Amateurish and uninteresting. Rainy in Glenageary is a true-crime documentary exploring the unsolved murder of Raonaid “Rainy” Murray in 1999 Dublin. Reconstructing the early life and final moments of Rainy, director Graham Jones seeks to give us context to better understand the tragedy of this cold case. But in the end, all that is achieved is another entry in a long line of true crime documentaries and podcasts.
Now, right off the bat, I am not trying to minimize the tragedy of Rainy Murray’s death. It was a horrible incident, I feel deep sympathy for her family, and I hope someday they find the killer. That being said, this documentary sheds no new light on the situation and serves only to spread rumors and conjecture.
“Reconstructing the early life and final moments of Rainy, director Graham Jones seeks to give us context to better understand the tragedy of this cold case…”
The first thing I noticed is that, for some reason, Graham Jones put ever image through a filter to make it look hand-drawn. Why? I don’t know. The overall effect is to make everyone involved with the case look dumpy and slightly melted. Adding to the amateurish feel of Rainy in Glenageary, you have the endless slow panning and crossfades that just look as if it was edited by a teenager on their laptop. The visuals are so poorly done and unnecessary to the narrative that one wonders why Mr. Jones didn’t just release a podcast.
Now I get that you want to build context in this sort of documentary. You want to build empathy in the audience for the victim. You want them to understand the tragedy faced by the victim’s family. However, there is so much time spent on Rainy’s history and what a fantastic person she was, and how persecuted her group of friends was by the community, that you start to suspect Mr. Jones might have known the victim and had a bit of crush.
"…the unsolved murder of Raonaid 'Rainy' Murray in 1999 Dublin..."
Brilliant film. i think you may have misunderstood the case
I definitely think it was the dark haired guy, not the blond, at least after watching the film that is
rainy in glenageary is a classic true crime doc
Like hundreds of thousands of others I found this documentary extremely haunting.
You made an error in saying the filmmakers didn’t talk to friends – they did and the friends consented to an audio record being made of their claims, as did retired Irish police.
sorry – but if you dismiss what people who knew the victim believe, then your article is disrespectful
COMPLETELY disrespectful film review – listen to the people who knew her. RIP Rainy x
Completely agree and I noticed that straight away. It’s the part that doesn’t fit with the rest of the writer’s analysis. Don’t disregard what people who knew the victim say, it’s very arrogant and makes you sound like a fool.
very good documentary, disagree with reviewer
The brilliance of this documentary, its simplicity and accuracy
I think you’re blind. c you really missed the poetry 😛
Amazed by how many details you get wrong in this review.
You say it’s just another true crime film, when literally everyone agrees the film has an unusual aesthetic for true crime films.You say there’s no new information in the film, when it categorically does include new information that people have been discussing since its release. You say friends of the victim remembering things or opening up about stuff doesn’t matter because it’s 20 yrs later?
The end of the pier is that way, Inspector Clouseau!
It is an open investigation, for pete’s sake…
It’s hard to pick favourites from Jones’ career, as his body of work contains many important films, but I must say this one is really special. He is a very unusual and distinctive filmmaker, who has won awards and been critically praised. This review is mis-informed and also kind of infantile.
Contrary to what you suggest in this review, the film takes quite a strong position on who the killers were and it’s actually the first time certain information has been publicly disclosed.
You would need to read between the lines a bit, though, because it’s not your typical documentary where everything is spoon-fed to the viewer or reviewer.
Did you miss the title card at the beginning – where it explained that interviews were not just conducted, but audio recorded off-camera and perhaps fail to accept that it’s not a traditional talking heads doc?
I hate reading a review of a film or book about a real life event, where the reviewer is not sufficiently familiar with said event and misinterprets subtlety or restraint as shortcomings. Over here in Ireland, people are very familiar with this case and since this doc came out, now more or less basically know what happened to the poor girl back in ’99. But reading this misinformed review would give one the opposite impression. That’s to say nothing of how stunningly beautiful and bold the film’s visuals are.
Thank gos for the comment section without which, I would never have watched the film.
😀 : D 😀
…you have no understanding of how criminal cases work at all – do you Mr Acosta?
Excellent film
I didn’t think it looked like watershipdown, thought it looked like enid blyton
we disagree also, completely. sorry! RIP Raonaid Muray.
LOL… feel like i saw a completely different film
me neither… never been so haunted by a doc in my life
terrifying story
Like a large number of people commenting here, I vehemently disagree with your review. I saw the documentary first and then started reading about it. This is a very interesting case and I found the visual style of the documentary and the narration to be masterful.
