe problem isn't just that the material is cliched and vaguely offensive....It's more that the plot is incredibly predictable, the score is manipulative and the denouement completely unsatisfying.
05/15/08
Top CriticA lovely, lyrical film with perfect timing that is a welcome relief from BlackBerrys, iPods, gas taxes, punk rock, the failing economy and the boredom of cutthroat election campaigns.
05/14/08
Top CriticMerchant-Ivory productions are usually visual delights, and Before the Rains is no exception. Pity that the direction and narrative lack passion. If there's anything a story of interracial adultery needs, it's passion.
05/09/08
Top CriticSo pretty and so utterly lifeless you can almost smell the embalming fluid coming off the screen.
05/09/08
Top CriticThe film is well-acted, a broad colonial allegory, and again, visually gorgeous.
05/09/08
Top CriticThe ingredients of the Indian director Santosh Sivan’s period piece Before the Rains may be awfully familiar, but the film lends them the force of tragedy.
05/08/08
Top CriticDirector Santosh Sivan imparts a vastness and a sense of wonder to the film, qualities reminiscent of a Thomas Cole painting: They remind you why the Brits thought conquering India was a good idea in the first place.
05/08/08
Top CriticRahul Bose has a winning presence -- eager with a touch of wariness or wary with a touch of eagerness, and never entirely at home. He keeps the movie from seeming too comfy -- a good thing.
05/05/08
Top CriticLacking the emotional power necessary to fuel its contrived plot elements, the film is a minor entry in the Merchant Ivory canon.
05/01/08
Top CriticThe emotionally charged mysteries of his breakthrough feature, The Terrorist, have given way to laborious narrative convention in Indian helmer Santosh Sivan's latest, English-lingo period meller Before the Rains.
09/28/07
Top Critic1 - 19 (sorted by date)
Latest News for Before the Rains
May 08, 2008:
Santosh Sivan Goes Home Before the Rains 
For Before the Rains, his English-language directorial debut, cinematographer Santosh Sivan went back to his roots -- specifically Kerala, a state on the coast of southwestern... More...
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