Review of film: “RAIN” + Q&A with star IRMA P. HALL & Director MARIA GOVAN

2010, 02-17:

Review of film:  “RAIN”  + Q&A with star IRMA P. HALL & Director MARIA GOVAN

Director:

Maria Govan

Writer:

Starring:

Renel Brown

Nicki Micheaux

CCH Pounder

Marion Bethel

Ron Butler

Toni Crayton

Margaux Dillet

Chrishawn Ferguson

Roger Gibson

Irma P. Hall

Trenae Johnson

Juanita Kelly

Calvin Lockhart

Francine McKenzie

Garth Nash

Shervante Nixon

Judah Seymour

Gina Smith

Moya Thompson

Showtime Rating:

Violence, Adult Language, Adult Content

Quotes:

MY Rating:

8.5 out of 10 stars (based on an advance screening of the 93-minute film).

Can a girl stay “On Track” by RUNNING Track?…

This constituted my original Report # 17 on the 45th CHICAGO INT'L FILM FESTIVAL, which (like the Toronto Film Festival earlier in the year) chose to feature this FIRST film made by a person from the island nation of the Bahamas, during 3 screenings available to the general Chicago public and one done especially for school kids in the area…

…   I am Reviewing the film at this time because it has been scheduled to show on the “SHOWTIME” network, as follows:

On Showtime =

    02/18/10 at 8:00 PM

On Showtime 2

    02/19/10 at 8:00 PM

On Showtime Showcase

    02/20/10 at 6:15 PM

On Showtime 2

    02/22/10 at 8:00 PM

On Showtime

    02/23/10 at 1:35 AM

On Demand =

    Available from 02/03/10 to 02/28/10 

…  Here is the review of the film & Q&A after the screening at the Chicago FILM FESTIVAL:

 …  When Americans think of the Bahamas, they tend to think of things like palm trees, scuba diving and relaxed tourist-based activities (such as at the “Atlantis” resort)…  But, this film delves into the DARKER “underside” that can be found in most areas of the world if you “dig” hard enough…

…  Rosalie (IRMA P. HALL) is an increasingly-sick senior citizen who had one daughter named Glory (played as a pregnant girl by Irma’s actual granddaughter, TONI CRAYTON)…

                                      

…  Because Glory grew up having a series of DRUG-related problems, Irma took it upon herself to work to raise Glory’s daughter (& thus her own granddaughter in the film), Rain (played by acting newcomer RENEL BROWN)…

…  Rain (Renel) has had a difficult childhood in that it was hard for Irma to get the money needed to take care of her as she would have liked.  But, Rain understands the sacrifices Irma had made, & deeply loves what had been done to help her in life.  Rain’s one sort of “hobby” in life was RUNNING, an activity she loved to do after school as it helped make her feel “free”…

…  Shortly after the film starts, Irma is no longer able to overcome her health issues and passes away… 

...  Since there’s no one else to turn to, 14-year-old Rain has to go to live with her biological mother Glory (hereafter played by NICKI MICHEAUX)…

…  Nicki lives in a very ROUGH & poverty-stricken part of Nassau, in large part because she’s an HIV-inflicted crack addict & has to turn ”tricks” in order to get the money to feed her habit… 

…  While Rain (Renel) is accustomed to dealing with some good-hearted people like Samuel (CALVIN LOCKHART, in his LAST film role), living with Nicki, she often has to deal with the “seamier” types because of where she lives, such as The Preacher (played by RON BUTLER)...

…  Altho Nicki would like for Rain to have a better life, there’s not much she can “do” about it, because of her own failings and “situations” (such as a background of rape & living in a 1-room shack)… 

…  Nicki often has some friends around, but they’re “into” the same things as she is, which she knows is not a very “uplifting” atmosphere for Rain (even tho the friends treat her decently)…

…  The only really “positive” influence in Rain’s life is Ms. Adams (CCH POUNDER) at her high school--  who knows how difficult life can be since she herself is gay, which caused her to face a lot of prejudices as she herself had grown up... 

