AMERICAN FAMILY: a review of "Rachel Getting Married"

For my final SAVAGE CINEMA installment of the month, I have dug up one from the archives and one I now think should have been included within my "Honorable Mentions" sections of my favorite films of the decade. So, mentally add it to the Time Capsule as it is a wonderful movie.

Originally written March 26, 2009

"Rachel Getting Married" Directed by Jonathan Demme
**** (4 stars)

In 1986, the late, great Gene Siskel and equally great Roger Ebert highly praised a film in which they enthusiastically celebrated its audacity, and appreciated its unpredictability. Its unique style presented through performances, plotting, music, visual motifs, usage of colors, and whip-crack energy created a film in which anything could've happened and it completely lived up to its title. That film was "Something Wild" and it was brilliantly directed by Jonathan Demme, who went onwards to create a variety of films within several genres. From comedies ("Married To the Mob"), to re-makes ("The Truth About Charlie," "The Manchurian Candidate"),to concert films (Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense," Spalding Grey's "Swimming To Cambodia"), to high profile Oscar winners ("Silence Of the Lambs," "Philadelphia"), to work as a Director-For-Hire (Oprah Winfrey hand picked him to direct the vastly undervalued "Beloved"), to quaint slice-of-life pieces (a beautiful 1980 film "Melvin and Howard"), to even documentaries (2007's "The Man From Plains" about former President Jimmy Carter), Demme is a true cinematic journeyman.

Yet for me, even with casting such a wide cinematic net, I have often been disappointed. Demme has been a director I have ended up appreciating more than actually loving as I have not been as enthusiastic about many of his films since "Something Wild"--and in the case of "Silence Of The Lambs," I even felt his work (and the film itself) was sometimes overrated. (I'm sorry folks. I'm not a fan of that film--I'm MUCH more partial to Michael Mann's underseen 1986 film "Manhunter" which featured the original Dr. Hannibal Lecter portrayed by Brian Cox--but I digress.) Even the films of his that I've loved didn't take me back to the feeling I had when I first saw "Something Wild." Perhaps that is more than a little unfair to him, as it does create a relationship between artist and fan where I am possibly chasing a certain streak of lightning which may never strike in that same way again. But, then I watched "Rachel Getting Married."

The plot of the film is quite simple and straightforward as it depicts the weekend wedding ceremonies of the titular character (portrayed by Rosemarie DeWitt) and in attendance is her sister, Kym (Anne Hathaway) in her first weekend out of drug rehab. The familial tension is immediate from the moment Kym slides into the back seat of her father's (beautifully played by Bill Irwin) car. She heads home, trepidatiously greets her sister and fiancee Sidney (Tunde Adebimpe of the band TV On The Radio), attends an AA meeting where she quickly strikes up a tryst with another member of the program (who is coincidentally a friend of Sidney's), returns home for a dress fitting and the first eruption of long seething sibling rivalry occurs as she usurps the Maid Of Honor role from Rachel's close friend. Shortly thereafter, we arrive at the rehearsal dinner and then something deeply unexpected happens. This particular sequence goes on...and on...and on and it was during the lengthiness of this section where that elusive streak of lightning I had been searching for in Demme's work for many, many years became stunningly apparent to me. It was the complete dissipation of any standard movie conventions.

The screenplay, written by Jenny Lumet (daughter of legendary director Sidney Lumet and the iconic Lena Horne), eschews all familiar movie structure, movements and formulas by making all moments naked and Demme captures and celebrates every possible nuance by leaving all nerve endings exposed. It just snuck up on me and I became entirely engaged in the moments and the people contained within those moments. The result delivered an unmistakable power. Like my reaction to "Slumdog Millionaire," to say much more about the goings on in this film would be unfair to you as I would want for you to experience it as I did--with a modicum of information to allow the film to breathe, resonate and burrow its way into your emotions.

But, there is a lot I feel compelled to say and I don't think it would spoil the proceedings for you. First of all, Anne Hathaway's Oscar nomination for this film was deeply deserved. Like Emile Hirsch's transcendent performance in Sean Penn's "Into The Wild," there has been nothing in Hathaway's back catalog of performances that suggested that she could deliver in this blistering fashion. Kym is by turns enraged, self-righteous, honest to a fault, completely narcissistic and I easily found myself rooting for her the entire time because Hathaway allows us to see her humanity. Kym is in an awful situation by entering a maelstrom of family and the emotions that undoubtedly comes with them. Add to that the conflict of dealing with private demons within a public setting where everyone knows your history, will only see you as the person who created that tragic past and not allow you to evolve. And then, your own family treats you as a ghost when you are sitting at the same table.

That's not to say that Rachel and their father Paul have no rights to feel the way they do. Rachel is petulant, constantly trying to steal the thunder Kym has wrought back onto herself as it is her special weekend. Paul is also in the impossible position of having to support both children's feelings without seeming to favor one over the other while also masking his own emotions. Seemingly minor characters also show great presence. For example, Rachel's fiance Sidney doesn't have much actual dialogue but he is so present. It shows effortlessly that while he is a person who knows a family's entire array of intimacies, he is not a PART of the family yet. And still in such a lovely way, the romance of Rachel and Sidney, as relayed through family and guests, never feels like a convention. It feels as full as life. The inimitable Debra Winger makes a rare screen appearance as Rachel and Kym's mother and while she also has few scenes, you can see and feel their whole history with and without her. "Rachel Getting Married" is an exploration of the high wire act that every family goes through. As if on the tip of a knife's edge, the energy in a room may begin as playful and just one wrong word or moment can make it spiral into crippling despair. Arguments of visceral brutality can suddenly explode into jubulience. Demme captured it all so beautifully in this high wire act of a film which often feels like a documentary that may fall apart at any moment.

The genre of "dysfunctional family films" is a difficult one to pull off successfully. If we take into account that most people that go to the movies have families of their own, it is possible to think that you may be bringing your perceptions and history to the table. Why do some films work for some people more than others? For me writer/director Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "The Darjeeling Limited" worked for me in ways that Jodie Foster's "Home For The Holidays," or "The Family Stone" and "Little Miss Sunshine" (I'm sorry folks, I am not a fan of that film) just did not. How did writer/director Noah Baumbach make two films where one ("The Squid and the Whale") deeply resonated and the other ("Margot At The Wedding") just failed for me? "Rachel Getting Married" is a film that doesn't seem to care if its characters are likable or not. It presents a family and people as they are and leaves all impressions up to the viewer...and it feels as if it's a blessing to have almost been invited to a ceremony so intimate and vibrantly open.

Perhaps it is Demme's journeyman status as filmmaker that has allowed for a film such as this one. By crossing genres and giving equal time, attention and empathy to a world's worth of characters over the years, he was able to literally bring it all home where everyone, including the viewer, is a part of an experience that can only be described as communal.

In the rehearsal sequence, Sidney's grandmother expresses to the roomful of people, who come from all walks, ages, and races, "This is how it will be in Heaven--all of us together." I actually flashed to the visions of Grant Park, the night Barack Obama became elected as President. The sea of diversity was a vision of America I have had in my head for my entire life. And this vision of family was one of the most truthful I have ever seen in a film. "Rachel Getting Married" is a remarkable piece of work and quite possibly Jonathan Demme's very best film to date.

SIDE NOTE: I am NOT a fan of the "shaky-cam." I tend to think that it is a sloppy technique that calls attention to itself rather than present a "you are there" quality. While the technique certain did evaporate the "fourth wall" of cinema beautifully, I'm really glad I didn't see this in a movie theater as I think it would've made me nauseous. But, on your televisions it should be just fine.