Once in the mad, mad world of industrialization, self alienation was defined by Kafka when describing metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa. In “The Metamorphosis”, everything was narrated inside a room where Samsa was transformed to a giant insect.
In her thought provoking debut feature film, DIFFERENT KINDS OF RAIN (which deservedly won the best first feature film award in Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival), Isa Prahl focuses on the concept of self alienation in the mad, mad world of communication and social networks. In order to do this, the self alienated son of the family, Mike, who has locked himself in a room, is not portrayed as a proper character, but as a faceless figure covered in the clothes just in the beginning of the film; a figure who might be the unknown boy who surfs between all the people, locked in the closed areas, to protect themselves from the downpour; a figure who might find a way to go to the open air to surf fearlessly in the rain – since he is notified that the rain is beautiful when falling on his skin.
In DIFFERENT KINDS OF RAIN, unlike “The Metamorphosis”, there is no hint that what is happening inside the room with the unknown figure. Contrarily the film focuses on his family members living on the verge of nervous breakdown and fall of a house and a family, each searching for a new meaning for their lives outside the domestic circle and being prepared to cross the borders of regularities. Their unity, evident in the beginning of the film, when the father, the mother and the sister are singing “Happy Birthday to You!” at the door of the closed room, gradually turns to the crosscutting of the stories of three people, seeking their dreams out of their home – a home with a creature, deliberately locked in his room.
Unable to connect to the creature, each of them is involved a new story to prove the humane abilities. The father tries to look after an ill man, unable to connect to the others. He is ready to steal the device the man needs to communicate with the others. The mother meets one of the old friends of his son and tries to make him a replacement. She is ready to break in the gym with the young boy with the boy and unawarely tempt him. The sister does her best to convince her best friend that her new boyfriend is not worthy of her. She is ready to sleep with him and make a mess at last.
The crosscuts between the stories make the audience forget all about the creature, but the pretext for the creation of the creature seems somehow clichéd and outdated. It is the easiest way to talk about a horrible experience when confronting the wild nature in the desert and then an unbelievable reaction when taking refuge in one’s room and surfing the internet. But the creature’s messages to outside form an outstanding idea, solely dealing with the rain reports from different parts of the world.
In her debut feature film, Isa Prahl shows her masterful approach to creation of a critical situation and its relevant narratives. Her great work with the actors is sensational, leading two young girls, Miri and Ellie, to crazy moments of trust and friendship as well as jealousy and hostility. Meanwhile DIFFERENT KINDS OF RAIN showcases the bravura contribution of the cinematographer and the composer. Andreas Kohler finds the most precious opportunities for creating the dreams and the nightmares in his stylized shots and Volker Bertelmann gives more psychological depth to the unforgettable scenes through his experimental music.

K.