…  Ms. Adams understands the obstacles encountered by many of the students at the school, sees the potential inside Rain, and actively ENCOURAGES her in her love of track (which she herself COACHES at school) & in trying to BETTER herself in life…

…  Rain would love to run in a competition--  but she needs a decent pair of SHOES for the race.  Being poor, such an item is not readily available to her… 

…  Her mom Nicki learns of the situation, and would love to try to HELP Rain by providing some money for the footgear--  but, can she find a WAY to do that with her OWN self-centeredness & difficulties in life?… 

…  The film is a simply-done but often-HEART-WARMING & very well-acted tale of how people like Rain can at times get “EMPOWERED” enough to “OVERCOME” their situation & surroundings…     

  (o_
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Q&A held with star IRMA P. HALL & Director MARIA GOVAN

For the first two public screenings at the CHICAGO FILM FEST, director MARIA GOVAN held a Q&A with the audience…  At the third screening on October 13, 2009, she was joined by star IRMA P. HALL (--  who was presented with the Festival’s Career Achievement Award in 2004) for the Q&A with the enthusiastic audience…

….  REBECCA FONS (who is Education Program Administrator for the Festival) introduced the guests, & asked about the CASTING of the film.  Maria spoke of Kim Williams & commented on how she herself was “SURPRISED” & very pleased when Irma wanted to DO her script…

…  For the role of Rain, Maria auditioned literally “hundreds” of girls.  While TRENAE JOHNSON was “great” in her test, she tended to emphasize “anger” in her characterization (-- she’d been abandoned by her Mom--), & it was felt she’d be better in the “antagonist” role of Keva (a girl who hassles Rain)…

…  Eventually, it was decided that -- although she’d probably need more “direction” (in part because she’d never acted before) --, it’d be best to have RENEL play the role of Rain…

…  IRMA spoke to the audience, & commented on how, doing her role was comparatively easy:  “I AM a grandmother, so it wasn’t much of a ‘stretch’!…” 

…  She added that, being 75, she has KNOWN women like the grandmother in the script:  she herself grew up in Tyler, Texas, & she could easily “relate” to the way the grandmother wanted to PROTECT her granddaughter.  As Irma commented, “It was a COMPELLING STORY that drew me [to the role]…”

…  Maria told a little of her own background:  her Mom’s Bahamian, & Maria is of Greek and Scottish descent overall.  She grew up in the Bahamas, left at 16 for the U.S., & then returned around 22 for like 8 years…

…  A man in the audience remarked on how he’d found the film really WELL-put-together, & wondered where Maria had STUDIED film-making.  To everyone’s surprise, Maria replied, “THIS [movie] was my ‘film school’!…”, she never attended an actual film-school to study the craft… 

…  She explained that, when in the U.S., she’d worked as a production assistant in L.A. from ages 18-22.  Then, in the Bahamas, she’d shot various DOCUMENTARIES [such as “JUNKANOO:  THE HEARTBEAT OF A PEOPLE” in 2000 about the African-rooted culture behind that festival;  and 2004’s “WHERE I’M FROM:  HIV & AIDS IN THE BAHAMAS”]…

…  All that led Maria to learn a sort of “guerrilla style” of film-making, & “I was definitely humbled” by working on this, her first feature film.  Giving a bit of technical info, she told how it had been shot on Fuji film stock, as it’s less-saturated, & then on Kodak stock for certain scenes.  Overall, “we tried to NOT ‘saturate’—”, because she wanted it to have a “BLEAK and dark” tone as a whole…

…  A lady asked Irma a question about how she’d prepared for her role.  Irma responded:  “I read the script…  And I READ the script…  And I read the script, & tried to know ‘who’ the people ARE…  I’m sorry— I DON’T HAVE a ‘process’!…”, partly because she never really “studied” acting!…

…  As Irma put it, “I have a GIFT from God—”, &, “Once I ‘know’ a character, I kind of ‘MORPH’ into them…  Like, I’m a teacher & want to give knowledge ABOUT the people I’m portraying…”  She herself is a descendant of Africans, & she finds herself always “DISCOVERING and ‘becoming’—” in life and in roles…

…  Irma added, “I look for HONESTY in a character and in a story”.  In this, she found a kind of “UNIVERSAL story of children REACHING OUT”…  That was probably in part due to the fact that, she herself was a secondary-school TEACHER for 27 years, & thus she understands kids…  And, coincidentally enough, she herself ran TRACK in school, just as character Rain does!…

…  A lady familiar with the Bahamas commented on how impressed she was at the way Irma so effectively played a person of "a certain generation of island women".  To that, Irma graciously commented, "Thank you.  To GOD goes the glory--!..." 

