Before the Rain

1994 dramatic triptych

Rating: 15/20

Plot: I don't have time for a plot synopsis. I'll cover it in the review below.

There's a possibility that I might appreciate this first Macedonian-produced film more if I saw it a second time. I had previewed the basics--that it was three interrelated stories split into chapters called "Words," "Faces," and "Pictures," that it dealt with the effects of war and violence on ordinary people, and that there were some intentional continuity errors. I really dug the film's daring structure. The first story deals with a pursued teenager and a monk who attempts to help her. The second takes place in England with a reporter, her husband, and the photographer she was sexually involved with. The third follows that photographer back to Macedonia where a connection to that girl from the first story is revealed. Each story has its own character development, rising actions, and climaxes, but the way they interlock makes the entire thing cyclical in a nifty way. The film's structure enhances (or is enhanced) by the primary themes about the cycles of violence and the way love fits into the whole thing.

There's one major continuity error that really messes with your mind. I wouldn't want to spoil anything, but it involves a character from one story who seems to be deceased in one part of the story before he or she does a whole bunch of other stuff. It's a daring move from first time director Milcho Manchevski, but I think it helps reinforce that theme. The Beastie Boys track "So What Cha Want," storms, and the words "Time never dies, the circle is not round" find their way into each story in the triptych. Those words about time sound like something from Twin Peaks, don't they?

Some really choppy editing hamper things a bit, especially in "Words," the first of the three. But maybe it's just because I enjoy seeing monks on film or something, but I thought that story was the best told. The characters from the second are unlikable, and the climactic event of that story didn't make a lot of sense. The third story has some pacing issues. And by pacing issues, I mean that it's a little boring.

Watching sheep being born sure is fun to watch.