Rave (2001)

A Rave is a Rhythmic Assault mixed with Visual Ecstasy and if you haven't experienced one, you're about to... It's Saturday night in Los Angeles and 6 teenagers throughout the city are in search of the hottest Rave in the city-- it's the weekend and they're ready to PARTY. Over the course of less than one day, we see a portrait of these kids finding their way; their paths crossing in a universal setting...a big city with all the temptations, attractions and dangers. Taking the journey through the wild underbelly of Los Angeles are Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite, Boston Public); Tamara Mello (The WB's TV series Popular & 7th Heaven), Douglas Spain (But I'm A Cheerleader, Resurrection Boulevard); Aimee Graham (100 Girls, Jackie Brown, From Dusk Till Dawn), Nicholle Tom (Beethoven, Beverly Hills 90210, The Nanny); Dante Basco (Steven Spielberg's Hook, Riot); Steven Bauer (Scarface, Traffic); Maria Carmen (Bring It On Again, Love Don't Cost A Thing, The Hot Chick); Demetrius Navarro (Purple Heart), David Chung (Repo Man) and Franco Vega .

Okay. Nothing special. Tamara Mello fans beware.

When they made RAVE, the producers probably hoped it'd seem so cutting edge, hip to the latest in youth culture. Yet for all those cutting edge aspirations, the film follows the template of hundreds of other films, a template set by AMERICAN GRAFFITI.

You begin with a diverse group of teens. Racially and socially diverse. Some are close to their parents, others don't get along with well-meaning parents, still others have horrid parents. Some of the teens are nerds, some are bad, some are flaky. One girl's pregnant and doesn't know how to tell her boyfriend. There's a gangsta boy, a boy who's never kissed a girl, and the obligatory gay boy.

It's a large ensemble cast. The teens are introduced, their lives weave in and out amid each other without colliding, and then they all end up at the rave. Where (predictably) everything that can happen, does happen. People O.D. Vomit. Beat each other up. Con their way past security. Make racist remarks. Engage in inter-racial flirting. There's over-crowding. A riot. A shoot-out.

Then the usual wrap-up. Survivors comfort each other at the hospital, or at home. Worried parents are relieved to see their kids come home. Other parents cry when the police arrive to announce their kid is dead. There's a candlelight vigil.

RAVE is an okay film, though nowhere near as great as AMERICAN GRAFFITI. Partially, I think it's because, unlike AMERICAN GRAFFITI, RAVE doesn't capture any large social zeitgeist. AMERICAN GRAFFITI reflected a significant historical transition, from the more innocent early 1960s, to the post-JFK assassination, rebellious 1960s. We knew what lay ahead for those kids after their last innocent summer.

RAVE is about a tiny, brief subculture, one that didn't have much impact, even on ravers. Raving was not part of, or swept away by, any larger historical movement, or on an historical cusp. Raving came and went in a blink. It left no large music stars in its wake (unlike grunge, which at least had Nirvana). Nor are RAVE's actors/characters especially interesting.

Tamara Mello is prominently featured on the DVD box, but hers is one of the smaller roles in this ensemble film. I guess she's gotten to be one of the more famous actors since RAVE was released, so the marketing people have re-released it prominently featuring Mello's name. But she's not so prominently featured on the opening credits, which means the filmmakers themselves didn't consider Mello's a significant role. Mello's name comes after the title (the bigger roles are pre-title) and Mello shares the credit placement with two other names (unlike the larger roles which have a sole credit placement page -- these things matter in Hollywood.)

So if you're a Mello fan, you might be disappointed. She's in the film, she's good in it, but it's a small role.

RAVE is a short film. An hour and 17 minutes (not including over 6 minutes of end credits). March 3, 2007

Could have been put together allot better!!!

I'm a huge fan of Electronic Dance Music and anything to do with this genre; I've been to both the huge acts and the underground parties. This movie had good intensions, but the way it came together is a little lame. I recommend One Beautiful Day if you like coming of age movies to do with electronic movies. December 20, 2006

Are you kidding me????

This is probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen. On top of the horrible acting...the events are so over the top that they aren't even believeable. Especially if you've ever actually been to a rave. September 17, 2006

How many movies about RAVE do we need?

I vote for no more after this one.

First of all, the movie is edited horribly. There are numerous occurences where edits should have been TIGHTENED. The acting is so over the top it's ridiculous. Mary Griffith's (Aimee Graham) father is the stereotypical DEMON father.

We listen to these kids talk to the camera throughout the film and how they live to RAVE, so they can be ONE WITH THE MUSIC and how RAVEing and DRUGing is their life... and I could only ask... WHO CARES?

Then, the kids all arrive at the RAVE. Weehoo!! 45 minutes of BAH! BAH! BAH! BAH! BAH! music and Seizure inducing strobe effects. Kids so drugged up they spend most of the time sitting by the toilet. Punks living to beat up other kids. Punks who riot and create havoc for no reason. A drive by shooting that looked so fake and overdramatized.

Gets you all teary-eyed. Not because you have any emotional connection with any of the characters, but because you spent $1.50 renting the movie on discount day and spent 80 minutes of your life watching it... well... 72 minutes if you fast forward through the credits... 3:30 of BAH! BAH! BAH! for the opening credits... geez. August 1, 2006

A melodramatic teenage tragedy set at a Los Angeles rave

"Rave" reminded me a lot of "Crash," and I think it was not just because we are looking at the Oscar winning film this summer in my Pop Culture class. Both stories are set in Los Angeles and talk about a chain of events dealing with racism that have tragic consequences, although the characters in "Rave" are all teenagers rather than adults. But director Ron Krauss' film came out in 2000, so it anticipates "Crash" rather than being some sort of after the fact juvenile version. However, the title is going to indicate something else to most young viewers, and when they find out that the subject matter is a lot more serious and this is not a total party movie, there could well be a lot of resentment.

The story here is about a bunch of young people from different racial and economic backgrounds who all end up at a rave one night in Los Angeles, where they find loud music and drugs. But we meet everybody before the rave and the characters start crossing paths in different ways. Daffy (Douglas Spain), is a young Hispanic who exchanges racial epithets at Jay Hoon (Dante Basco) when he drives too fast through the neighborhood. Then there are gal pals Sadie (Nicholle Tom), Mary Griffith (Aimee Graham), and Daffy's girl friend, Nette (Tamara Mello). The girls are friends with Amanda (Scott Torrence), who dresses like a girl ("A man, duh," get it). There are also Daffy's friend Bookie (Efren Ramirez) and Lisa (Lela Lee) who might be interested in Jay. Then there is bad dude JP (Franco Vega), who takes a gun from his father, and his friend Lazy (Shaun Weiss), who steals a hat from a store. We meet the families of most of these kids, so we can see who comes from a happy home and whose father is too strict, a bully or an outright jerk.

All of these kids end up at the rave, and if you were expecting a move about the rave scene that is not really what this film is about. It is more that the rave is the scene at which things come to a head in terms of the racism, violence, drugs, and dysfunctional families. Since there is somebody running around with a gun you know that at somebody point somebody is going to get shot with it. I ended up rounding down on "Rave" because I became disengaged in the scene where Mary is accused of being a lesbian by her father and they have an ugly shouting match. At that point the dialogue was a bit painful and a lot of the way things play out is fairly predictable. The script by Krauss, Kristine A. Tata, and Mario Zavala also includes interview segments, where the main characters get to talk about their feeling, hopes and dreams. These portions of the film go from being revealing to being more ironic once somebody ends up dead. The net result is more melodrama that tragedy, but all things considered "Rave" is much more of a message film than an exploitation one. July 29, 2006

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