Love like the Falling Rain, adapted for Netflix from a novel by Indonesian author Boy Candra, introduces us to young collegians Kevin and Nara, neighbours since childhood, who must confront the shifting landscape of relationships, and their feelings for one another as they navigate their way toward adult life. This tale has of course been told many times before, and with wildly varying thresholds for language and lasciviousness. The tone it takes, however, is of melodrama, as polite a film as its leads are toward one another. Vin and Nara are pretty much inseparable around campus, where Nara studies traditional Indonesian dance and Vin is a budding environmentalist. Nara, love’s eternal optimist, always cries on Vin’s shoulder when a relationship goes south; her buddy, meanwhile, soulful and introspective, tells us in voiceover that he’s head over heels for Nara, but just can’t find the guts to tell her that she’s the one. While Vin struggles to break out of the friend zone, there’s an obvious spark between Nara and Ned, even if they at first deny it. Love like the Falling Rain explores themes of friendship and true love and is unfailingly, exceedingly polite, like a pleasant bicycle ride through the streets of Jakarta.