Cujo108 A traveling medium who "performs" in front of large audiences, Martha Travis relays messages from deceased loved ones to their relatives in attendance. Having pushed her into this way of life, her alcoholic father is more than happy to be making (and blowing) the money her shows bring about. One night, however, Martha receives a message from a man who's wife claims he isn't dead. He soon is though, killed just the way Martha had envisioned. Word spreads, and soon skeptical reporter Gary Wallace is on her trail, as is the hit-man responsible for the killing.Black Rainbow is a grimy, slow-burning little southern Gothic. Directed by Mike Hodges, the film is equal parts horror yarn, crime thriller and chastising of fake mediums. Before she begins foretelling deaths, we never are clearly sure if Martha's gift is all an act. Whether it is or not, the image she uses to describe her connection to the afterlife, that of a rainbow, is about to become very blackened indeed. Low key and mysterious, the film is laced with atmosphere that, while often dreary, in reality is quite hypnotic.In a film like this, the characters have to be well-drawn. These are believable, broken people. As Martha, Rosanna Arquette is intensely ethereal. I don't think she's ever looked more stunning, and likewise, I don't think she's ever given a better performance than the one delivered here. She vividly conveys the essence of the character, a woman who turns to sporadic bouts of nymphomania for her only form of gratification. Emotionally worn and hardened by the existence that's been forced on her, Martha lives an empty life giving hope to others while keeping none for herself. Jason Robards plays her father, a louse of a man using his daughter as a cash cow while deriding her every step of the way. Tom Hulce is the cocky reporter, and I recognized the mechanic from The Night Flier as Ted Silas.At one point in the film, Martha is branded a witch due to one of her predictions. The same woman was more than happy to take part in her showings when they were reassuring, but the moment she foresees something bad, the woman does a 180 and puts her down. Ah, good ol' human nature! This leads to Arquette tearing into her final audience with a speech about the affirmation of their own lives through the afterlife. Terrific stuff.Hodges peppers his film with many themes, a key one clearly being the human need for assurance. Under his direction, everything comes together beautifully. One scene is a real stunner, as we bear witness to the force of an unseen explosion. I didn't realize what I was seeing at first, but once it became clear, I had to go back and watch the scene again. A lovely example of creativity through subtlety. Really, despite the run down locations, despite the macabre nature of the proceedings, the entire film has an underlying beauty radiating throughout it. It's a delicate balance, but one that's fully achieved.Wrapping up with an ambiguous ending, the film concludes on a fitting note. This was a great discovery. Never talked about, but utterly satisfying, anyone looking for a real sleeper need look no further. Wonderful film.

skallisjr 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.

gridoon "Black Rainbow" is an uncategorizable film: an unusual and ambitious mix of such different genres as metaphysical horror, corruption/conspiracy thriller, family drama, even a backstage look at the way evangelist/medium "shows" are set up. The mix doesn't always work (the ending, for example, is not consistent with some of the previous events), but the movie is still definitely worth seeing. There are at least two or three brilliant scenes (the most notable of which is, arguably, the way Hodges "films" an explosion without actually showing it), and Rosanna Arquette gives an impressive performance. (***)

trupie 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.