MovieChat Forums > I Come with the Rain (2011) Discussion > how is it compared to «Xich lo»? + great...

how is it compared to «Xich lo»? + great, great title...

posted 14 years ago by Thomas Dunson
3 replies | jump to latest

Considering all the flak this is getting, I was wondering how people rate it who have seen it and know the director's other work.

I'm especially interested in how this compares with the very dark (but utterly beautiful and poetic) Xich lo (1995) [Anh Hung Tran | Cyclo] – in terms of content, narrative, character development and motivation, pacing, themes, style, camerawork / imagery, atmosphere, music, violence, depiction of milieu, use of symbols, cultural references etc. pp.

Thanks for your thoughts
TD

PS:
On a sidenote: I think the title of this movie is fantastic: mysterious, lyrical, catchy / memorable – and very google-friendly and thus smart marketing-wise. Anyone else with me on that?

Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to (P. Green)

[–] DarkTeeth 14 years ago

Hi Thomas.

I am quite sure most people who rated ICWTR on this site have never seen Tran's previous works.

To find out how the fim compared to Tran's second feature film, Cyclo, I would sugest you this read: http://goninmovieblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/i-come-with-the-rain/#c omment-172

I absolutely love the tile too. In a Tokyo interview, regarding the title of his film, Tran said: "When I wrote the script for the first time ,I had an image that when Jesus appears, it’s always raining. However, while revising the script, the rain slipped off some time or other. (laugh) So “the Rain” can be
found only in the title. But for me, rain’s motif inspired me a lot."

[–] Thomas Dunson 14 years ago

Hey, DarkTeeth, thanks for the link – sounds intriguing – and the interesting quote!

Would've almost ordered the Japanese Blu-ray Disc from earlier this year, but then I stumbled upon a (non-IMDb) forum thread* where it says (and actually proves via a screenshot comparison) that it is cropped! What the...? An aspect ratio of 2.35:1 truncated down to 1.78:1 – 25% loss of picture information, a quarter of the image destroyed, just chipped away! The version the official release is juxtaposed with (seems like some kind of bootleg) ist STILL not in the proper format, but even so, the difference is stunning.

Hopefully, it – as well as Tran's other work – will get an adequate BD release soon.

*:
CriterionForum.org > I Come with the Rain (Tran Anh Hung, 2008)
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7846

Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to (P. Green)

[–] DarkTeeth 14 years ago

Thanks for the link.

May I suggest that you wait for the French DVD release. I think they will respect Tran's vision. Tran gave a conference last mounth in Paris. Apparently there was a 'fight' between him and the producers of the film upon the Asian releases. As far as I know, the film was heavily edited and pixelised against Tran's will. I don't know if it is the director's cut which will be released in Russia.