After his father's death, a self-absorbed car dealer discovers he has an autistic savant brother he never knew about. He kidnaps him for a cross-country road trip that slowly changes them both. Barry Levinson's film is a study of how a person can unlearn selfishness by spending a long time close to someone else.
Rain Man is a 1988 drama film directed by Barry Levinson. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (3 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Sound of Metal uses several of the same techniques.
Writing a disabled character as a full person with humor, anger, desire and choices of their own. The disability is one part of their life, and the film never plays it for tragedy or inspiration.
How this film uses it
Dustin Hoffman's Raymond is never a symbol or a lesson. His routines, his limits and his moments of connection are always shown in specific detail, and that keeps sentimentality out.
Where to see it
Raymond's need to watch The People's Court at a specific time, whatever the circumstances. The film doesn't play it for laughs or for tears. It treats it as a fact of his inner world and simply makes room for it.
Taking a character to the opposite of where they started, such as from weak to strong or from decent to compromised. That reversal is what the film is about.
How this film uses it
Charlie is the one who changes, and Raymond stays the same. The emotion of the film rests on slowly realizing that the person being 'taken care of' isn't the one who gets transformed.
Where to see it
The meeting with the court-appointed psychiatrist Dr. Marston. Charlie realizes Raymond must go back to the institution. He also realizes he has come to love his brother, after starting out by simply using him.
Dropping a character into a world whose social rules they don't understand. The comedy, and some insight too, comes from the constant mismatch between them and everyone around them.
How this film uses it
The film puts Raymond in a casino, in a Cincinnati diner and at an airport check-in. Each place gets its comedy from his rigid inner world running into the chaos outside.
Where to see it
Raymond dancing with Charlie's girlfriend Susanna in a stopped hotel elevator. He dances to match the only music he knows, and it is a moment of pure accidental grace.
Sitting characters down in 1 simple, fixed spot like a bench, step or curb for long stretches of talk. It is where they tell their stories and open up to each other.
How this film uses it
The brothers keep finding their moments of real contact in still, confined spaces (the back of the car, a motel room bed). Raymond's routines force things to slow down there, and Charlie gradually learns to live at that pace.
Where to see it
Charlie and Raymond in the motel bathroom. Raymond says "Rain Man" and Charlie realizes his brother was his childhood imaginary friend. It is a moment of real contact between them.
Questions
Rain Man: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Rain Man use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Rain Man (1988): Disability Without Pity, Character Arc Inversion, Fish-Out-of-Water Comedy and Bench as Narrative Stage.
Who directed Rain Man?
Barry Levinson directed Rain Man, released in 1988. CineCode also covers Sleepers (1996).
What films are similar to Rain Man?
Films that share techniques with Rain Man include Sound of Metal (2019), A Good Year (2006), The Godfather (1972), Forrest Gump (1994).
