WIFF - Dry Rain (short)

This was an interesting short film shot on 35mm in Montana, which provides some stunningly beautiful scenery.  It’s about a permanently down-on-his-luck father and his prodigy son, on the lam at the border of Canada after the father “cased” the boy’s house to kidnap him.  He keeps correcting his son that they’re on a vacation and that he’s not kidnapped.  The tone of the film is semi-serious and somewhat dry and kind of gasps its way through to the end.  Eventually the father lets the boy off by the border and the kid calmly walks to the border guards.  It’s not really clear what we’re supposed to be feeling at the end—just an interesting character study of a father trying to figure things out and his kid trying to make it easier for him.  It’s good in that the dynamics of the relationships are unique and realistic.  Three out of five.