Rain

Fourteen-year-old Rain (Renel Naomi Brown) lives with her ailing grandmother Rosalie (Irma P. Hall) on Ragged Island in the Bahamas and loves to run. Rosalie worries about the day Rain will have to go live with her mother, Ethel (Nicki Micheaux), in Nassau (Rain's father never rates a mention). After Rosalie dies, Rain finds Ethel, who now calls herself Glory, living in a one-room shack and working as a prostitute. Rain finds solace in the school track team and its coach, Ms. Adams (CCH Pounder), who looks after her and helps her train for a big meet in Guyana. Rain also finds a friend in a sassy neighbor who disdains the way the church preacher rails against homosexuals (the neighbor isn't gay, but believes the pastor is and she loathes the hypocrisy). Glory herself isn't unkind, but she's ill-equipped to take care of another person: she gambles, smokes crack, and coughs often, indicating possible illness. Despite a hopeful ending, Rain is a gritty film, with depictions of drug use and attempted rape; but it's more realistic (and artfully shot) than most family films and may also appeal to Christian viewers since director Maria Govan places value on faith in a higher power, while taking to task those who judge others different from themselves. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)