Sunday, March 29, 2009

One Uncomfortable Wedding

I guess it's not really fair to call Rachel Getting Married a "bad" movie, but it's definitely a very, very uncomfortable movie to watch. And the music is so incredibly bad, it makes the film a chore to watch. However, Anne Hathaway does deliver a great performance, which was totally worth the Best Actress nomination.

Hathaway stars as Kym, a drug addict who comes home from rehab for her sister Rachel's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding. Because of Kym's addiction, despite being the older sister, Rachel has always lived in Kym's shadow, so there's a necessary tension between the family's concern for Kym and her recovery and Rachel's desire to finally be the center of attention. This goes beyond simple sibling rivalry, however, when you factor in Kym's having killed their younger brother while she was stoned.

The film features some serious ethnic weirdness. The film is a bit like a United Colors of Beneton ad in its multicultural inclusivity, which never quite gets explained. Not that having a multi-ethnic social circle needs explaining, but when it's set in an affluent Connecticut suburb, where whiteness comes from, it might warrant a mention. Another element that's never explained is why the wedding is Indian themed (at least in terms of what the wedding party wears) when the bride is white and the groom is black. And there are no Indian people in the film.

But, the reason the film is so uncomfortable has to do with the way it's shot. Jonathan Demme seems to be trying to purposefully exclude the viewer. Most of the film makes the viewer feel like they're overhearing conversations, and, because the other actors in the film frequently leave the room during tough moments, it's like you're not supposed to overhear what's going on. It's not quite cinema verite, and not remotely a documentary, but it has elements of both, joined together in a way that just doesn't work.

The music, however, is dreadful. A combination of new age folk music and various world music and a little bit of R&B, it's just a nightmare. And, since Demme notes that he's trying to show the viewer all the events of the wedding weekend, there are long parts where you just have to sit through a dismal musical performance.

In short, the film is like being at a wedding with a family that is not only dysfunctional and in danger of imploding, but is outwardly so liberal and ethnically inclusive it borders on actually being racist. It will make anyone's family (except possibly the Manson clan) look harmonious and ideal by comparison.

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