Rachel Getting Married - REVIEW

Movies like "Rachel Getting Married" are always tricky to review. Much like "Margot at the Wedding" or "The Squid and the Whale", the story is driven mostly by layers of emotion, rather than a structured A to B, B to C, C to D, etc... type format. However, "Rachel" does have a bit more structure than the other two, and it boasts something even more striking: realistically dysfunctional people who DON'T make me want to kill myself. Though they bicker and snipe, the discord in the central family is somewhat understandable - it stems from a significant family trauma. However, like Margot at the Wedding, it does boast a very strong central performance, only this time it's Anne Hathaway. That's right, that girl from "The Princess Diaries" can actually act, and she can act damn well. Though at times shrill, her character Kym is actually pitiable because of what has happened to her (unlike Nicole Kidman's Margot, who I wanted to strangle). In one particular scene, Kym stands to toast her betrothed sister Rachel (Mad Men's Rosemarie Dewitt), and as she continues to fumble, she begins to briefly breakdown, before regaining her composure. It's a mature and strong performance that showcases Hathaway's till now unutilized acting skills. However, best of all, the film manages to end on something of a high (ish) note, as opposed to the randomness of Margot or Squid's endings. The wedding itself, is obviously jovial, and brings everyone together after two days of fighting, but even it is punctured by brief glimpses of Kym struggling with her past. My biggest complaint with the film, however, is that once we get to the wedding, director Jonathan Demme seems more interested in focusing on the music (there's barely any dialogue during the reception), and limits his actors. However, as a whole, this devastating little movie is still much better than the usual "realistic dysfunctional family drama" movie, especially considering the main character, who for once, has shreds of likeability.

Grade: B+

Nominations: Best Actress - Anne Hathaway(#1 WINNER), Best Supporting Actress - Rosemarie Dewitt(#4)

Number of 2008 films seen: 36
Top 10 of the Year:
1. The Dark Knight
2. WALL-E
3. In Bruges
4. Burn After Reading
5. The Fall
6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
7. The Duchess
8. Tropic Thunder
9. Rachel Getting Married
10. Boy-A

"Rachel Getting Married" poster

"Rachel Getting Married" earns good reviews at Venice

VENICE -- Jonathan Demme, last in Venice with "The Manchurian Candidate," breathes a breath of honest cinema into a lackluster competition with "Rachel Getting Married," a film whose lightness of touch rides a wave of family conflict to perfectly balance smiles and tears. Playing the spitfire sister of the bride, an award-worthy Anne Hathaway gives the story a clear central focus and offers Jenny Lumet's subtle script some wiggle room to set aside a lot of the usual genre conventions without losing the audience's attention. Though hardly a blockbuster comedy, the Sony Pictures Classics release should gather steam as the awards roll in and word-of-mouth spreads.

Like Robert Altman's 1978 "A Wedding," by which it is clearly inspired, this is a terrific piece of Americana, shot with great spontaneity by cinematographer Declan Quinn. Demme's parallel career as a documentarist spills over into the onscreen music making, improv-style acting and fluid hand-held camera work. They plunge viewers into the thick of Connecticut WASP Rachel Buchman's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding to black musician Sydney Williams (Tunde Adebimpe.)

Rachel's wayward sis Kym Buchman (Hathaway), who is fighting drug addiction, has been let out of rehab to attend the wedding. As she arrives, preparations are hot underway in the Buchmans' big family house in the country. Kym's overprotective father (Bill Irwin) treats her gingerly, but Rachel and her best friend Emma (Anisa George) concentrate on damage control as the tough, scarred, self-centered Kym bursts like a uncaged tiger upon their plans for the perfect wedding.

Largely offscreen, but very central to the drama, is Kym and Rachel's remarried mother, Abby (Debra Winger), whose aloofness has its roots in the painful past. As every guest at the wedding knows, and the audience comes to find out, the 16-year-old Kym was high on drugs and driving the car when a family tragedy occurred that no one has been able to forgive. Backed up by a top cast of actors, Hathaway masterfully navigates this complex role with verve, sarcastic one-liners and a controlled mix of toughness and fragility.
Shot through with smart humor, "Rachel" outlaws cliche. Sydney's good-looking best man, Kieran (Mather Zickel), whom Kym has previously spotted at a 12-step meeting for struggling addicts, materializes at the wedding like her perfect romantic partner. In a humorously unexpected twist, Kym immediately beds him in the attic and ignores him for the rest of the film. A whole romantic subplot is nipped in the bud, leaving the screenplay room to open family wounds and explore less predictable territory.

There are moments of heavy-hearted sadness and pain, set off by Zafar Tawil's violin theme, that strike an emotional chord; with great control, Demme balances the bits of melancholia against the loving encirclement of the wedding couple by their guests. Coming from modernly mixed ethnic backgrounds, they warmly represent funny, talented, articulate, liberal America (surely the fact that Sydney and Kieran live in Hawaii is no coincidence?) Raising the spirits is a lot of music-making and joyful song, including a just-right a cappella number by the groom as he and Rachel are about to be pronounced man and wife.

Trailer for Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married"

It's like Margot at the Wedding.....if it had been directed by the man behind The Silence of the Lambs. Also, Anne Hathaway looks like she might finally be ready to show Hollywood what she's really made of. If she's that good, I just hope she doesn't end up totally ignored come awards season like Nicole Kidman was last year for "Margot".