Family is such a wonderful yet frustrating thing – you can’t live with them, yet you can’t live without them. And whether you realise it or not, your relationships with family have a huge impact on how you turn out.
These themes are on full display in the movie “Rain Town”, a local Cantonese drama produced by Current Pictures and released just in time for the Lunar New Year.
Set in Taiping – the town with the highest amount of rainfall in the country! – the film is a slow yet moving tale of tradition, dreams, and the ties that bind us to one another.
In “Rain Town”, viewers are introduced to a typical Malaysian family. Choo (Chew Kin Wah) is a former traditional lantern maker who spends all his time engaged in the tradition of rain-betting – a popular practice in Taiping where locals would make bets on the day’s weather.
Stubborn and conservative, he tries to shape his children’s lives the way he sees fit: he dreams of his eldest son becoming the first doctor in the family, but Isaac (Fabian Loo) prefers songwriting to surgery, and goes to extreme lengths to deal with the pressure imposed upon him.
Meanwhile, easygoing Alex (Wilson Lee) has ambitious but unrealistic-sounding dreams of success. And daughter Pauline (played by Pauline Tan) has trouble finding a love interest who isn’t intimidated by Choo’s overbearing nature.
Trying to keep the peace is the level-headed Aileen (Susan Lankaster), Choo’s Eurasian wife.
When an unexpected tragedy occurs, the family finds themselves in a perfect storm of stress and sorrow. Will blood ties triumph, bringing everyone together again – or will everything be washed away in the rains of Taiping?
Much has been said about how this is the first local Chinese-language film by a Malay woman director. And Tunku Mona Riza (Redha) does a great job, effectively portraying the unique challenges of a middle-class Chinese family while making them relatable to audiences.
The most striking thing about “Rain Town” is its cinematography: from intimate scenes in cosy cafés to wide shots of the Taiping skyline at night, many of the town’s iconic sights are portrayed on screen with a loving eye.
The acting is commendable all round: while the actors playing the children are good, the strongest performances come from the parents.
Veteran actress Lankaster especially excels in the moving scenes, while Chew does a fine job of walking a fine line as he portrays a character that teeters between being likeable and frustrating.
Much of the subject matter is highly relatable. How do you make your own happiness in the world while dealing with cultural and traditional expectations? What do you do when life smothers and strangles your dreams? And what happens when the ones you love seem to be the ones who hold you back?
Thankfully, “Rain Town” is not all drama; its serious scenes are nicely balanced with humorous ones throughout.
That said, the movie is by no means perfect. For one, its plot is very straightforward, and those familiar with the tropes of family drama will likely be able to guess from very early on how everything is going to play out.
Some of the dialogue is overly expositional, resulting in those scenes coming across as artificial. Indeed, many of the most memorable moments involve little or no conversation: one early scene, featuring Choo’s family gathered around a lantern during happier times, is quite magical.
Despite these issues, there’s still plenty to enjoy about “Rain Town”. It’s not your typical Lunar festive fare – don’t expect any slapstick humour here – so brace yourself for a moving character-driven drama instead.
All in all, strong visuals, a relatable story, and fine performances result in a feature that’s definitely as right as rain.
As of press time, ‘Rain Town’ is screening in cinemas nationwide.