…  Irma added that, she herself had only known like 3 Bahamian people, who were friends of her musician father.  In her role, she worked to play “the universality of what that woman was like”, & she was GLAD that “I do service to the woman…”

…  After a lady in the audience spoke at considerable length, Maria remarked that, as she grew up, “I felt very OUTSIDE of the BLACK experience in the Bahamas.”…

…  She commented that, she’d recently been to Trinidad [in the Caribbean] to introduce the film to a Festival audience there, & how a woman there had commented that she felt she "knew" the Bahamas because she'd been to Nassau.  But, Maria felt she DIDN’T likely really “know” the country by going parts of one island, since there are 700 or so islands that make up the nation…

…  Maria went on to say that, she finds the Bahamas is NOT a “white” nation as it’s often portrayed--  overall, it’s very “AFRO-CENTRIC”.  Her own mother is Greek, so she grew up a bit “outside” the mainstream there in that regard…

…  But, from doing the “JUNKAROO” festival documentary film, that helped Maria “relate” to the culture more.  Then, she had a friend who sort of became her “voice”.  After that, to do her film on women with HIV, she spent a lot of time with drug addicts & rapists & killers--  quite opposite the “image” many people have of the Bahamas…

…  Overall, she “tried to keep out of the way” of the people portrayed in her film.  Maria added, it’s like Irma said:  “You have to have EMPATHY.”… 

…  Overall, she feels a deep compassion with the people there, & thus, as to her film “RAIN”, “It’s truly about EMPATHY…”  As she did her writing, she at times spoke out loud, & feels that, “If you have an open heart, you can tell MOST stories…”

…  When a man in the audience asked how the film evolved so well, Maria responded that, “I made so many MISTAKES in this film!…”  She’d sent the script to someone to suggest improvements, feeling, “It’s all about RE-WRITING… like tilling the earth…”  She did a “great MANY DRAFTS of it”…

…  Giving more details, Maria spoke of how, in the Bahamas, it’s very COMMON for girls to be raised by their grandmothers, & DRUG use is also very common, unfortunately…

…  In this film, she wanted to “crack open the facts” of the lives of some people there, such as how people are often sleeping with each other, & the church is very against homosexuals-- yet it keeps allowing ABUSE of kids & then works to “cover it up” afterwards, etc…

…  Speaking fervently, Maria remarked how, with the huge tourist economy in the Bahamas, many people want to make the place “look GOOD”--  but it often is NOT that way at all for many of its citizens, which she finds very sad: 

…  “This is a COUNTRY—”, not just a place to VISIT...  To try to tell her story, she did a lot of work & “climbed that mountain” by writing what she felt & putting things “together”…

…  A guy in the audience asked about whether it was difficult to do the actual filming in the Bahamas.  Maria said yes, it was, in part because “You have to SHIP everything in.  It’s very expensive…”  She filmed in the Gambier community, including using a yard owned by some friends of hers…

…  She invested a lot of time in choosing the PLACES to film:  “There’s a real RELATIONSHIP I had with the place—” and with the people there…

…  Maria commented that, since she’d portrayed an often-UNflattering image of the Bahamas, she feared that the people there would likely be somewhat angry when they saw that.  But, to her great surprise, there were NO complaints from people there who saw the film--  they felt it was very “REAL”, & she was deeply gratified by that…

…  Irma offered her thought about the film that “It really shows the power of the HEART—”, & she tries to choose projects to do based on people working to show some positive things in life…

…  She’s learned that, even when people don’t look or sound like us, there’s a deep HUMANITY in all of us that is nevertheless very similar.  She feels that, films like “RAIN” can help us get ALONG with each other, as can certain shared music…

…  In this film, Irma believes that you can “read” things in the face of Renel in her portrayal, & she herself expects to see OTHER powerful [& effective] stories told by Maria in the future…  She drew a laugh when she added, “I don’t know if I’m ‘answering’ anyone’s questions--!”…  The audience was  clearly very TOUCHED by the film, & quite enjoyed the Q&A…

…   The next morning, there was the special screening of the film for groups of SCHOOL kids--  but I’ll be recounting that fascinating Q&A with Maria & Irma at a LATER time (so I can get the above posted online in a “timely” fashion)…

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  (o_
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