rachel sta per sposarsi

con Anne Hathaway, Debra Winger
Altri interpreti: Bill Irwin, Rosemarie DeWitt

29/30

I’m glad to admit that Rachel getting married is definitely one of the best motion pictures I have seen this year.
Firstly, I am positively surprised with Anne Hathaway’s performance. Till now, she used to play a girl next door type, a bit stupid, a bit naïve, always nice, sweet and pretty. This time she plays Kym, a twenty-something woman who has spent about 10 years on a rehab trying to overcome drug addiction. The moment we meet Kym, she comes back home from a drug clinic as her sister, Rachel, is getting married. This occasion brings all the family together and makes them confront the reality.
But even the best synopsis won’t describe the specific intimate mood that reigns in this movie. We have an impression that we are familiar with Kym’s family and that we actually participate in the wedding rehearsal. We can also easily see that, no matter how idyllic it may seem, there is some tension in the air and the factor that provokes it is Kym’s behaviour. She would be in the center of attention and it’s hard for her to deal with loosing part of it. At the same time, it’s not easy for her to pretend being happy and careless after what she’s been through. So, what she does, is being incredibly franc, open and totally insubordinate. Her words, her actions and her effort to forgive herself and let the past go end in an avalanche of mutual claims and disputes.
Jonathan Demme, previously known as the director of the Silence of the lambs and Philadelphia, this time puts a human tragedy, a personal disaster and an individual loneliness in a very inadequate territory: a wedding. Normally, such ceremonies oblige us to be polite and always smiling. However, this wedding shows a personal battle, an attempt to recover a dysfunctional family and become its member again. Nonetheless, there is no cheap emotion, no cheap dialogue and, still, there is thrill.
The other aspect of the movie that deserves mentioning is the realization technique. The movie seems, on purpose, an independent, low budget or even amateur production, which gives it a high sense of reality. Also the actors’ performance calls for applause, as well as the selection of music that, like in still too few movies, isn’t tiring or distracting and, above all, isn’t obvious.
For all these reasons, I highly recommend Rachel getting married to all the viewers that have already been disappointed with American film productions and want something more than a cheap drama. Also, let’s give Anna Hathaway a chance and discover how great an actor she can be.
 

03:09:2008