Rainbow movie review: Update of The Wizard Of Oz adds diversity, loses focus

Language: Spanish with Hindi & English audio and English subtitle options

Realism dissolves into trippy fantasy backed by an outstanding musical score to define the experimental intent of Paco Leon’s new film. The popular Spanish actor-writer-filmmaker, in his fourth directorial feature, seeks to retell The Wizard Of Oz with an interesting spin of diversity that, among other things, incorporates LGBTQI+ characterisation. The downside is Leon’s vision of inclusivity, while re-organising Victor Fleming’s 1939 classic, remains the only highlight of an otherwise mediocre film.

Fleming’s film, as well as L. Frank Baum’s novel The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz on which it is based, has over the years emerged as an icon for the gay community beyond its overall impact as a cultural phenomenon, and Leon’s idea to reimagine the sexuality of certain characters in the story seems interesting to begin with. The actor-filmmaker, who has been open about his plurisexuality in the past, does a good enough job driving the film’s inherent message that people should be what they truly want to be rather than what the world wants them to become. Most of what’s interesting about Rainbow, however, begins and ends with that unconventional thought process. Somehow, Leon fumbles for the rhythm to bring alive his vision and his storytelling ends up a banal exercise.

The ambition was always daunting. Attempting any sort of remake of Fleming’s timeless work would seem like a challenge, more so if you were exploring an altered vision set in a contemporary milieu. Leon chooses to narrate the drama through the eyes of a modern day teenager named Dora who fills in here for Judy Garland’s epochal protagonist Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz. The idea positions his revisit as a coming-of-age journey even as the screenplay tries retaining the colourful road movie flavour of the original tale. Somewhere, Leon was trying to bring his narrative alive with a twist of absurd humour, too — something that worked effectively in his past directorial efforts such as Carmina Or Blow Up and Kiki, Love To Love. But the sense of wry humour doesn’t quite come alive in this case, given that Leon’s screenplay of Rainbow comes across as far less assured than his past directorials. Clearly, the filmmaker was attempting too many things at once, and the struggle shows as he goes about trying to balance the different aspects.

To his advantage, Leon has handpicked some of the finest talents of Spain for the characters in his reimagined screenplay. He has signed up Carmen Maura and Carmen Machi, two of Spanish cinema’s most accomplished names, for key roles that carry forward his vision of diversity. To top up the starry mix, the director adds new-age rapper Ayax Pedrosa and Nigerian designer Wekafore Jibril in his cast to play important characters. The Carmens, especially, act as a perfect foil to the teen sensation actress-singer Dora Postigo, cast in the central role of Dora.

Leon and his co-screenwriter Javier Gullon imagine Dora as a teenager with promising musical talent. Following a spat with her father, Dora leaves home with her dog Toto as a companion. She intends to trace her mother who she has never met. On the way, amidst the adventures that await her, Dora makes new friends. These friends, like Dorothy’s metamorphosis into Dora, are also updated in Leon and Gullon’s screenplay. If Dorothy, on her journey befriended the Scarecrow that rued not having a brain, the Tin Woodman that yearned for a heart and the Cowardly Lion who sought to be brave, Dora’s newfound companions are more rooted in realism than symbolism in identity as well as desires. They, however, fail to recreate the same magic.

Structurally, the film’s screenplay avoids departing too dramatically from the original storyline. It could be a reason why, despite Leon’s novelty of concept, Rainbow hardly has anything that surprises or excites. The runtime of close to two hours barely gives you a single sequence worth recalling once you sit through the film, more so if you are familiar with the Oz lore. Perhaps the film failed to take off at the scripting stage itself. Or, perhaps, Leon the director failed to bring alive what he had envisioned as a writer. Either way, Rainbow fails to unfold as a story with any sort of depth and that hurts Leon and Gullon’s efforts to set up a substantial storyline. The outcome is Dora’s escapade appears shallow and the shot at diversity tends to become stereotypical at times.

As a director, Rainbow is not Leon’s first shot at a remake. His 2016 release Kiki, Love To Love, was inspired by the Australian sex comedy, The Little Death, about the clandestine affairs of five couples in Sydney. Leon repositioned the story and its characters in Madrid with entertaining results, retaining the impish, feel-good mood of the original. But perhaps it is easier to remake an Australian film that is comparatively lesser known worldwide. The challenge would seem far more imposing while trying to retell The Wizard Of Oz — that too rendering an identity update to certain characters. Leon’s execution of the script is done in by the very ambition that drives his attempt, and the outcome in several places of the plot is sheer confusion. It leads to the narrative appearing incoherent in parts and that in turn slows down the intended fun factor. Lack of pace is another problem with the storytelling, film editor Ana Alvarez-Ossorio could surely have done better with the final cut. Rainbow, however, is a visually striking film, with Marc Miro’s cinematography setting up frames that balance the dreamy elements with the realism that props the story, ably aided by Idoia Esteban’s art direction and production design.

It is all exquisitely laid out, for Leon to unfold his tale. He could have crafted a remarkable film given the original material at hand as well as the technical support he gets from his creative crew. Rainbow, however, fails to leave a lasting impact. The film never realises its potential and remains just another new interpretation of a great story.

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist, and film journalist based in Delhi-NCR.

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