Jonathan Demme Triumphs With Edgy Social Portraiture

Jonathan Demme's new film, Rachel Getting Married could have easily been called the "Wedding Weekend in Hell." Or, at least on some level, that's what it seems like. Or did it? After all, you cannot make any film about a family reunion for a sibling's wedding without touching on the dysfunctional. For many of us who've come from an "average" American family, it's the film's moments of 'familial familiarity' that are most disturbing, at least for me

Rachel (Rosemary DeWitt) is marrying Sydney on Sunday, and her family and his gather at her father's Connecticut estate for the weekend. But this film is not really Rachel's story. It is her sister Kim, played by Anne Hathaway that is the focus, and trust me, she ain't no princess in this one. Seems like Kim has spent most of her life in rehab, and is given a weekend pass for the event. Though she has been clean for awhile, she still has an addictive mentality, and suffers from enormous guilt about her condition. Midway thru the film, she reveals a horrible truth about the consequences her addiction has had on her family.

The other central character is the father, played by Brit, Bill Irwin, from Love Actually. He is a bit of a control freak, and is constantly trying to feed his guests with his elaborate food. Rachel and Kim's mother, played by Deborah Winger is just the opposite; cool, detached and quite unwilling to accept responsibility for how her attitude has impacted the family. Though it seems that she has left the family and both parties remarried years ago, her shadow looms large, especially with Kim and the family tragedy.

Demme has always had a fondness for musicians and Rachel Getting Married is about a family rooted in the music industry. You spot Bill's guitar, see the Fillmore posters on the wall, and listen to the World Music sounds of a band of street musicians, who are living at the house for the weekend, and are playing in the background to the point of annoyance thruout the film. Demme casts his son as one of the street musicians. Demme's most recent successes in the music documentary genre, such as Stop Making Sense are certainly not lost on this film. And like those, the film is shot in a hand held camera, semi-documentary style. The style works for the most part, but a rehearsal dinner scene seems to go on forever, and when Kim gets up to speak, her coming to grips with her addictions causes everyone to squirm. Indy band TV on the Radio front man Tunde Adebimpe who plays Sydney brings down the house, when, exchanging vows, sings an a cappella version of Neil Young's "Unknown Legend", another musician Demme has done a documentary on. After that, the tensions leading up to the wedding, and the sibling and parental conflicts are all resolved. Or are they?

Written By Shelley Howard for DAME