Asian American cinema has found its place under the spotlight recently, with a number of releases getting a place in festivals like the San Diego Asian and in streaming services. One of the latest that came our way is “Red Wine and Rain”, in a rather minimalist short that takes place in the middle street.
“Red Wine and Rain” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
Two couples are having a go at each other in a suburban street, with the yelling, the insults and the accusations coming from all over the place. It turns out that Danny used to date Kathy, before she cheated on him with James, the boyfriend of her childhood best friend, Sophia. The latter seems to be the most enervated among them, since the double betrayal she has experienced has brought her on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Kathy tries to calm things down by apologizing, but the wounds seem to be too deep.
In just over 16 minutes, Jennifer Marie Morgan manages to present a rather thorough portrait of all of her characters, along with their interconnecting relationships, in probably the best trait of the movie. In that fashion, Sophia is mad to the point of hysteria but justifiably wounded, James pompous and obnoxious, Danny relatively calm and Kathy apologetic, with the ways the four conduct themselves justifying the initial relations, due to the similarity of the characters. At the same time, the fact that the couples have split, may also be perceived as a comment regarding how ‘opposites attract'.
Somewhere here, however, is where the narrative begins to falter, since it never becomes clear why Cathy and James got together, since not even themselves can explain the reasons for doing something that destroyed two couples and one rather significant friendship. At the same time, the two monologues of the girls emerge as too sentimental, with Sophia's in particular bordering on the melodramatic, despite the rather convincing performance of Ell, who gives the most memorable act in the film.
On the other hand, the tension Morgan implements from the beginning is rather captivating, particularly on the question of how the whole thing will end, thus carrying the short until the finale. Andrew Jacquot's cinematography helps the most in that regard, although the constantly shaky camera and the continuous zoom-ins get somewhat annoying after a fashion. Charles Zhang's editing also moves in the same, tension-inducing path, while also giving a sense of movement in a short that takes place inside just a few square meters.
“Red Wine and Rain” has its merits, particularly regarding its atmosphere, but Morgan should definitely improve in the writing and the way the story is implemented within the narrative, since her effort is not far from being soapy.
