I believe the director Anh Hung Tran once said I Come With the Rain is not finished. And it shows. With that in mind, though, it can offer a satisfying cinematic experience; but it's definitely not for everybody. Perhaps not for most of the people.
The plot is surprisingly simple: Kline (Hartnett) is an ex cop, now a private detective, who is sent to find a billionaire's missing son Shitao (Kimura). The trail leads to Hong Kong. Turns out the son is actually a Christ figure who uses his powers to heal people. Add in a gangster and his girlfriend and Kline's troubled past (in a form of haunting memories of a serial killer that made sculptures out of his victim's bodies), and there you go.
There have been some criticism for the acting, particularly for the Asian cast's shaky English. It might be distracting to some people, but it's not unbearable (the fact they speak English to each other is confusing, though). Hartnett is surprisingly good as Kline, portraying his apathy and madness in a reserved manner, rarely going over the top. So I don't think he should see this movie as a bad acting choice; it's another role (along with Mozart and the Whale and Lucky Number Slevin) in which he proves he can act, after all.
The story isn't told in a linear manner, which troubles some people. Editing does seem random at times, but it's actually possible to follow the plot just fine. But it's clear the film isn't really about the plot, but the symbolism; and it's where it becomes too vague to truly shine.
They say the best art is the one that doesn't force a message on you, and the one that lets you form your own interpretation. It is true, but there seems to be very little solid material to build your own interpretation here. It seems the director wanted to explore so many things at once: religious symbolism, common thriller tropes, evil and violence, and human body. Taken individually, these things work, but the end result lacks coherence.
However, some of these things do work well. The best is Kline's story that slowly unfolds in flashbacks: his identification with the murderer (and the sculptures inspired by Francis Bacon), his insanity, his apathy, and his inability to view human form in a healthy way. Human body is closely inspected in the film from various angles, and is not limited to grotesque sculptures and healer's tortured body: for example, actors are often seen shirtless, but it doesn't seem sexual.
There are some quite good things in this film. It might be gore, but it shows violence the way it truly is: disgusting, extreme, often grotesque, never romantic. In a way, the film can be taken as the inspection of evil and all the disgusting things people do to each other.
But at the end of the day, the most interesting seem to be the things we don't see: Kline's full story arc with the murderer and slipping into madness, or Shitao's whereabouts. What's in the film seems to be quite peripheral, which might, or might not, be intentional.
In any case, it's difficult to enjoy a film like I Come With the Rain, but it doesn't mean the movie was bad. There's some quite good stuff in it. Too bad it's too vague to truly engage us.
The plot is surprisingly simple: Kline (Hartnett) is an ex cop, now a private detective, who is sent to find a billionaire's missing son Shitao (Kimura). The trail leads to Hong Kong. Turns out the son is actually a Christ figure who uses his powers to heal people. Add in a gangster and his girlfriend and Kline's troubled past (in a form of haunting memories of a serial killer that made sculptures out of his victim's bodies), and there you go.
There have been some criticism for the acting, particularly for the Asian cast's shaky English. It might be distracting to some people, but it's not unbearable (the fact they speak English to each other is confusing, though). Hartnett is surprisingly good as Kline, portraying his apathy and madness in a reserved manner, rarely going over the top. So I don't think he should see this movie as a bad acting choice; it's another role (along with Mozart and the Whale and Lucky Number Slevin) in which he proves he can act, after all.
The story isn't told in a linear manner, which troubles some people. Editing does seem random at times, but it's actually possible to follow the plot just fine. But it's clear the film isn't really about the plot, but the symbolism; and it's where it becomes too vague to truly shine.
They say the best art is the one that doesn't force a message on you, and the one that lets you form your own interpretation. It is true, but there seems to be very little solid material to build your own interpretation here. It seems the director wanted to explore so many things at once: religious symbolism, common thriller tropes, evil and violence, and human body. Taken individually, these things work, but the end result lacks coherence.
However, some of these things do work well. The best is Kline's story that slowly unfolds in flashbacks: his identification with the murderer (and the sculptures inspired by Francis Bacon), his insanity, his apathy, and his inability to view human form in a healthy way. Human body is closely inspected in the film from various angles, and is not limited to grotesque sculptures and healer's tortured body: for example, actors are often seen shirtless, but it doesn't seem sexual.
There are some quite good things in this film. It might be gore, but it shows violence the way it truly is: disgusting, extreme, often grotesque, never romantic. In a way, the film can be taken as the inspection of evil and all the disgusting things people do to each other.
But at the end of the day, the most interesting seem to be the things we don't see: Kline's full story arc with the murderer and slipping into madness, or Shitao's whereabouts. What's in the film seems to be quite peripheral, which might, or might not, be intentional.
In any case, it's difficult to enjoy a film like I Come With the Rain, but it doesn't mean the movie was bad. There's some quite good stuff in it. Too bad it's too vague to truly engage us.