Rainy Day Movies

It’s raining? Wanna watch something? I’ll offer you six movies from six genres to choose from.

1. Drama: Blue Jasmine (2013)

Cate Blanchett is striking the big screens once more, and she’s not Galadriel. Directed by drama director Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine is a tale that tells about a broken New York socialite with her life messed up moving to her sister’s apartment in San Francisco, coping with her new life, far from all the glam and glitz of the Big Apple. The film raises themes of social classes, lies, and corruption. This film might not do well on the script, but it highlights on Blanchett’s powerful performance. The entirely gloomy tone of the film with the subtle flow of the dialogue makes this film perfect for rainy day viewing.

2. Crime: Taxi Driver (1976)

I don’t really fit with Scorsese’s works but I found this movie really interesting. It’s about a Vietnam War veteran working as a night-shift taxi driver, observing all the “scum off the streets” and looking forward to do something about it, as his mental state regresses. The movie’s packed with gloomy, mysterious tones, surrounding the storyline of someone’s own bubble’s being bursted; little by little. The jazzy, fit-for-rainy-days, yet very haunting score by Bernard Hermann might make this film one of your handy, chilly rainy day companions. (Also, 14-year-old Jodie Foster’s here – and she’s Oscar nominated for her performance).

3. Horror: The Shining (1980)

Ah, here it is – the famed head of Jack Nicholson! Surely everyone will probably agree if I were to say that this film is the second scariest film of all time (the first’s absolutely The Exorcist). It tells about a family who were asked to be caretakers of a mountain-y Colorado hotel for 6 months, and they discovered about the supernatural presence in that hotel as the father’s mind spirals into insanity. This is one of the rare horror films that focuses on the whole atmosphere of the film rather than worthless jump scares. If you’re living in somewhere snowy, I’d recommend you to watch this when it snows, as it can intensify the chills of the film. Well, if it’s raining, it can double the scares as well.

4. Romance: Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Okay, I might’ve implied this: Jennifer. Lawrence. Nevertheless, her performance was undoubtedly marvelous in this movie. The film tells us about a mentally unstable divorcee out of a mental hospital who is struggling to get his life back on track and win his wife back; but as another mentally unstable widow came into his life, his plans got changed. All the performances in this movie are ACE; so’s David O Russell’s script, unless you’ve read the book, which makes the movie’s storyline a stormtrooper compared to the book’s storyline’s Palpatine. Anyways, this film’s good for rainy day screening because of all the light-yet-quirky atmosphere of the movie.

5. Comedy: Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)

Well, this German flick is the one that lifts Daniel Bruhl’s name to the public, way before Inglourious Basterds did. This film tells about a young man who lived in East Germany with a super nationalist mother. His mother went into a coma, and as she rests, the Berlin Wall goes down. To prevent her from fatal shock, the young man must hide out that fact to his awoken mother by any means. The film’s script is gold – I really want to meet the writers of this movie and say “How do you do ideas??” But, really though, this comedy (that lifts up issues such as political ideologies and globalization) shifts into something more of a tragedy as the running time goes on, and that’s the reason why it’s perfect for a rainy day.

6. Mindbender: Memento (2000)

You’ll never get the hang of this movie. It tells about a man who suffers short term memory loss and started it after his wife’s got killed. Now, he’s searching for the person who killed his wife, and he realized that it’s not easy as it seems. See, this is a Christopher Nolan work and every Nolan work will leave you scratching your heads. Now, this film is, by far, in my opinion, the most mindbending Nolan work I’ve ever encountered, and the thrill and gloomy tone of this movie fits the rainy day screening setting. And, the rain will be there when you’re done watching this and spending your time contemplating about this movie. Also, talking about contemplation…

7. Science fiction: Moon (2009)

It’s very lonely up there. Very, very lonely. In this film, an astronaut who’s only accompanied by a robot in the moon feels the same; until, near the end of his stint, he discovered something strange. This is a truly underrated film, in my opinion. Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey’s voice are the only actors in the movie – resulting with a brilliant performance from both of them. This intelligent sci-fi will leave you with an existential crisis and a long time of contemplation. The mysterious, gloomy tone makes it perfect for rainy day viewing.