Ferenc András' Rain and Shine is perhaps the most impressive and original comedy from Eastern Europe since the heyday of Forman, Passer, Menzel, Skolimowksi, et al. The narrative - more of a richly elaborated incident than a plot-heavy story - tells of a country family's efforts to entertain visitors from the city on the day of a great feast celebration. This sunny pastoral turns into a steady procession of small mortifications and missed connections, until a general air of acute embarrassment settles over the whole affair like a thundercloud. Along the way, András produces some of the most sensuous images of food and gluttony ever filmed - at times, the closeups of dinner being prepared take on the abstract energy of an action painting. The film's witty and often profound sense of human paradoxes and dualities is reflected in its ravishingly photographed contrasts of black and gold, ending with pyrotechnic images of a night sky filled with fire: all, in András' slyly double-edged view, is rain and shine together.
“A vigorous feature debut, this takes all the clichés of the village peasant drama and gives them an unexpected sting and twist as a rowdy, greedy family prepare to welcome relatives and a bureaucrat from the city. Ulcer-ridden and extremely tetchy, the latter is forced to join in a meal of grande bouffe proportions and discovers some new and disturbing facts about village politics and business. The satire is directed unsparingly at both city and country folk, the pacing is fast and furious, the tone scurrilously funny.”