...fails to deliver on the potentially intriguing premise of an interracial romance set in India in 1937, against the backdrop of the Indian independence movement
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09/19/08
Before the Rains (2008)
47 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 51
Fresh: 24
Rotten:27
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Consensus: While lushly photographed and politically suggestive, this soapy melodrama lacks emotional resonance.
Synopsis: Forbidden romance, empire, and culture clash all lie at the heart of this drama. In 1930s India, Britain's reign is beginning to lose its hold on the region. In the midst of this turmoil, a British man (Linus Roache) embarks on an affair with... [More]
Starring: Linus Roache, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Jennifer Ehle
Director: Santosh Sivan
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Reviews for Before the Rains
Acting honours go to Bose, his face an eloquently shifting register of shame, calculation and sympathy.
07/25/08
Feels as though it should be a compelling drama, yet it somehow simmers along rather frustratingly with only a couple of moments of genuine tension.
07/25/08
The movie is prettily done in a fairly obvious way, but there's little insight into the emerging nationalist movement, which remains at best a shimmering backdrop in soft focus.
07/25/08
The film is fervently acted and well shot, and Das provides a powerful, emotional force, but there is something a little clanky about the whole project...
07/25/08
In another age this Merchant Ivory production would have led the week's reviews. Now it'll be lost to all the superheroes.
07/24/08
While the characters sometimes feel roughly drawn, the casting is spot on.
07/22/08
A tale of forbidden love, customs, rising nationalism and epic tragedy - exuding Merchant Ivory quality in every frame.
07/19/08
India has rarely looked so beautiful onscreen. Against the anguish of his human characters, director Santosh Sivan juxtaposes a tranquil, green world in the hills of the southwestern state of Keralain 1937, 10 years before independence.
06/20/08
Top Critic Don't be deceived by pretty pictures. Before the Rains has a whiff of the thriller about it.
06/20/08
When the rains in Before the Rains finally arrive, there's nothing to cleanse, no real dirt to wash away -- not with history already so neatly packaged and polished to a dull shine.
06/20/08
Top Critic This is a story where passion is political and, as with all political indiscretions, the coverup is worse than the crime.
06/12/08
[Santosh] Sivan makes it all quite beautiful with verdant imagery and tastefully melodramatic direction, but at the cost of emotional and social ambiguities
06/01/08
It might have been more convincing if it had emphasized personalities rather than types.
05/30/08
Latest News for Before the Rains
May 08, 2008:
Santosh Sivan Goes Home Before the Rains 
For Before the Rains, his English-language directorial debut, cinematographer Santosh Sivan went back to his roots -- specifically Kerala, a state on the coast of southwestern... More...
Related Forums for Before the Rains
Critic review: Lovers Create Road to Ruin in 'Before the Rains'
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