Black Rainbow

This is not a film everyone would enjoy. It takes a poke at an old and established con game -- for want of a more precise term, fake mediumship -- and then stands it on its head.

Spoilers follow.

Before an audience in a mining town, Arquette's character tells various audience members of their losses, while the victims are still alive! She's proved to be wrong, and then, later, the persons die in the manner she describes. This happens more than once. Had she been a local lady, she might have been a murder suspect, or possibly hanged as a witch.

The story builds slowly, and each incident just throws another log on the fire, making the atmosphere murkier and more mysterious. The film opens ambiguously and ends the same way.

As noted before, not for every taste. But for those with the appropriate taste buds, the taste of this is rich and flavorful.

I won't waste time repeating all the positive points other reviewers have made about this film.

Rosanna Arquette is absolutely stunning in the lead role. You can see why Martin Scorsese advised her to play the part, she's perfect.

The fact that Arrow have restored this little gem on Blu-Ray is a rare piece of good news in this terrible year of 2020.

The script is filled with a series of chilling twists which Hodges plays with an absolute and certain confidence - the eeriness as Arquette's first vision starts to come, and her agitation and attempts to cover as what she is performing turns to real; the second vision where she reels off a list of names of the dead trying to contact the living and said people still alive in the audience start standing up puzzled. Hodges' depiction of a seedy con-job slowly becoming darker is beautifully written. The imagery as Arquette's vistas of heavenly meadows and tranquil afterlife cliches start to change into impressions of cancers, empty lives and of people suffering is a stunning and powerful one. The final soliloquy Arquette gives, coming out to taunt the audience - how they want there to be an afterlife so they can confirm their own lives, how if there wasn't an afterlife and what they had was all that they were given, then wouldn't that make her a fake ? - is superbly written and utterly rivetting in delivery. Arquette's performance in the film is exceptional.

Starts off well, but never seems to be able to make up its mind about its genre and direction. Is it a drama? A thriller? A supernatural mystery? It has its moments, but it's a bit too sporadic overall, much like Arquette's character's wildly fluctuating personality.

P.S. To Mr. Too Preachy Review down there: she never says that people should stop believing in God and the afterlife to focus on the real world, she simply says that they should stop spending so much of their physical lives worrying about the afterlife. Not the same thing at all. You seem to be the only one pushing a religious agenda here. Cut that out.

Are you? Kidding aside and I have to say the summary line another reviewer used made me chuckle - "too preachy" - which is a nice joke even if not entirely to the point of the movie. Or missing the points of the movie. That doesn't matter though if you can engage in this otherworldly feel the movie gives you and dives into.

Patricia Arquette is quite mesmerizing ... Robard is an amazing actor anyway. But they have certain scene, where some may feel confused. And they are there for a reason. I don't think one time viewing is enough to actually get everything the movie dishes out and serves us. I am sincerely surprised I never had heard about this until a really well restorated Blu Ray was released in the UK. I'm glad they did that, even if the movie may never reach a wide audience. But if you are into movies that are hard to predict (yes the overall outcome is clear from the start, since we then delve into flashback), but there is way more than meets the eye ... or camera lense for that matter! Watch and enjoy ... and maybe even understand! You better believe that ;)