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Raincoat (2004)

I was hoping Raincoat would be transcendent, and I did like Aish and Ajay together, and both acted well. My criticism is really on the set up of the movie itself. It's based on the Gift of the Magi by O Henry, which I didn't know going in, but gleaned pretty quickly. The way it is filmed is very claustrophobic as much of it is when Ajay, a down on his luck unemployed man, visits Aish, his childhood sweetheart who married a rich man, in her apartment in Calcutta. It's like a stage play, really, just filmed. And I contrast with Lootera (also an O Henry story based film) that also had key intimate scenes when the romantic couple were locked together in a room, but Lootera also broke things up with dramatic chase sequences and what not.

Raincoat got painfully slow in the middle. There were some very good scenes === particularly Ajay crying alone in the bathroom of his friend's home in the beginning. I also really liked his relationship and conversations with his friend's wife Sheila, and how he asks her why she was weeping all the way to her wedding and back. She replies that he needs to learn some things from women, and turn on the shower when he's crying in the bathroom.

I guess we're supposed to admire Aish for letting herself look horrible and depressed and like a wet dishrag basically, but I don't know if her acting was really up for this kind of listless disillusioned character. I love her in many things, but this one is not my favorite.