Three Days of Rain (2002)

Rain strives for a Magnolia-type tapestry of quiet desperation. But after 90 unremitting minutes of badly acted, atrociously written histrionic misery, pic leaves one praying for frogs. Full Review

In the genre of interlocking stories about lonely lives, Three Days of Rain is only a sketch compared to the power of Rodrigo Garcia's Nine Lives, which continues to grow in my memory. Full Review

The ends of each story work beautifully, but getting there requires traveling some washed-out roads, despite the imprimatur of executive producer Wim Wenders. Full Review

A well-written and -acted drama that's also unrelentingly grim.

Inspired by Chekhov's short stories, Three Days of Rain belongs to the now-familiar genre of overlapping tales of urban desperation. Full Review

The real subversion is director Michael Meredith's insistence on not capturing interactions between human beings in a frame; with some forethought he could have filmed the actors individually and spli... Full Review

Meredith has created a mood piece that avoids self-indulgence as it explores the self-indulgent nature of a handful of diverse people, caught up in the major and minor miseries of life's foolish ironi...

A hypnotic mood piece -- where characters' blank existential stares are framed through rain-beaded car windows -- and a murky riff on urban Midwestern ennui (by way of the Russian steppes). Full Review

It's simply a pleasure watching these seasoned pros, a collection of recognizable faces, if not exactly household names, massage these characters and bring them and their stories to life. Full Review

As a filmmaker, Meredith has a strong, if derivative, visual sense, although his screenplay is packed with too many clichés and familiar riffs. Full Review