SFFILM FESTIVAL 2022 REVIEW! Secrets and techniques at all times set up to expose themselves within the worst techniques. In cinema, that’s a excellent factor. From Georgia (the rustic), Elene Naveriani’s story, Rainy Sand, takes position in a small Georgian village alongside the Black Sea. Certainly one of its citizens, Eliko, dedicated suicide, and the townsfolk collected at a well-liked café owned via the easy-going Amnon. Now not most effective do they gossip in regards to the evening’s occasions, however they surmise that Eliko could have been a bit of…”off.” His frame isn’t even chilly, and this poisonous dialog enrages Amnon and his spirited server Fleshka.
Arriving on the town is Eliko’s granddaughter Moe, who reluctantly will have to take duty for his stays and assets. Moe has sour recollections of town and she or he’d simply think to get the funeral over with and depart. Sadly, aside from Amnon and Fleshka, nobody is keen to assist, particularly as Eliko’s immoral way of life turns into clear. Moe’s efforts to bury her grandfather develop into increasingly tough. Her most effective “assist” with the townsfolks comes from police officer Alex, who longs for a greater project than this the town and possibly a date with Moe.
Now, again to secrets and techniques…Moe discovers that Amnon is Eliko’s boyfriend/lover. She vows to stay their secret, however like every excellent rumor, the uncovered secret spreads like wildfire hanging Amnon, Moe, and Fleshka at risk from the village. In fact, this ends up in the eventual war of words with the very homophobic mob…emphasis at the phrase “mob.”
“…nobody is keen to assist, particularly as Eliko’s immoral way of life turns into clear.”
Rainy Sand is a reminder that the extent of homophobia we skilled within the U.S. again within the 80s and 90s remains to be very a lot alive and neatly in lots of areas of the sector. Director Elene Naveriani masterfully captures the disdain and violence perpetrated towards the LGBT group now in Georgia and the encompassing Bakan nations. This force is to handle and shield their tradition’s norms and traditions whilst keeping up the divine proper to actual judgment on those that are other.
Naveriani’s masterful storytelling comes into play via her lead actors’ performances of Amnon, Fleshka, Moe, or even Alex. Amnon is a person in love who stored his love within the shadows for a long time whilst fooling his buddies, consumers, and locals. Moe is the outsider whose presence exposes the darkish rage of the village, and Fleshka is the marginalized outcast whose singleness is interpreted as lesbianism. Her disdain for town places her endlessly at odds with its voters. Finally, Alex is an overly sophisticated and rather conflicted police officer. He believes in justice however, on the similar time, frequently takes the simple path to ease stress and makes use of his authority to make advances towards Moe.
Regardless that tales like Rainy Sand don’t seem to be new to LGBT cinema within the U.S., the place we had been at many years in the past is a nonetheless very provide sentiment in a foreign country. Rainy Sand serves to remind our previous and a cautionary story about how smooth it could be to take a couple of steps again. Its haunting imaginative and prescient of passing homophobia to the following era will stick to you till the top.
Rainy Sand screened on the 2022 SFFILM Competition.
