‘Rains Over Babel’ Movie Review [Sundance 2025]: A Queer ‘Dante’s Inferno’ Goes Awry

Photo from Gala del Sol Films

From Jeff Nelson

Who knew that Inferno, the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, and 90s queer punk culture could go together? Rains Over Babel carries its aesthetic through every fiber of its soul, but it’s far more successful in worldbuilding than the storytelling within it. Gala del Sol has an inspired, scrappy vision that momentarily radiates before its myriad of narratives begin to collapse.

A group of misfits' stories collide at Babel, a legendary dive bar that also functions as purgatory. The city’s Grim Reaper, La Flaca (Saray Rebolledo), resides in this slice of nightlife, gambling with lost souls who trade years of their lives to outsmart Death.

Dante (Felipe Aguilar Rodríguez) is only one of the colorful characters circling La Flaca to fulfill his mission. However, the problem is that he doesn’t know exactly what that mission is. His contract is ending, and he’s desperate to uncover the secrets of his past before his spirit passes on. Meanwhile, Monet (Johan Zapata) recently died and must make a deal with La Flaca to return to his body before it decomposes. Timbí (Jose Mojica) and Uma (Celina Biurrun) urgently pursue Death to save their loved ones, while Jacob (William Hurtado) grapples with his identity leading up to his first drag performance.

There is a lot going on in Rains Over Babel, and any one of these stories could make a feature all its own. Each soul pursues La Flaca for love, whether their intention is for a romance, a family member, or life itself. However, it rushes through the individual narratives and doesn’t allow them to shine. Del Sol injects each narrative with rebellious camp, infusing its themes with a comedic, whimsical wink. This unserious approach works better for some sub-plots than others.

Dante and Jacob’s segments are the most fulfilling, granting them greater agency in their character arcs. Dante interacts with other major players as the pressure mounts with his contract’s conclusion. Jacob’s tale of identity is familiar, but it’s constructed with care. His first drag performance is where his true self finally collides with his identity as a preacher’s son. Del Sol doesn’t skimp on the drag performance, allowing the electric show to radiate where other filmmakers may have shied away. 

The underground punk aesthetic is transportive, especially Jaime Luna’s scene-stealing production design. Performances are fine across the board, with Rebolledo holding a strong screen presence as La Flaca. However, a repeated sound effect that plays every time she enters the frame grows tired. 

Rains Over Babel has an unapologetic grit that is highly admirable, but multiple movies are happening at once, and they’re clashing. There’s a really brilliant movie buried in there that isn’t able to break from its almost anthological restraints. 

Rating: 2.5/5

Rains Over Babel played Sundance 2025 on January 26th, 2025.

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