Filmed largely on location in Chicago and helmed by Columbia College graduates Michael Ojeda and Joel Goodman, Lana's Rain is supposedly about two refugees from the Bosnia war moving to Chicago and trying to make their way in this strange new world. Instead, it is simply every late-night cable movie you have seen in your whole life chucked into a blender, drank, and explosively shat down your throat. Its sole novelty is the replacement of faux-hick accents (the norm when Hollywood films shitstorms like this) with broken English with eastern European accents and Croatian (with English subtitles).Oksana Orlenko, in the title role, does a decent job in either language, but burdened by a simply awful script and generally not-very-good co-stars, I'm not certain how much I'm just trying to find one redeeming facet of this production in order to justify the disappearance of $6 from my wallet and 107 minutes from my life. If there is one, it certainly is not the direction, the cinematography, the script, the editing, or the lame, heavy-handed (but digitally mastered!) score. God knows it's definitely not the script.… Lana's Rain runs through so many laugh-out-loud bad movie clichés that it's hard to believe it was ever made. Speech about how America is where dreams come true? Check. Inept, slow-motion "action" scenes? Check. Shoehorned-in romantic subplot that serves no purpose other than providing the obligatory sex scene? Check. Flashback images at the end to remind you of everything that you already saw in the previous hour and a half? Check. Completely unnecessary "happily ever after" final scene? Check.No bearing on reality whatsoever? Check.

Lana and Darko are a brother and sister who escape war torn Bosnia by hiding in a metal storage container on a cargo ship headed for the United States. Lana is a sweet, innocent young woman who has witnessed a great deal of personal tragedy in her life, while Darko is a well known mobster who is basically running for his life from forces who are out to get him. After an arduous trip across the Atlantic, the two settle down in Chicago to start a new life in America. When they fall on hard times, Darko decides to pimp his sister out for money while his dark past begins slowly but surely to catch up with him.Although it aspires to be a gritty film about real people struggling to survive in a harsh environment, "Lana's Rain" comes across as an overwrought melodrama, poorly acted and even more poorly directed. The story is so filled with theatrical flourishes that little of what we see actually rings true. Just a minor case in point: towards the beginning of the film, as the unloaded crate in which they are hiding is speeding its way from the east coast to Chicago, Lana and Darko look through a hole in the side, and lo and behold what do they happen to see passing by but the capitol building in Washington D.C.! I'm surprised director Michael S. Ojeda was able to resist throwing in shots of the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon as well. Unfortunately, this relatively insignificant gaffe becomes symptomatic of the film as a whole which is all too often willing to sacrifice plausibility for the sake of dramatic effect."Lana's Rain" is a serious missed opportunity, for what could have been a meaningful and sensitive film on an important subject turns into a series of hokey dime-store novel vignettes instead.

This film is better and grittier than many dramas with ten times the budget, and there are plenty of suspenseful moments to keep even the most indie-phobic skeptic intrigued. Oksana Orlenko (who won an award in Milan for her performance) and Nickolai Stoilov are seamless as the charismatic leads, while Michael S. Ojeda's direction makes the best use of their talents and the skills of his cinematographer (Gennadi Balitski), as well as his own script.I disagree with the one reviewer (out of ten so far) who didn't like the "execution" of this film. I think it is a perfect mix of action scenes that grab you, and intense character-driven dramatic moments that allow for time to take in all that has happened. Ojeda really captures the sense of peril one feels without a dime and no place to go. That gash in Lana's forehead on the film's poster gives an idea of how deep the film is, and the roller-coaster ride awaiting anyone who watches it. I wish I had seen it in the theater. Grade: A

This is a film about a brother and sister who escape war-inflicted bosnia to arrive in chicago. soon their enthusiasm evaporates however, when their money is stolen. this is a beautifully directed film, and i was lucky to attend the premier in chicago and speak with the actor who plays darko. i think both leads are fine actors, and the film works very well. its very realistic, very gritty, and very intense. I think about half of the dialogue is spoken in croatian, and that adds to the realism of the film. many moments are very heartbreaking, like when lana tries to learn english by reading a dr. seuss book. I also loved the way the director portrayed chicago. he is obviously very familiar with the city and it shows. overall, i highly recommend it.