Review of The Same Love, the Same Rain

I first was interested in this film after seeing "El secreto de sus ojos" (which I loved) because it had the same director and leading characters and told a seemingly similar tale of a difficult love story and the protagonists' struggle with internal conflict surrounding his own ambition and inhibitions and his struggle with an overbearing government that often leads him to find himself crippled in his work. I didn't find this movie quite as intriguingly complicated and intricate as "El secreto de sus ojos," but still found the movie compelling and impressive.

Jorge is a struggling writer in Argentina who falls quickly for the young and beautiful waitress, Laura. The pattern of an on-and-off-again relationship begins with a smitten Jorge and unavailable Laura. The climax of their relationship occurs when Laura and Jorge are finally together and Laura attempts to spark Jorge's ambition and pushes him to write with more significant substance with a meaningful and powerful book. It is really sad how Laura repeatedly becomes the victim of male inadequacies and weaknesses causing her hurt and heartbreak--one of many controversial and compelling themes that Campanella plays with in this film. I would definitely recommend the movie, and am very interested in his following movies "El hijo de la novia" and "Luna de Avellaneda"