Smell of Rain (2007)0

Smell of Rain is one of those movies that you wished more and more Singaporeans rec­og­nize as part of their grow­ing film econ­omy. It’s one of those movies that ought to be widely released in the coun­try, not just to 8 weeks of show­time. Focusing on a 20 year old boy’s uniquely silent vision of every­day life, as well as his reac­tions to a female inter­est, Smell of Rain had bril­liant cin­e­matog­ra­phy and direc­tion which is almost quite unheard of from Singaporean Films. The film has a back­bone strong enough to keep the film paced and spaced well enough through­out its one and a half hours of screen time due to its expe­ri­enced direc­to­r­ial debut of Gloria Chee. Rather impres­sive is also her pas­sion for the ele­ments in the story that is obvi­ous from the choices of shots and deci­sions in the film’s struc­ture. Comparing Smell of Rain to film his­tory, it isn’t a ground­break­ing mas­ter­piece of a drama, it isn’t some­thing par­tic­u­larly orig­i­nal as well. The twist of the story even has a famil­iar feel to it. And as pow­er­ful as the open­ing dia­logue that opens the film with high expec­ta­tions and poten­tial, you cant help but feel that the film could’ve been a tad more pow­er­ful or inter­est­ing in con­tent. It had all the right ele­ments to make it a tech­ni­cal and styl­is­tic suc­cess but it still had a tinge of sub­stan­cial cliché that kept it from going for­ward. That being said, Smell of Rain is def­i­nitely a must-see for its visu­als of Singapore that you can hardly rec­og­nize. Watch it for the act­ing that remains full through­out the slow pace of the film. Watch it to cap­ture the director’s orig­i­nal essence that was meant to be show­cased. Watch Smell of Rain, for the very impor­tance that keeps film­mak­ers going to finally get it right. A step­ping stone in its own way. A pedestal worth respect­ing with its budget.