Rachel Getting Married puts you off right away. Demme's hand-held camera work makes you dizzy. The film's muddy colors and grainy images annoy. And Anne Hathaway's behavior as Kym, returning home from rehab to attend her sister's wedding is so insistent on being noticed that you want to slap her. But soon your are completely absorbed into this drama of family dysfunction and Hathaway's sad, bleeding and deeply unhappy character makes you want to protect her even as she's manipulated everyone around her. This is a nice change of pace for her, though we noticed her dramatic turn in Brokeback Mountain. This is a fine actress who has range and depth. How nice that she can handle this kind of meaty dramatic role as well as romantic heroines. She's exhibited star power from the beginning. There's a bit of Audrey Hepburn (whom she's said is her favorite actress) in her. By that I mean, she can be radiant and deeplyvulnerable at the same time. And she has the same element that Hepburn had of sadness behind the radiance.
The rest of the cast delivers performances of a similar caliber. Bill Irwin as the ineffectual, smothering father, Anna Deveare Smith as the girl's empathetic step-mother, Mather Zickel as the Best Man and Tunde Adeibimpe as the groom all deliver strong work. Rosemarie DeWitt as Kym's angry and resentful sister, matches Hathaway's intensity superbly. These sisters are very connected despite the wall of resentment between them. Maybe the best performance is also the shortest. Deborah Winger, in a return to form, give an amazingly restrained performance as the Kym and Rachel's emotionally distant mother. She's probably not on screen for 10 minutes, but you are riveted . I wish this talented actress worked more. The scene of confrontation between Kym and her mother has perfect pitch and it is devastating.
Besides the jumpy camera, my only other complaint is the film's length. Did we really need to follow the reception in such excruciating detail? By then, most of the film's loose ends were tied up. I liked that Demme and Lumet (a really strong screenplay) refused to offer easy redemption to the characters, but the reception seems to point to the probability that more drama is to come. It never happens. So why such an interminably long scene?
Rachel Getting Married gets so many things right. And that is attributable to its superb actors. For anyone who admires good acting, this is the film to see this season.
The rest of the cast delivers performances of a similar caliber. Bill Irwin as the ineffectual, smothering father, Anna Deveare Smith as the girl's empathetic step-mother, Mather Zickel as the Best Man and Tunde Adeibimpe as the groom all deliver strong work. Rosemarie DeWitt as Kym's angry and resentful sister, matches Hathaway's intensity superbly. These sisters are very connected despite the wall of resentment between them. Maybe the best performance is also the shortest. Deborah Winger, in a return to form, give an amazingly restrained performance as the Kym and Rachel's emotionally distant mother. She's probably not on screen for 10 minutes, but you are riveted . I wish this talented actress worked more. The scene of confrontation between Kym and her mother has perfect pitch and it is devastating.
Besides the jumpy camera, my only other complaint is the film's length. Did we really need to follow the reception in such excruciating detail? By then, most of the film's loose ends were tied up. I liked that Demme and Lumet (a really strong screenplay) refused to offer easy redemption to the characters, but the reception seems to point to the probability that more drama is to come. It never happens. So why such an interminably long scene?
Rachel Getting Married gets so many things right. And that is attributable to its superb actors. For anyone who admires good acting, this is the film to see this season.