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The Rainbow Experiment

Play trailer Poster for The Rainbow Experiment 2018 1h 29m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
56% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Things spiral out of control in a high school when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a student for life.
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The Rainbow Experiment

Critics Reviews

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John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter 12/06/2018
While its quirky storytelling style draws viewers in, many will tire of the subplots long before it reaches the two-hour mark. Go to Full Review
Brianna Zigler Film Inquiry 05/23/2019
It's a strong idea that isn't executed as it should have been in order to produce a wholly engaging piece, and though clearly created with care, The Rainbow Experiment ends up less enthralling than its titular incident. Go to Full Review
Niall Browne Movies in Focus 01/03/2019
3/5
A multi-layered drama, Christina Kallas' The Rainbow Experiment weaves a lot through its many characters and plot-lines. Go to Full Review
Jennie Kermode Eye for Film 12/07/2018
3.5/5
Part mystery, part soap opera, part critique of how adults understand and interact with young people, The Rainbow Experiment bites off a silly amount and manages to chew most of it with gusto. Go to Full Review
Raquel Stecher Quelle Movies 12/03/2018
raw, powerful and experimental... expertly explores the failure to communicate between adults and teens. Go to Full Review
Shelagh Rowan-Legg ScreenAnarchy 06/23/2018
By recounting these stories of the private and public politics, the emotional and the professional, Kallas asks her audience to understand and question how easily we think we can know what happened in any terrible accident. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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12/08/2019 Set at an American school, this film revolves around an accident, a science experiment gone wrong that leaves one student clinging to life and the rest of the students and staff in utter chaos. The film opens with the moments leading up to the tragedy and from there it quickly expands as you watch the varied reactions and responses to the incident. It is fascinating, one day under an intense microscope as teachers break down, cover-up and politicize, bringing their own personal baggage into an already manic situation. The parents bicker and rage and the students assign blame and fight as they try to comprehend what happened whilst dealing with their own real life problems and situations. Like the idea of the Butterfly Effect or the waves that eminate from the drop of a pebble in water, everyone involved is twisted up and rocked in some way. Using a large ensemble cast of mostly unknowns, it would have been easy to lose track of the story or for the individual characters to get lost but this does not happen. In fact the number of actors involved helps the film as we watch them interact, their own personal journeys contorted by others and the situation. Overheard conversations, school mis-managment and simple mistakes become huge problems and cause life changing decisions. This is high drama, people on their worst day, but the acting is sublime never straying into histrionics and over acting. Every reaction is real, understandable and the direction aids this immeasurably, with the camera almost like a bystander, an eavesdropper in every room. The editing is also magnificent, with the use of jagged jump cuts, split screen and blurry effects that add to the tension and the constant sense of unease. In all, a magnificent film that really hits you hard, keeps you interested and emotionally engaged and that you think about long after the credits roll. See more 10/12/2019 Dumbest movie ever. The plot sounds really goodbut the entire film jumps all over the place it leaves you going.....WTF am i watching See more 09/10/2019 "The Rainbow Experiment" is a deeply dimensional and immersive schoolhouse drama in which a chemistry class experiment goes horribly awry, leaving a student in a coma. Students and adult leadership wallow in the aftermath as we learn the backstories of each through some wonderfully unconventional and clever storytelling constructs, including tour guide narration from the lingering spirit of the comatose teen - played by Connor Siemer - who breaks the fourth wall to introduce us to the players in this ensemble cast. Throughout, our suspicions of humanity are largely confirmed: When tragedy strikes near and around us, it's not the empathetic lens of the stricken we see through, but instead we're immersed in our own absorptions relative to the event. This is a highly ambitious film in the layering of its dramatic and suspenseful story. In a day and age in which major studios admittedly streamline film plots with the presumption their distracted home viewing audiences will be simultaneously navigating their phones, "The Rainbow Experiment" demands that you put your handheld devices down for two hours, and promises a richly nuanced payout in return. See more 06/18/2019 Fascinating deep dive into the consequences of a moment in time. Kallas's use of a broad cast and split-screen lend itself well to the striking portrait of individuals and a community dealing with a terrible moment in time. See more 06/14/2019 Very impactful multi-protagonist film. See more 05/04/2018 An engaging multifaceted Movie Which really allows the viewer to connect and relate to the protagonists. Very Deep Human choices on every step of the way See more Read all reviews
The Rainbow Experiment

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis Things spiral out of control in a high school when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a student for life.
Director
Christina Kallas
Producer
Allison Vanore
Screenwriter
Christina Kallas
Production Co
Alliecine
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 9, 2018
Runtime
1h 29m
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