rse I am an avid film fan and when I saw this DVD I thought "Great. Banderas, director, loved Crazy in Alabama, should be good." Wrong.I did stick it out to the end in some sort of masochistic exercise. The film rambles endlessly. And that combined with the almost unintelligible "acento Malagueño" plus all the gratuitous adolescent sex made it difficult for me for me to like. I didn't get any kind of message and neither did the other three people watching it with me. I then watched the interview with Banderas and my take is that he read the novel, loved it and decided to make a movie. He has the international clout to get incredible financial backing (the backing credits at the start read like a phone book) and made the huge mistake, in my opinion, of having the author do the screenplay. I think a third person could have stood back and taken a better, or at least cohesive, view of the content. On the positive side, I thought the photography was sensational and the ambiance of Spain under Franco was pretty good. I am not too sure those kids could have gotten away with all the free-wheeling sex during that period of Spain's history but I have never lived in Malaga. My end comment would be "don't bother".

cvete_petkova I was much surprised to find a topic-specific idea of filming.It seems that I have underestimated Mr. Bandéras involving the role of the lover exciting but unable to revive something deep.In this sense the film has a certain suggestion on the spectator and encouraged him to search for the key lost during the teen years and feel the uncertainty of the path to browse.Unfortunately the initial pleasure goes quickly because of the lack of a balance between the model of love style "porn" and the poetic love.Indeed it is worth to see, there are times where everyone must realize that even the choice of being happy can be difficult.

jaipur I approached my viewing of this film with trepidation. The preview description I had read filled with me little confidence that I would enjoy it as I was expecting something quite sentimental. Also, films directed by actors often disappoint as their focus is usually on the acting performances and not the appearance of the film. But, to my surprise, what was most impressive about Summer Rain was the strong visual style of the director Antonio Banderas. His use of vibrant colours, striking vistas, dream scapes and powerful, haunting imagery made the film a true delight. Based on a prize winning Spanish novel and set in Banderas' home town, Malaga, it is apparent that the novel resonated deeply with Banderas. His passion for the work is evident in every scene. The cinematography is superb and the use of the widescreen aspect ratio contributes significantly to the rendering of what must have been rich source material. I now long for an English translation of the novel. Based on what I've seen Banderas attempt to do in this film, it seems that the book must have been a challenging adaptation. Voice-over is something I don't care for normally, but the elusive nature of the voice-over text in Summer Rain was a major factor in making this film such a pleasure. Rather than explain actions and motives, the periodic comments by the narrator (called Throat) heightened the atmospherics of the film. The choice of actors was excellent and all turn in performances that serve the themes of the film. Special mention has to go to Victoria Abril, who has played opposite Banderas before so many years ago. She is marvellous and lights up the screen with her evocation of the alluring older woman. I hope Antonio Banderas can find more projects to immerse himself in. His passionate rendering of Summer Rain suggests that he is a director to watch out for.

sakura1083 The beginning was interesting and promising. Dreamy and surreal. Great. BUT as the story progressed, it became an endless free fall. The use of voice over is too extensive (Somebody should teach Mr. Banderas about the value of silence. Not everything has to be blatantly explained) and tiring (even corny sometimes) and the script is simply ridiculous. It pretends to be intense and dramatic but it goes overboard towards the end, stripping it off of any dramatic feeling. It's laughable when it's supposed to be sad and it's unbelievable when it's supposed to be serious. Too bad for the actors, who deliver a good performance, in spite of such awful script. The photography is well done. But these two factors alone won't add up to a decent movie. That's why I rate it 1-awful.