NYAFF Report: Blood Rain Review

BLOOD RAIN

For those used to martial arts and wire work being the centerpiece of Asian period pictures Blood Rain will come as an uncommonly subdued yet gripping mystery. When I say subdued I certainly don’t mean to imply there’s any lack of bloodshed. But scenes involving such moments are so central to the plot and the overall brutality the film wants to address it would be difficult to imagine Blood Rain without them. It is in the end a film about the sad and extraordinary lengths men will go to in covering up their own sins and mistakes. Sin begets sin begets sin. Lie leads to lie. When does it become too late for redemption? And what if the societal/political/religious ties that weigh us down pull us towards one action and hold us back from right. Isn’t our humanity more important than any of these? Aren’t we first human - creatures with a debt to pay towards goodness? Mustn’t any judgment take that into account if it is to be truly just?

This film has been compared to Eco’s The Name of the Rose and there are certainly more than surface similarities. But the real heart of this film lies in its compelling universally accessible look at human conscience. It is 1808 and after a horrific fire devastates a royal tribute a group of investigators headed by Lee are sent to quickly settle the matter only to find themselves forced to unravel a series of murders against a backdrop of deeply ingrained superstition. As more and more people die the villagers embrace charms and shamanism to find the murderer while Lee uncovers secrets that put blood on everyone’s hands including, and perhaps most of all, his own father’s. This film’s devastating ending will haunt all but the unthoughtful. 

This is easily my favorite of all the NYAFF films I’ve watched thus far. It is lush yet never feels contrived or on display simply to look. At times it feels positively gritty but the cinematography is powerful centered on human struggle rather than landscape. The presence of maddened lynch mobs, and the lone lawmen, the bareness of village life are reminiscent of the western, and of course I can’t help thinking of Bad Day at Black Rock. But ultimately this is a film that is at it’s most powerful because it doesn’t overplay it’s hand.