Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

I Come With The Rain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 11, 2011

Screened at Cannes Film Market, Tran Anh Hung’s I Come With The Rain (2008) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Trinity Films. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer and a standard making of featurette. In English, without optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Feel and believe

It isn’t surprising that a lot of people have turned their backs on Vietnamese-born helmer Tran Anh Hung’s I Come With The Rain. Dark, moody and violent, and overflowing with symbolism, the film demands utmost concentration and willingness to think. It is undoubtedly one of the very best mindbenders to emerge in recent years.

Former L.A. cop Kline (Josh Hartnett, The Virgin Suicides, Black Hawk Down) is hired by a powerful pharmaceutical tycoon to find his son, Shitao (Takuya Kimura, 2046), who has disappeared in Mindanao, Philippines. The last man to see Shitao alive is Vargas (Eusebio Poncela, Law of Desire), a shady character who once worked for the tycoon, who urges Kline to look for him in Hong Kong. In Kowloon, Kline meets Meng Zi (Shawn Yue, Infernal Affairs Trilogy, Reign Of Assassins), a local cop and old friend, who agrees to help him.

The city’s most powerful gangster, Su Dongpo (Lee Byung-hun, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, I Saw the Devil), enters the picture when his drug addicted girlfriend, Lili (Tran Nu Yenkhe, The Scent of Green Papaya), is kidnapped. After he goes berserk, one of his men shoots the kidnapper and crashes his car into Kline and Zi’s car. Later on, the kidnapper dies in Shitao’s hands somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Before she returns to her lover, Lili witnesses something that profoundly changes her life.

Meanwhile, Kline and Zi learn from various street beggars that there is a man in the city with a special gift who matches Shitao’s profile. They begin looking for him but Kline starts to lose his mind - he is tormented by powerful memories about a serial killer (Elias Koteas, Gattaca, The Thin Red Line) obsessed with the imperfections of the human body.

The film is open to multiple interpretations but two themes stand out. The first is about one man’s desire to be good in a world consumed by evil. Interestingly enough, he is rarely seen, and it is typically by the descriptions of those who have met him that we begin to understand who he is.

The second theme is about another man who has met the Devil and succumbed to him. Now he is desperately trying to regain his spiritual balance but there is so much evil around him that he is constantly reminded about his past. He is changing but not into the man he wants to be.

What makes the film very difficult to deconstruct, however, is the fact that there are a lot of different characters in it with full of religious references stories that are not necessarily complete. Kline’s intense nightmares - which gradually reveal who he truly is - also routinely overlap with reality, creating a sense of chaos.

Ultimately, however, one does not have to look for a logical explanation of every single event in the film to grasp what it attempts to convey - which is that it is easier for us to acknowledge and commit evil deeds than repent and believe.

The cast of international stars is excellent. Hartnett and Lee, in particular, are outstanding. At times, however, it feels as if the film might have been a lot more convincing if it wasn’t shot entirely in English.

Juan Ruiz Anchía’s (Glengarry Glen Ross) lensing is some of the most original done in recent years (the cross scene with the giant buildings is fantastic). The film is also complimented by an excellent atmospheric soundtrack featuring various songs by Radiohead - "Nude", "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was", "Climbing Up The Walls" - and original compositions by two-time Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla (My Blueberry Nights, Babel, 21 Grams).

I Come With The Rain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Tran Anh Hung's I Come With The Rain arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Trinity Films.

I Come With The Rain is a beautifully lensed film and seeing it theatrically or on Blu-ray is indeed the only way one could appreciate what it has to offer. Fortunately, the high-definition transfer Trinity Films have licensed from French distributors TF1 is very good. The majority of the film takes place at night but detail is consistently strong. Clarity fluctuates - some of Klein's nightmares, for instance, have a rather edgy look, while the hand-held footage from Hong Kong's back alleys is a bit soft - but these fluctuations are intended. This being said, I did notice a few traces of mild sharpening during the final third of the film. Heavy noise corrections, however, have not been performed. I also did not see any heavy aliasing or banding patterns to report in this review. Lastly, there are no serious stability issues. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

I Come With The Rain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS 2.0. For the record, Trinity Films have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

I Come With Rain is complimented by a fantastic soundtrack featuring compositions by Radiohead, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Sandro Perri among others that create quite a remarkable atmosphere. There are four or five scenes that are simply quite incredible.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is solid - the bass is deep and lush while the surround channels very intelligently used ("Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was" sounds amazing). The dialog is clean and crisp, but I am slightly disappointed that Trinity Films have not included optional English subtitles as there were a couple of scenes where I had trouble understanding what was being said.

I Come With The Rain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for I Come With Rain. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Making of - a standard featurette with of raw footage from the shooting of the film and various short comments from Josh Hartnett. In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 720p).

I Come With The Rain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tran Anh Hung's I Come With The Rain is a dark, shockingly violent but uncharacteristically beautiful neo-noir thriller that should appeal to those of you who like challenging films. I was very, very impressed. Kudos to Trinity Films for releasing unique and powerful films that other distributors are afraid to touch. Now, I am looking forward to their Blu-ray release of Denis Villeneuve's Incendies. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.