I hate to sound patronising, but your review does also seem to have missed some important points in the investigation and that’s backed up by friends of the victim commenting here.
My condolences to everyone who knew her – sounds like she was a really special person.
one of the better crime documentaries I have seen
if this guy watxched the green marker scare, he’d probably haemorrhage
the green marker scare is a classic but so is how to cheat in the leaving cert, classic nineties irish indy film. we loved rainy in glenageary, praying for answers x
LOL… Don’t mention The Green Marker Scare, it would defo drive this reviewer nuts 😀 😀
yeah, I think you missed a trick. Online film reviewers,do your homework! This guy has made many indie movies. He made a choice to do this one in a particular style, not because he couldn’t do it any other way.
I thought the visuals were judicious, for what is technically an Irish period piece set in the nineties. Do you understand the retro, scrapbook appearance is intentional? The film has certainly been heavily praised, including being called a work of art. My mother and I found it very moving. Karin
Odd case, odd film and odd review!
Previously, nobody knew about the female suspect being one of Ranaoid’s close friends and all her weird behaviour, because the circle have only revealed that part to the filmmaker now (your reviewer seems to have completely
missed that point) and it does make me wonder if the Murray family will ever get resolution, if these ‘friends’ are so reluctant to express themselves at all.
Obviously, it would be very scary, being terrorised by the taxi guy and the police who should have supported you, not assaulted you.
But you’re all older now and should tell the police everything you know about this dodgy male and female.
RIP
just watched it and thought it was nuce they spent time showing who she was in the doc, unlike most of these kinds of docs where the victim is just a victim here you kinda got to now her better at least
Saw it over the summer and was mesmerised. It was like leafing through a smooth-paged Watership Down photo-book or something. Definitely contains new information, from close friends of the victim and so I don’t really get what this reviewer is saying either. My sincere condolences to anyone who knew Rainy, hoping and praying you can all get to the bottom of it 🙁
Em…. Not your finest moment, Enrique. I’m sorry, but they were definitely not just saying they didn’t like the way they were talked to. They were specifically saying they were abused by police. I have just finished watching the film on YouTube and it’s made very clear.
That’s an experience I’ve had myself in Spain and I can tell you that if you had ever gone through it, you certainly would not have made the above statement, because it demonstrates a complete ignorance of this kind of situation.
‘ “The most damming thing about Rainy in Glenageary is how it presents “New evidence” in the form of brand new memories from her friends. So, basically, these are things that her friends just remember now after twenty years. Well, memories are unreliable at the best of times, and with a distance of two decades, they should probably be counted as fiction. But, there aren’t just new memories. No, there are things that her friends purposefully didn’t tell the investigators because they felt mistreated. So this new evidence isn’t new at all. It’s just purposefully been suppressed because the witnesses didn’t like the way they were being talked to. ‘
Did you even watch the film all the way through?
Asa friend of Raonaid’s, I find this article extremly offensive.
What the hell do you mean by saying that we just didn’t like the way we were being talked to? They assaulted our friend! They treated uslike criminals, while we were grieving. Twenty years ago, we were minors ffs……….
sorry for your loss. I think its great you are starting to speak up about how you were treateds.
Well said, Karen. It’s disgraceful, how you all were treated. My husband and I were really surprised to learn about the assault. Praying for answers. RIP Raonaid.
EVEN NOW, they won’t let us tell them what happened.people just DON’T get it, unless they experience it directly. thank god people are watching the film, that’s all i have to say. Rest in peace, rmxx
Yeah, that seemed to straight over their head. My condolences, Karen & RIP Raonaid.
Sorry for your loss.
thank god for the stills in this review, as without them I might never have taken a look at the film,which is one of the best true crime docs I have seen..RIP RAINY – I PRAY THAT JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED XX
thought it was a brilliant film
“One begins to wonder if Mr. Jones tried to get anyone at all on camera or mic to make a statement”
My guess is that he probably didn’t try to get anyone on camera, as it’s not really that kind of documentary and sticks to a very strict visual style throughout.
But mic?
A title card at the very beginning of the film explains how close friends of the victim, not to mention a police commissioner or somebody senior, were interviewed and audio-taped as research for the documentary. It does seem pretty clear the mates revealed stuff they didn’t feel comfortable telling police back in the nineties – this whole revelation about the relationship between the taxi fare & violent mate is not one I had ever read anywhere before over the years and I’m a true crime nut…
Richard, do you understand the ending of the doc?
I think it meant the taxi fare’s gf lived there – but it’s obviously quite ambiguous.