Larisa Oleynik's newest film project, "Bringing Rain," had its world premiere at the New York City Tribeca Film Festival this past Saturday, May 10th. Yours truly was in attendance to that screening. The film actually started half-an-hour late (7:00PM instead of the scheduled 6:30PM) to accommodate the audience that filled the 700-750 seat theater to near capacity! The film was preceded by an introduction from one of its producers, Linda Moran. After the movie was over writer/director Noah Buschel and half-a-dozen cast members (Adrian Grenier, Paz de la Huerta, Niesha Butler, etc.) took some questions from the audience. Larisa was NOT present at the premiere. 'She's in Italy' is what Mr. Buschel, whom I talked to afterwards, told me about Ms. Oleynik's whereabouts.
THE MOVIE:
"Brining Rain" is, in MY personal opinion, a mixed bag of a very good idea and some really good performances dragged down by a heavy dose of independent filmmaking blues. Let me explain. The movie deals with how an off-camera car accident involving baseball catcher Clay Askins (Adrian Grenier) and his swimmer girlfriend Neisha Sanders (Neisha Buttler) indirectly correlates with (and affects) the lives of a small group of students living at a New Jersey boarding school. Clay's guilt for what the accident did to Neisha (he was either distracted or intoxicated, I'm not sure) makes him skip class and desert his school's baseball team (the Sharks).
The accident also restricts the other students at the boarding school from leaving on weekends, which explains why most of them tend to sit in their cars with the engines off puffing away at what appears to be an endless supply of cigarettes. There are more students in this school than the dozen or so "Bringing Rain" focuses on, but the movie feels like those anime TV shows in which the streets of Tokyo are empty except for the small group of characters in which the story focuses on. The movie is more of a slice-of-life metaphor than an actual story (the film ends on a down note that leaves its characters' issues purposefully unresolved and hanging loose!), with writer/director Noah Buschell going a little overboard with the awkward silences and pretentious film-within-a-film dialogue. And, as in Network TV shows like "Alias" and "Felicity," an alternative song makes sure the lyrics match the emotions the characters are supposed to be feeling on the screen (a pet peeve of mine!). ou know this is an Indie flick when the Clay Askins character, after being granted a clandestine exit from school by Headmaster Gula (Olek Krupa, sensational as the only adult authority figure in the entire movie besides a barely-seen security guard), chooses to spend his night of freedom at a Clearview Cinemas movie theater.
THE PERFORMANCES:
Since "Bringing Rain" takes its sweet time to get to where it's going (which is apparently nowhere) the performances by the young actors are what keep it interesting. Adrian Grenier is sensational as the silent and moody Clay Askins, a leader whose emotional (and physical) scars are just barely under the surface of the coy attitude and blue cap he wears throughout most of the film. This might be a weird analogy, but think of what the teenager X-Men characters from Bryan Singer's two movies might be like if their leader suddenly lost the nerve to fight and withdrew into his own little world of self-doubt. Every character in "Bringing Rain" at one point interacts with Clay, and its clear that if the accident hadn't happened this guy would be the one that could hold the entire gang together. Seen from that perspective (the study of what friends are like when the glue that held them together collapses), "Bringing Rain" is actually a pretty cool concept anchored by a solid lead in Grener’s strong (if a bit understated) performance.
Neisha Sanders (moody and introspective), Paz de la Huerta (sensational as the hysterical druggie-with-illusions-of-grandeur Dakota Cunningham), the aforementioned Olek Krupa (Headmaster Gula) and Ben Buschel (a baseball pitcher whose ego for sexual conquests overcomes his otherwise decent personality) also turn in strong performances. I wasn't crazy about the other performances in "Bringing Rain." The Marcus Swords character played by Noah Fleiss (who plays Ori Sword's brother), in particular, was painfully oblique and underplayed. At least writer/director Noah Buschel paces the proceeding so that everyone in the cast gets at least one or two memorable little scenes. Which leads me to what you've all been probably wondering about since starting to read this.
HOW WAS LARISA OLEYNIK'S PERFORMANCE?:
Larisa's character, Ori Swords, is the only character in "Bringing Rain's" boarding school that seems to be at ease with who she is and appears to be enjoying life. Everyone else (except maybe for Headmaster Gula) seems to smoke like a chimney and/or be uncomfortable just existing inside his/her own skin. Ori, however, is just a disarmingly charming young person that smiles, chews gum (no smoking!) and goes about her school day as if it's a joy instead of a chore. There's a scene early on in "Bringing Rain" in which Ori Swords tries to cheer up Clay Askins in a desolate aisle of the school library. Larisa's bubbling personality injects Ori's monologue to Grenier's Clay character (which is perpetually set on moody) with such laconic juxtapositions and giddy optimism that one can't help but notice how much her character stands out from everyone else's in the movie. It's this innocence the Ori Sword possesses, however, that leads to her eventual maturity under fire when the trust sh puts on other people (her relatives, a potential lover, etc.) backfires. The Ori Swords at the end of “Bringing Rain” isn’t as depressed or melancholic as every other character in the movie, but she certainly isn’t as free from self-doubt as the character was when the flick got underway.
For a twenty-something actress that abandoned Nickelodeon's "The Secret World of Alex Mack" six years ago though, Larisa Oleynik seems to be stuck playing the same type of goodie two shoes school-bound character over and over in her subsequent film projects (except for the still-unreleased "A Time For Dancing," which I haven't seen). Ori Swords isn't as spunky a character as Bianca Stratford ("Ten Things I Hate About You") or as open as Wendy ("100 Girls"), and she certainly isn't as independent or assertive of her opinions as Alex Mack (third and fourth seasons only). This has probably more to do with how "Bringing Rain" writer/director Noah Buschel envisioned the character than with Ms. Oleynik's performance. Everyone in the movie talks with such monotone tones and with so many awkward pauses that, had the movie picked up the pace a little bit, it would have probably ended running 65-70 min. instead of its final 82 min. running time.
SO, IS IT A GOOD MOVIE OR NOT?:
Let me out it to you this way. Attendees to the "Bringing Rain" world premiere (and to every other movie in contention for prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival) were handed a note so that they could grade the movie from '1' (Poor) to '5' (Excellent). The "Alex Mack" fan in me wanted to give the movie a score of '3' (Average) for the excellent performances by some of the young actors (particularly Paz de la Huerta and Adrian Grenier) and for giving Larisa Oleynik yet another chance to charm viewers with her engaging personality. The film critic in me wanted to give "Bringing Rain" a score of '2' (Mediocre) for the maddeningly slow pace, pretentious independent filmmaking techniques (self-aware dialogue, music, etc.) and lack of resolution to the character's dilemmas. In the end I went with a '3,' but overhead many of the patrons leaving the theater not saying too many positive things about "Bringing Rain." Of the six films I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival this year ("28 Days Late,” “Once Upon A Time In America,” etc.) I’d have to rank “Bringing Rain” as fifth.
Then again, how many mediocre-to-average films these days feature the lead actress to one of my favorite TV shows of all time? The answer, sadly, is not too many! I'd be lying if I didn't say that, other than enjoying the performances by select members of the cast, the biggest kick I got from going to the world premiere of "Bringing Rain" is reminding half-a-dozen other moviegoers what was the name of the TV show Larisa used to do many years ago. It's sad when a TV show you treasure as your own personal gem is only described as 'that show in which that cute girl used to zap electricity and turned herself into water.' :-(
by J.M.Vargas
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