Like Sunday, Like Rain

"Like Sunday, Like Rain" (2014 release; 105 min.) brings the story of Eleanor and Reggie. As the movie opens, we see Reggie wake up and start his day. Reggie is a 12 yr. old wunderkind who plays the cello and is a math-whiz, but he's also living a pretty lonely existence even if in a well-to-do environment. His mom is having a fit because the live-in nanny just quit (or was forced to leave the country because of her visa). In a parallel story, we also get to know Eleanor, in her early 20s. She also just woke up, realizing her boyfriend never came home the night before. It's not long before Eleanor breaks up and moves out, and in a subsequent confrontation by her ex-boyfriend at her work, she is fired from her waitressing job. In desperation, Eleanor goes to a temp agency for nannies, and as luck would have it, she is hired as the new live-in nanny for Reggie. As this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie written and directed by actor Frank Whaley. This time he chooses to bring the story of an unlikely but blossoming friendship between Reggie and Eleanor. Reggie needs Eleanor just as much as she needs him, in fact she may need Reggie more, as she is down on her luck, with an annoying boyfriend, an ailing father and a strained relationship with the rest of her family. Beware: this movie is not for anyone in a hurry, and there is no major plot to speak of, so if you don't like a movie where there's lot of talking and little or no action, do yourself a favor and watch something else. It is a darn shame that this movie is rated "R" (the F word is used twice, and it wasn't even necessary and didn't make the movie any more "authentic"), as a key potential audience (the 14 to 17 yr. old) is probably not going to get to see this now. As to the acting performances, both leads (Leighton Meester as Elanor and Julian Shatkin as Reggie) give stellar performances and I hope we'll see more of them in due course. However, Billie Joe Armstrong (yes, he of Green Day) is completely miscast as Eleanor's boyfriend (for one, he is WAY too old, and for another, his acting skills are lacking). Also, there is a fair amount of classical music in the movie, so if that's not your thing, beware. I quite liked the classical segments, and the overall musical score, courtesy of Ed Hardcourt. Bottom line: not knowing much of anything about this movie before seeing it, I was pleasantly surprised by this and charmed from start to finish.

This movie was shot in New York 2 years ago, and shown at various film festivals last year. Why it's taken this long to appear in the theaters, I have no idea. I recently saw this at the Silverspot Cinema in Naples, FL. The matinée screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great. If you are ready for something other than the usual "Furious 7" or "Ant-Man" fare that Hollywood is sending our way, this movie might just do the trick for you. "Like Sunday, Like Rain" is definitely worth checking out, be it in the theater or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

Reggie is a highly intelligent lonely 12 year old boy living with is overwhelmed mother in a mansion in New York. He doesn't have a lot of friends and seems bored to death with life. Eleanor is a 20 something from a poor background who just broke up with her loser boyfriend. She stumbles into the "live in" job of being Reggie's nanny while Reggie's mom goes to China for a few months. Reggie ditches the plan for him to attend camp during the summer and Reggie and Eleanor spend the summer together and well... develop strong feelings for each other. Though a little slow sometimes I enjoyed this very much. The actor that played Reggie was wonderful and like a 35 year old man in a 12 year old's body. Leighton Meester was quite good too. It is a simple, but good story, of people and emotions. With a bittersweet end to the story. I really wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to this when Reggie is 20.

There are always some mysterious things about human beings that cannot be clarified. Some people get along for a lifetime but never know each other. Some people can penetrate each other in the moment of meeting. It's like the tearful line in the movie, "It's really hard to believe that I have only been with you for a few months, and it feels like I have known you all my life." Yes, this movie has a very strange, alternative, and even unclear emotional line setting. A wealthy little boy with an IQ and EQ that surpasses his age and a downcast nanny. When they get along for a few months, they have developed an unprecedented and thorough mutual understanding between them. It is a friendship that transcends age and exceeds friendship. Closeness, and something like extreme love that can never be defined as love. This film has brilliantly dismantled all the definitions of stubbornness, so that those well-defined secular concepts are completely invalid in front of these two people.

I enjoyed very much this story: the encounter of Eleanor and Reggie.Leanore needs a work and a place to stay, Reggie is a solitary music prodigy, who lives quite alone and he has had troubles with his former caretakers.Then appears Eleanor and little will grow a friendship: both are musicians and then a relationship with a lot of tenderness and affection. This film is also about self-improvement: Eleanor will discover again her pleasure to play music. The performances of Leighton Meester and Julian Shatkin are really very good.

10/10 Masterpiece. Some are calling this melancholy, but I think bittersweet is a better word. Above all, it's a story about a 12 year-old music prodigy being played by a c. 12 year-old acting prodigy. As good as child acting has gotten, few if any could have pulled this off as well. What's the significance of 12? It's that age where you're as mature as you're going to get before the onset of puberty. But what if your emotional maturity and profound awareness outstrip your physical growth? It's about resigning yourself to your solitude, until.... The result is a bittersweet gulf between two otherwise kindred souls. This isn't about dramatic friction, it's about something distinctive, enigmatic and fleeting. It's like playing a beautiful tune on a cello in an empty swimming pool with good acoustics. It's like Sunday, like rain.

Maybe the best "child" performance ever.